MADISON, Ill. (May 2, 2010) - Cory McClenathan was upset by his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown in the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations at the 14th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway.
Racing the FRAM Top Fuel Dragster to the No. 1 spot in qualifying, McClenathan faced No. 16 qualifier Brown in an all-DSR match-up. The always-strong Matco Tools team had been struggling during qualifying, relegating Brown into his first career No. 16 slot.
Brown took off a hair quicker than McClenathan at the starting lights, and, while both cars struck the tires, the FRAM dragster hazed its first, resulting in a 5.357-second pass at 158.19 mph to Brown's winning 4.510/245.99.
"Qualifying-wise we had that one really good run," said McClenathan's, whose two other qualifying laps were less than stellar, "but we weren’t exactly on our game all weekend long.
"I think we chose the right-hand lane for obvious reasons: it’s the better lane. We were just trying to go out there and run some kind of 3.85-second lap or so - pretty much do what Tony (Schumacher) did just before us (3.829/318.62) in the same lane - and for some reason it just came loose out there. Antron had some more momentum than we did and it was tire-smokers for both of us, back and forth.
"The only good thing is we didn't fall that far behind in the points. We're still in second place. There’s plenty of time to catch up, lots of races left. The good thing is that Antron caught up some in points.”
Next up is the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., May 14-16.
UNOFFICIAL POINT STANDINGS, after seven events:
1. Larry Dixon, 637
2. Cory McClenathan, 596
3. Doug Kalitta, 551 (runner-up today)
4. Tony Schumacher, 545 (winner today)
5. Antron Brown, 492
6. Brandon Bernstein, 368
7. Shawn Langdon, 360
8. Morgan Lucas, 355
9. Dave Grubnic, 274
10. Steve Torrence, 270
Racing the FRAM Top Fuel Dragster to the No. 1 spot in qualifying, McClenathan faced No. 16 qualifier Brown in an all-DSR match-up. The always-strong Matco Tools team had been struggling during qualifying, relegating Brown into his first career No. 16 slot.
Brown took off a hair quicker than McClenathan at the starting lights, and, while both cars struck the tires, the FRAM dragster hazed its first, resulting in a 5.357-second pass at 158.19 mph to Brown's winning 4.510/245.99.
"Qualifying-wise we had that one really good run," said McClenathan's, whose two other qualifying laps were less than stellar, "but we weren’t exactly on our game all weekend long.
"I think we chose the right-hand lane for obvious reasons: it’s the better lane. We were just trying to go out there and run some kind of 3.85-second lap or so - pretty much do what Tony (Schumacher) did just before us (3.829/318.62) in the same lane - and for some reason it just came loose out there. Antron had some more momentum than we did and it was tire-smokers for both of us, back and forth.
"The only good thing is we didn't fall that far behind in the points. We're still in second place. There’s plenty of time to catch up, lots of races left. The good thing is that Antron caught up some in points.”
Next up is the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., May 14-16.
UNOFFICIAL POINT STANDINGS, after seven events:
1. Larry Dixon, 637
2. Cory McClenathan, 596
3. Doug Kalitta, 551 (runner-up today)
4. Tony Schumacher, 545 (winner today)
5. Antron Brown, 492
6. Brandon Bernstein, 368
7. Shawn Langdon, 360
8. Morgan Lucas, 355
9. Dave Grubnic, 274
10. Steve Torrence, 270
