McClenathan grabs provisional Thursday pole in Pomona

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 1 of 23
50th ANNUAL NHRA WINTERNATIONALS
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.)
Feb. 11-14, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

McCLENATHAN GRABS PROVISIONAL THURSDAY POLE IN POMONA

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2010) - Cory McClenathan, driving the FRAM Top Fuel
dragster, grabbed the provisional pole position today for the season-opening
50th annual NHRA Winternationals, posting a 3.809-second lap at 320.05 mph.

If it stands through three more rounds of qualifying, it will be
McClenathan's 34th of his career, the fifth at this track and third at the
Winternationals.

"I can guarantee you one thing, it won't stick," said McClenathan, who has
never won the Winternationals. "Somebody is going to run definitely in the
3.70s. This cool weather [helps] and it doesn't have to be that late. The
track and the conditions are really there.

"Preparation and the commitment all of us on the FRAM team made in the
off-season was to do two things: lose a lot of weight in the race car and
come in here with a better power package than we had when we left here (last
November at the 2009 NHRA Finals).

"I think that shows, because that wasn't all of it, I guarantee. But to run
over 282 mph to half-track, that's pretty good. So, the FRAM car is flying.

"Not this time," he answered when asked if he would be lurking in the
shadows all year between Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon. "This time we plan
on making some noise early. We're going to make our presence known.

"I'm tired of lurking and kind of waiting to see what is going to happen.
There is no big cat getting ready to pounce. We're just going to come out
here, try to go toe to toe with these guys from day one, and I think (crew
chiefs) Todd (Okuhara) and Phil (Shuler) are thinking the same thing."

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