Three-time E'town runner-up McClenathan looks for first win
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES Round 11 of 23 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals Old Bridge Township Raceway Park Englishtown, N.J. June 11-13, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net THREE-TIME E'TOWN RUNNER-UP MCCLENATHAN LOOKS FOR FIRST WIN BROWNSBURG, Ind. (June 10, 2010) - Cory McClenathan and the rest of the competitors in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will race at the second of four straight back-to-back events this weekend at the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. McClenathan has never won at this track that is steeped in drag-racing history. He's been a runner-up three times (in 1992, '98 and '04), but in his 33 career national-event triumphs he's not seen the winner's circle in Englishtown, N.J. Driving the FRAM Top Fuel dragster, one of the quickest, fastest and most consistent cars in the class, McClenathan aims to put himself and crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler into the record books this weekend. He's third in the point standings, has won twice so far this year, and wants to win again. He also knows the importance of going rounds and staying in the top 10 in points to vie for his first championship in the final six races of the year in the Countdown to 1 playoffs. "Right now it's about going rounds and trying to keep ourselves high in the points," said McClenathan, łand winning at this historic race would certainly be a great accomplishment. The last couple of races didn't turn out the way we planned (runner-up in Topeka, second round in Chicago), but then again that's why there's a whole lot of races during the season before the Countdown. "We're faced with trying to get the driver and the crew all together before the Countdown starts. That's what we're doing right now. Sometimes I'm on, sometimes the car is on. If we can get both on the same page at the right time we certainly have a winning combination. The FRAM team is hard to beat when we're both on. "We have three races in a row in this swing. We have E'town and then it's right into Bristol (Tenn.) and Norwalk (Ohio). The good news is I don't have to wait too long to get back in the race car. That's always good for momentum coming off a disappointing race, and I'll need to step up to the plate in Englishtown. "The FRAM guys have been doing a great job with the race car. Even when we haven't qualified very well, they stepped up and made it run good on Sunday. The downfall has been the weather. You go into every race hoping to get four qualifiers and all the fans come to see four runs in qualifying and four good runs for the winner on race day. We've just not been able to have all that data that we normally would have going into race day. It's put us a little bit behind. "Hopefully the weather will hold up this weekend. Old Bridge Township Raceway Park can be a very fast track, so I'm looking forward to that." CORY MCCLENATHAN QUICK FACTS: * No. 3 in 2010 point standings, after two semifinal finishes and two victories (in four final rounds) in the first nine races; 159 points out of lead (Larry Dixon), 24 behind second-place Tony Schumacher * Has never won in E'town * Runner-up three times in E'town: 1992, '98 and '04 * Qualified No. 3 in 2009 E'town; lost second round to Shawn Langdon * No. 4 in 2009 year-end standings with a victory in Concord, N.C., the opening round of the playoffs * Had one win in four final rounds in 2009, plus five semifinal and six quarterfinal finishes * Has three No. 1 qualifiers so far in 2010 * Qualified No. 1 once in 2009 (Bristol); * No. 5 in 2009 "regular season" Top Fuel point standings * No. 3 in 2008 Top Fuel point standings, including one win in three final rounds, as well as eight semifinal, six quarterfinal, seven first-round finishes and two No. 1 qualifiers * Has 33 career Top Fuel victories in 61 final rounds * Career-best elapsed time to 1000 feet: 3.784 seconds (Richmond '09) * Career-best speed to 1000 feet: 322.50 mph (Gainesville 2010) * First driver to break the 320-mph barrier with 322.17-mph run in Dallas in 1997 (quarter-mile) * Has recorded 487 career round wins in Top Fuel * Qualified No. 1 36 times, with a career-high seven times in 1993 * Recorded 400th round win in Top Fuel in Richmond 2007 * Has finished No. 2 in the standings four times (1992, 1995, 1997 and 1998) * Finished No. 10 in rookie season in 1991; made first 4-second run * Made NHRA history with first run in the 4.70s (4.799) at Reading in 1992 * Swept the three-race Western Swing in 1997 en route to four consecutive wins and career-high six victories in eight final rounds * Won four of the first six races in 1998. Equaled career-best with six wins in eight finals * Won the U.S. Nationals twice (1996, 1999) * Missed four races in 1993 after crash in Rockingham and still finished sixth in the Top Fuel points * Age 47 (January 30, 1963); born in Wichita, Kansas, now lives in Brownsburg, Ind.; daughter Courtney (10/25/90); engaged to Debi * Joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2008; 2010 is fifth season with sponsorship from FRAM SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, June 11 FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. SATURDAY, June 12 FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at noon and 3 p.m. SUNDAY, June 13 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FULL THROTTLE SERIES eliminations begin at 11 a.m. TELEVISION: Saturday, June 12, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 11 p.m. (ET). Sunday, June 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute race preview show, at 3:30 p.m. (ET). Sunday, June 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of coverage starting at 4 p.m. (ET). SATELLITE: Friday, June 11, 8:30 - 9 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K (Digital SD feed) Saturday, June 12, 6:30 - 7 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K Sunday, June 13, 7:30 - 8 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K (11800 MHz, horizontal; Data Rate: 18.295441161 Mbp; Symbol Rate: 13.235 Ms; FEC: 3Ž4; Bandwidth: 18 Mhz) Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winnersą interviews on Sunday. ***