McClenathan improves, goes out in Denver opening round

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 16 of 23
MOPAR Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Bandimere Speedway
Morrison, Colo.
July 23-25, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

MCCLENATHAN IMPROVES, GOES OUT IN DENVER OPENING ROUND

MORRISON, Colo. (July 25, 2010) - No. 9 qualifier Cory McClenathan and the
FRAM Top Fuel dragster team improved in the opening round of Top Fuel
eliminations at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway,
but Cory Mac was bumped out by No. 8 Brandon Bernstein.

After struggling to qualify in the last two days and without lane choice on
a 90-degree track surface, McClenathan posted his quickest pass of the
weekend, a 3.988-second lap at 310.55 mph, but was outrun by Bernstein's
3.962/301.54. Margin of victory: .0372 of a second.

It marked the FRAM team's second-only first-round loss in the first 16
events of a stellar 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series so far, which
included three wins in five final rounds, five semifinal finishes, four No.
1 qualifiers, and the establishment of the quickest pass racing to 1000 feet
in NHRA history (3.752 seconds).

McClenathan remains No. 3 in the class point standings, with one event
remaining for the top 10 in points before the Countdown to 1 playoffs kick
in for the final six races.

"We came in here with a certain plan and it didn't work out for us. We kind
of got behind a little bit, but we ended up running really good first
round," said McClenathan, two-time winner at Bandimere Speedway. "We ran our
best ET of the weekend; Brandon just ran better. Like (crew chief) Todd
(Okuhara) said, we were starting to figure it out. We ran 310 mph down the
other end. We were definitely going the right way.

"We just didn't have enough initial good runs to make it all happen, for it
to come around. We've only gone out first round a couple of times this year,
and that was one of them. So, it's a tough loss and a tough way to end the
Western Swing (Seattle, Sonoma, Calif., and Denver)." McClenathan won in
Seattle and reached the semifinals in Sonoma.

"We'll go to Brainerd and start developing a tune-up for Indy (the U.S.
Nationals and the first event of the Countdown on Labor Day weekend), and
the rest of the Countdown."

The next event is the 29th annual NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., Aug.
12-15.

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