Cory McClenathan doesn't need to be reminded he's 57 years old. However, every once in a while, Mother Nature sends him a reminder.

McClenathan, who is in a farewell tour redo of sorts, was handed the reminder on Thursday morning following a busy Wednesday of testing at World Wide Technologies Raceway located outside of St. Louis.

"I don't feel 57, but living in California, I had to jump on an airplane at 6:45 AM and then had airplane trouble in Phoenix and got in late into Indy on Tuesday night," McClenathan recalled. "Then to turn around Wednesday morning and get up at 5:45 and leave for St. Louis to go testing, and then we got home late that night, it makes for a long couple of days."

McClenathan was initially scheduled to race the two impromptu NHRA events, the e3 Spark Plug Nationals and Lucas Oil Summernationals, as a means of a proper conclusion to a storied career which included two U.S. Nationals Top Fuel titles. He failed to qualify for both events behind the wheel of the Don Schumacher Racing-prepared dragster.

McClenathan got a reprieve as sponsors Nordic Boats and RevChem Composites stepped up for a third run at saying goodbye to a sport he believes has been richly rewarding. No disrespect to the teams he initially closed out his career with, but those dragsters were not DSR caliber rides. However, as McClenathan will admit, one DNQ is out of character for a Schumacher dragster, two is unheard of.

McClenathan feels the third time will be the charm. Wednesday's test yielded results which quickly got the decorated drag racer on track and reacquainted with a front-running fueler.

"I've not been back in a fast race car for a while, and that first run definitely got my attention," McClenathan admitted. "I was actually a little bit behind on the car. Then I fixed myself, basically got up with the program on the second pass, but I'll tell you one thing, I slept like a big dog Wednesday night, for sure."

For those not up on driver lingo, "getting behind" the car is the equivalent of the first steep drop on a rollercoaster. While the experience can be a euphoric feeling while still in control of the car, it can leave a driver feeling behind in their actions of reacting behind the wheel.

"Not being in a Top Fuel car consistently through the years in the last 10 years, it puts you in that position," McClenathan explained. "Then you kind of find yourself falling behind a little bit. I knew it, they knew it, I clicked it, but it was kind of moving more towards the centerline. I clicked it, and we came back out and just straight down Broadway. Made one adjustment and right down the road.

"I just forget how much ahead you have to be on these Top Fuel cars. People don't understand that sometimes. That's why you see them out there wiggling around and move out of the groove and stuff, and it's tough. You got to drive these things. They don't drive themselves. They're not on cruise control."

Wednesday afternoon, following the completion of a successful test, McClenathan felt ahead of the curve. His body, well, that was another story. He's raced off-road during his time away from drag racing, but this racing, while physically demanding, just isn't the same.

"This will go off our path here a little bit, but the last three seasons racing in the Pro Lite category, I mean, I flipped it, everything you can imagine, caught it on fire, the whole deal," McClenathan explained. "By the end of the weekend in one of those trucks, I am not sore at all. I know it's due to the suspension and everything else, but crashing is crashing, that type of thing. It's a lot different.

"Then just going out and making a few laps in a Top Fuel car, I was sorer the next morning than I would be in a full weekend of racing the off-road truck. I thought it'd be the other way around after all my years in a dragster, but it kind of shows you like, 'hey, you're not 20 anymore, dude. You need to be with the program."

"I may not feel 57, but my body is 57 years old, period."

McClenathan believes the much younger race car chassis is on the right path to make his third shot at saying goodbye will be the charm.

"The car's figured out," McClenathan said. "The guys pretty much knew what was wrong with it, but the proof's in the pudding. We really needed to go test that car and Don wanted us to test as well. Right off the trailer, I clicked it early, went 3.88, and then turn around later on in the afternoon in the heat and clicked it early again and went 3.83. I'm happy with those numbers. The 3.83 easily would have been a high .70 type of number, so I'm fine with that."

Evaluating the first two events and the less than expected results, the thrill of getting to race again exceeded his frustration of not getting to perform on race day.

"I was definitely down and out. I won't pull any punches," McClenathan said. "It's hard for anybody to have to go through that, but I mean, knowing that you have all the right equipment and all the right people and still not get the job done, I mean, I'm looking at myself thinking, 'What, did I forget how to drive one of these things?"

"After the test, I do feel a lot better and spirits were up all the way around, so everybody really feels good, walking a little taller going in this weekend, I'm looking forward to it."

While entirely focused on this weekend's task, McClenathan didn't rule out the opportunity to race again at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals.

"We're working on it actually, right now," McClenathan said. "I would love to be there. After being in the car for a few races, I would love to finish the season off if there was a way to do that, but we all know money right now is tight everywhere. We all know the current situation we're all dealing with. You have to respect that and understand that a lot of people aren't racing because they couldn't find money. I've been lucky enough to have two really good sponsors in Nordic Boats and RevChem Composites that have my back no matter what I'm doing.

"I think I have kind of a leg up on a lot of people, but you got to bring those results with it. If we were to do really well this weekend, that would help with the people that I'm talking to about trying to continue on and run the US Nationals as well."