McCLENATHAN TAKES TOP SPOT IN DENVER; PEDREGON, ANDERSON, KRAWIEC ALSO NO. 1 AT MILE-HIGH NATIONALS

Cory McClenathan has a bye run in the first round on Sunday.

Cory McClenathan raced to the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel as
qualifying came to an end Saturday at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA
Nationals at Bandimere Speedway

Tony Pedregon, Greg Anderson and Eddie Krawiec were also No. 1
qualifiers in their respective categories at the 13th of 24 events on
the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

McClenathan’s run of 3.929-seconds at 308.07 mph from Friday night was
fast enough to keep him and his FRAM dragster in the top spot. It’s
McClenathan’s second No. 1 qualifier of the season, 32nd of his career
and third in Denver.

Mike Buckner shudders when he imagines what could have happened.

The end result of the runaway Don Schumacher Racing souvenir trailer. (Donnie Faulkner Photo)

Buckner is the Merchandising Director for Don Schumacher Racing and on
the Thursday’s parking day at the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in
Denver, Co., a souvenir trailer broke loose from his Humvee and
careened out of control through the parking lot and down a hill. The
errant trailer struck a hill and narrowly missed a motor coach pulling
another souvenir trailer.

“We were coming up the hill, the safety chains were attached and the
electric brakes were on,” Buckner said. “We reached an apex point where
the trailer went upward and the tow vehicle was straight. It just
released and popped and the trailer came off. The trailer started going
straight back down the hill.”

Steve Johnson was excited about speaking to the students at a local Denver tech school the day

Steve Johnson learned the key gaining a provisional top qualifying position -- get your laptop stolen. (Roger Richards)

before qualifying at the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co.
He had every base covered including a video camera to capture the
moment and his lap top to provide important facts concerning a future
in NHRA championship drag racing with a Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Johnson’s presentation was impressive to say the least as he showed the
students how he won, the importance of living respectable lives and how
one can make a good living at drag racing.

His presentation may have inspired one student to possibly get a head
start on his career. One minute Johnson's laptop was with him and the
next it was gone. Stored on the hard drive, important personal
information including bank records and sponsor contracts.

Top
Fuel team owner Ken Black prepared to sit out sessions

The rising cost of doing business has forced a handful of teams to sit out qualifying runs. Many teams,

The rising cost of fuel racing has team owner Ken Black prepared to sit out some sessions this year. (Roger Richards)

based on a strong Friday effort, have chosen to sit out Saturday’s session at some events to conserve budget and parts.

Top Fuel team owner Ken Black never thought he’d see the day he’d be
forced into such a cost-cutting move. The successful businessman admits
the latest price increase of nitromethane has him almost assuredly
planning to skip some sessions with his Top Fuel dragster driven by
Hillary Will.

“If we do well that first day of qualifying, I think that’s what I am
going to do, have to do,” said Black. “It’s the only way I know of that
I can protest an unfair situation. When you get price increases like
they [official nitro supplier of NHRA] are giving us I think somewhere
we have to take a stand.

Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan grabbed the provisional pole position for the first 1000-ft. race

Cory McClenathan thunders to the top spot on Friday evening.

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series history, McClenathan was the last car
down the track, recording a 3.929-second elapsed time at 308.07 mph. If
he holds on to No. 1 through two more qualifying rounds, he will
collect the 32nd pole position of his career and second of the season.
 
"We all kind of had some numbers in our mind coming in here," said
McClenathan. "We wanted to run in the high 3.80-second range at 310
mph. So to go out and run what did earlier (4.023/298.27) put us in a
position to kind of get after it knowing that we were going to be the
last pair, that the track was going to get better and our teammate Tony
Schumacher was in front of us.

At the top of Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson’s list is to show up at his sponsor’s race ready to win.

If his Friday run stands, for the second year in a row Allen Johnson
will score the No. 1 qualifying position at sponsor Mopar's race. (Roger Richards)

The Mopar-sponsored driver showed his priorities are in order as he
drove his Dodge Stratus R/T to the provisional No. 1 spot. The veteran
Team Mopar driver will look to hold his position tomorrow and claim the
No. 1 Qualifier award at the Mopar Mile-Highs for the second-straight
year

Johnson briefly lost and reclaimed the top spot with a mark of 7.037, 195.17.

“The first run on the track was pretty hot,” said Johnson. “Everyone
was trying to get from A to B to get some info for tomorrow. Tonight’s
run, the track was awesome. It really cooled down, and you can really
get at it when the track get likes that.”

Johnson had the strongest car during testing at Bandimere leading up to
the Mopar Mile-Highs, leading many to believe he has the car to beat
this weekend.

PEDREGON TAKES PROVISIONAL TOP SPOT IN FUNNY CAR; McCLENATHAN, JOHNSON, JOHNSON ALSO PROVISIONAL NO. 1 QUALIFIERS IN DENVER

Tony Pedregon raced to the provisional No. 1 qualifier at the 29th annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver.

Cory McClenathan, Allen Johnson and Steve Johnson were also No. 1
qualifiers in their respective categories at the 13th of 24 events on
the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

This was the first time in NHRA history that Top Fuel and Funny Car ran at the interim distance of 1,000 feet.

Antron Brown clocked the first sub four-second 1,000-foot
pass in NHRA history Friday evening at Bandimere Speedway as the two-time Top
Fuel winner clocked a run of 3.998-seconds in his David Powers-owned Matco Tools
dragster. Brown finished in the provisional No. 4 qualifying position.

The irony of it was not lost on Melanie Troxel Thursday night following the
opening day of qualifying for the Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, her
hometown track.

Tony Schumacher grabbed the second starting position during the first
day of qualifying for the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere
Speedway with a 3.943-second pass at 307.16 mph. He is second behind
Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Cory McClenathan.

The Mopar Mile-High Nationals is the first event where the Top Fuel and
Funny Car classes are racing to the 1,000 foot mark instead of the
traditional quarter-mile.

“I have to admit that it was an adjustment competing on a shorter
track,” said the defending NHRA POWERade world champion. “But, we’ll
get used to it real quick. Like I stated earlier this week, we needed
to do this for safety reasons.”