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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16, 2008) – FRAM Top Fuel dragster driver Cory McClenathan, the No. 6 qualifier for the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, was eliminated in the first round of eliminations today.
McClenathan was up against Hillary Will in the opening stanza at this historic event for the first time this season. The pair left the starting line with nearly identical reaction times (.083 for Will, .087 for McClenathan - .000 is perfect). McClenathan held the lead until half-track when Will drove by him to take the victory with an elapsed time of 4.582 seconds at 330.63 mph. McClenathan ran a respectable 4.619/318.02 lap, losing the contest by a scant .0418 of a second, or 19 feet.
"We were just trying to be consistent," said McClenathan, who fell to eighth in the Top Fuel point standings. "For some reason, whether it was the sun beating on the track or what have you, when the car tried to go one-to-one out there past half-track it started spinning the tires. Once you do that you're going to lose a lot of speed. The FRAM car always runs over 320 mph and it only ran 318 on that run. Hillary just stepped up. She did a good job driving the car and they ran 330 mph. That car has run big speed all year and they really stepped up and did a good job. It was just a good old drag race.
"We're going to stay here and test this FRAM Top Fuel dragster on Monday and figure out some things," he added. "We're not going to try and just run good. We know this car will go from A to B every time. We want to try some things to produce some better early numbers and we'll probably make some full passes near the end of the day tomorrow. We think we need to test, and crew chief Mike Green already made that call, so we're going to go ahead and do that."
The next race for McClenathan and the FRAM team will be the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas, March 28-30.
TOP FUEL POINT STANDINGS, after three events:
1. Tony Schumacher, 305 (winner today)
2. Larry Dixon, 263
3. Brandon Bernstein, 183 (runner-up today)
4. Rod Fuller, 180
5. David Grubnic, 167
Antron Brown, 167
7. Hillary Will, 162
8. Cory McClenathan, 159
9. Morgan Lucas, 117
10. Doug Herbert, 116
McCLENATHAN ELIMINATED IN GATORS OPENING ROUND
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16, 2008) – FRAM Top Fuel dragster driver Cory McClenathan, the No. 6 qualifier for the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, was eliminated in the first round of eliminations today.
McClenathan was up against Hillary Will in the opening stanza at this historic event for the first time this season. The pair left the starting line with nearly identical reaction times (.083 for Will, .087 for McClenathan - .000 is perfect). McClenathan held the lead until half-track when Will drove by him to take the victory with an elapsed time of 4.582 seconds at 330.63 mph. McClenathan ran a respectable 4.619/318.02 lap, losing the contest by a scant .0418 of a second, or 19 feet.
"We were just trying to be consistent," said McClenathan, who fell to eighth in the Top Fuel point standings. "For some reason, whether it was the sun beating on the track or what have you, when the car tried to go one-to-one out there past half-track it started spinning the tires. Once you do that you're going to lose a lot of speed. The FRAM car always runs over 320 mph and it only ran 318 on that run. Hillary just stepped up. She did a good job driving the car and they ran 330 mph. That car has run big speed all year and they really stepped up and did a good job. It was just a good old drag race.
"We're going to stay here and test this FRAM Top Fuel dragster on Monday and figure out some things," he added. "We're not going to try and just run good. We know this car will go from A to B every time. We want to try some things to produce some better early numbers and we'll probably make some full passes near the end of the day tomorrow. We think we need to test, and crew chief Mike Green already made that call, so we're going to go ahead and do that."
The next race for McClenathan and the FRAM team will be the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas, March 28-30.
TOP FUEL POINT STANDINGS, after three events:
1. Tony Schumacher, 305 (winner today)
2. Larry Dixon, 263
3. Brandon Bernstein, 183 (runner-up today)
4. Rod Fuller, 180
5. David Grubnic, 167
Antron Brown, 167
7. Hillary Will, 162
8. Cory McClenathan, 159
9. Morgan Lucas, 117
10. Doug Herbert, 116
