MCCLENATHAN DOMINATES FIRST DAY INDY TOP FUEL QUALIFYING
Sat, 2008-08-30 09:00
Cory McClenathan grabbed the provisional pole position on Friday during the opening qualifying session of the
54th annual U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park. McClenathan
recorded a run of 3.852 seconds at 312.57 mph, his quickest elapsed
time since the NHRA began racing to the 1,000-foot mark.
Four more rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday before the final 16-car field is set for Sunday's eliminations. Cory McClenathan grabbed the provisional pole position on Friday during the opening qualifying session of the
54th annual U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park. McClenathan
recorded a run of 3.852 seconds at 312.57 mph, his quickest elapsed
time since the NHRA began racing to the 1,000-foot mark.
Four more rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday before the final 16-car field is set for Sunday's eliminations.
"It's just one of those things where crew chiefs Mike Green and Alan Johnson (U.S. Army dragster) work so close together," said McClenathan, who will earn his 33rd No. 1 qualifying position if the number holds up through the rest of qualifying. "With the FRAM dragster being the next-to-last car right before Tony Schumacher ran I knew we had a good shot. When we saw the car in front of us smoke the tires I think Mike made one little adjustment."
Tony Schumacher smoked the tires on his pass in the final pairing, ending up in 20th for the day.
"When the FRAM car left the starting line it had the front end hiked way up there for a long way and that's usually a good indicator," added McClenathan. "And when it set the front end down it made a good charge in the middle of the track. I knew it was on a good run. It started spinning the tires a little bit at the other end and I was just hanging on to it to get through there.
"This FRAM team has just gotten better and better as we've gone along. This is the perfect time to make this kind of move. It's the perfect start to the weekend."
MAINTAINING – The perfectionist in McClenathan demands that he ratchets up all facets of his and the team's overall performance.
After not making the Countdown to 1 last season, McClenathan goes into this year's U.S. Nationals concentrating on his driving and the performance of the FRAM dragster.
"Last year I missed getting into the Countdown and it was a big letdown for me," he said. "It's a very cool feeling to know that we're in and we're in solidly and we don't have to worry about it. You're able to put your efforts toward other things. Indy is such an important race that it's hard to look beyond that. Everybody wants to win Indy; I want to win Indy and the championship. I will settle for nothing less. If anybody messes up at all someone is going to be breathing down their neck, so I don't want to be one of them.
"I had a long talk with (crew chief) Mike Green and he feels that there are some areas with the car where we can be more aggressive, and it sounds like he's going to go that route, and I'm excited about that. I think we've got a good race car right now, and if we can utilize power in a few different ways it can be that much better at 1,000 feet.
"If I go out and do my job everything is going to fall into place. I'm not looking for any luck and I certainly want to earn whatever position we end up in. Having a good race car at this point and time in the season is definitely a good thing for this FRAM team."
The perfectionist in McClenathan demands that he ratchets up all facets of his and the team's overall performance.
Four more rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday before the final 16-car field is set for Sunday's eliminations. Cory McClenathan grabbed the provisional pole position on Friday during the opening qualifying session of the
The perfectionist in McClenathan demands that he ratchets up all facets of his and the team's overall performance.
Four more rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday before the final 16-car field is set for Sunday's eliminations.
"It's just one of those things where crew chiefs Mike Green and Alan Johnson (U.S. Army dragster) work so close together," said McClenathan, who will earn his 33rd No. 1 qualifying position if the number holds up through the rest of qualifying. "With the FRAM dragster being the next-to-last car right before Tony Schumacher ran I knew we had a good shot. When we saw the car in front of us smoke the tires I think Mike made one little adjustment."
Tony Schumacher smoked the tires on his pass in the final pairing, ending up in 20th for the day.
"When the FRAM car left the starting line it had the front end hiked way up there for a long way and that's usually a good indicator," added McClenathan. "And when it set the front end down it made a good charge in the middle of the track. I knew it was on a good run. It started spinning the tires a little bit at the other end and I was just hanging on to it to get through there.
"This FRAM team has just gotten better and better as we've gone along. This is the perfect time to make this kind of move. It's the perfect start to the weekend."
MAINTAINING – The perfectionist in McClenathan demands that he ratchets up all facets of his and the team's overall performance.
After not making the Countdown to 1 last season, McClenathan goes into this year's U.S. Nationals concentrating on his driving and the performance of the FRAM dragster.
"Last year I missed getting into the Countdown and it was a big letdown for me," he said. "It's a very cool feeling to know that we're in and we're in solidly and we don't have to worry about it. You're able to put your efforts toward other things. Indy is such an important race that it's hard to look beyond that. Everybody wants to win Indy; I want to win Indy and the championship. I will settle for nothing less. If anybody messes up at all someone is going to be breathing down their neck, so I don't want to be one of them.
"I had a long talk with (crew chief) Mike Green and he feels that there are some areas with the car where we can be more aggressive, and it sounds like he's going to go that route, and I'm excited about that. I think we've got a good race car right now, and if we can utilize power in a few different ways it can be that much better at 1,000 feet.
"If I go out and do my job everything is going to fall into place. I'm not looking for any luck and I certainly want to earn whatever position we end up in. Having a good race car at this point and time in the season is definitely a good thing for this FRAM team."
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