McClenathan aced in the quarterfinals at the Gators

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 3 of 23
41st annual NHRA GATORNATIONALS
Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway
March 12-14, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

McCLENATHAN ACED IN THE QUARTERFINALS AT GATORNATIONALS

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 14, 2010) - It was beginning to look like Cory
McClenathan and the FRAM Top Fuel dragster team would continue the roll they
have been on this season, after a semifinal finish and a victory in the
first two events of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

He entered this weekend's 41st annual NHRA Gatornationals as the points
leader, and his No. 5 qualifying position was not a true indicator of the
quality and performance of the car co-crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil
Shuler tuned to these excellent results.

But it all turned around in Sunday's eliminations, when McClenathan defeated
Bobby Lagana in the opening round with a stout 3.830-second lap at 303.03
mph, then posted another solid pass of 3.840/315.42 in the quarterfinal,
using an excellent .062 reaction time (.000 is perfect). The bad news was
that Shawn Langdon, famous for his outstanding reaction times, aced "Cory
Mac" with an even quicker launch of .046. That was enough for Langdon to
triumph with a slower 3.852/317.57 pass. Margin of victory: two feet!

His Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher won the event, taking the
points lead from McClenathan, who slipped to second, 11 points down.

³Going in, I thought I needed to have an .060 light and I had what I needed
to have, but Shawn (Langdon) was just a little bit better," said
McClenathan, who was looking for his first win at the Gatornationals. "Shawn
is just great off the tree; heıs done this to us before. I knew he was going
to be quick but, I thought if I had an .060 light we would be good.

"It just kills you because you try to do such a good job for the guys on the
FRAM team and I wanted to race Antron (Brown), my DSR teammate, in the semis
so bad.

³Weıre lucky thereıs a whole lot of races left on this NHRA Full Throttle
circuit, but at the same time weıre in a learning curve. Itıs just, when you
have a good light and it doesnıt pay off, itıs definitely disappointing. I
just hate letting my FRAM guys down; thatıs the biggest thing.

³Big-picture thinking, though, we had a really good weekend and Iım just
looking forward to the next race. Weıre going to Concord and weıre going
four-wide. Itıs going to be crazy for everybody, but I can guarantee one
thing, weıre going to learn from the experience.²

Next up is the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, N.C., March 25-28.

UNOFFICIAL TOP FUEL POINT STANDINGS, after three national events:
1. Tony Schumacher, 266 (winner today)
2. Cory McClenathan, 255
3. Larry Dixon, 239
4. Doug Kalitta, 230
5. Antron Brown, 194 (runner-up today)
6. Shawn Langdon, 169
7. Steve Torrence, 160
8. Morgan Lucas, 140
9. Brandon Bernstein, 137
10. Dave Grubnic, 120

***