So, who is Cory McClenathan?

“Cory Mac,” as he is called, has been racing a Top Fuel Dragster in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series for over 17 years. He has 30 race wins, 52 final round appearances and over 416 career round wins, ranking him fifth on the all-time NHRA Top Fuel win list. McClenathan was the first driver to break the 4.80-second elapsed time with a 4.799 at Reading, Pa. in 1992, and the first to eclipse the 320-mph mark at 321.77 mph in Dallas in 1997. Even though he seems to have flown somewhat under the radar, he has been a mainstay in NHRA Drag Racing.

It feels like he’s been around forever. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t hear McClenathan’s name in conjunction with drag racing. He is a gentleman, but he is fiercely competitive on the drag strip. McClenathan finished second in the points standings four times, and is looking good for a spot in the playoff berth this year. He currently sits fifth in points.

A Little Help From a Friend
At the end of the 2007 season, McClenathan announced he would be leaving Scott Griffin Motorsports to start his own team after Griffin said he had run out of money and couldn’t afford to field the car anymore. McClenathan had been talking on and off with Don Schumacher about adding a second Top Fuel dragster to Schumacher’s stable, and with Griffin’s exit, the time was right for McClenathan and Schumacher to put it together. FRAM, GMC, Nordic Boats and Jegs sponsorships went with McClenathan to DSR. He is leasing a new car, motors, parts and a transporter from DSR.

McClenathan has also reunited with his former crew chief Mike Green, who tuned McClenathan’s Joe Gibbs Racing McDonald’s Top Fuel dragster from 1996 through 1999, winning 17 races.

“It’s really a tribute to the people in the shop, the girls in the front, and all the things we have at our disposal from DSR,” McClenathan said. “Mike Green has taken a load off my mind, and assistant crew chief Neal Strausbaugh has taken over a lot of things like looking after the race car so Mike can spend more time on the computers going over the data.”

“Don’s been a great friend of mine for about five years,” McClenathan added. “He lets me do my own thing and he trusts me with things. Don’s a businessman and sometimes we look at things differently, but we sit down and talk about it. He’s been very fair to me. Success has a lot to do with the chemistry between the people on your team. If you have limited budgets or the wrong combination of crew chiefs, it doesn’t work well. I think that’s the one thing we have this year, help from the U.S. Army guys and Alan Johnson himself. Now I can concentrate on the driving.”

Early Dragging Days
McClenathan grew up in Orange County where his father Richard, a mechanic, owned a high performance VW shop. He learned how to work on cars at the shop. When he was 14, his father put him in a sandrail, more commonly known as a dune buggy. McClenathan raced in sand drags before he was 16. He raced in the Bug-ins at Orange County Raceway and won the first race he entered there in a ’56 Oval Window VW. He also won at Sacramento Raceway.

In 1989, McClenathan hired Ora Vasquez away from Blaine and Alan Johnson to build a Top Alcohol Dragster. He raced his first division race in Ohio, and his first national Top Alcohol Dragster event in Denver at the Mile-High Nationals, where he went to the final round and beat Blaine Johnson. A year-and-a-half later, he bought Daryl Gwynn’s Extra Gold Top Fuel Dragster after Gwynn was seriously injured in an exhibition race in London. He raced it as a McClenathan family-owned car from 1991-93 and called it the “Mac Attack.”

During these years, it was a family affair. His father, mother, sister and grandparents were all involved, and his best friend Robert Rogers drove the hauler and serviced the car. McClenathan and Rogers did the whole thing together, which in those days meant racing during the day and barbecuing and having a few beers at night. Then Rogers got married and got off the road.

In 1991, McClenathan raced 15 races during the NHRA POWERade season, and in 1992, he went full-time right before the Memphis race as a non-sponsored car, and won his first NHRA POWERade National event there. That year, with the help of crew chief Jimmy Prock (now crew chief for Funny Car driver Robert Hight), McClenathan finished second to Joe Amato in points. The only race he didn’t go to that year was Montreal because of the expense involved. Had he gone, all he would have had to do was go one round and he would have won the NHRA POWERade championship.

The Sponsor Game
The Joe Gibbs-owned McDonald’s team made its debut at the 1995 Winternationals with McClenathan driving the Top Fuel Dragster. Larry Minor hired McClenathan to drive the car and it was McClenathan’s first paid gig.

“I ate McDonald’s pretty much every day,” McClenathan said. “Lee Beard tuned it, then Mike Green took over after that. At one time we had Lee, Mike Green, Mike Neff [now a NHRA Funny Car driver for John Force Racing] and Dickie Venables; a slew of great guys.”

In 2001, after having raced for Joe Gibbs for six years in NHRA Top Fuel Drag Racing, McClenathan was suddenly without a ride when Gibbs decided to focus his efforts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. McClenathan raced only one race that year.

In 2002, David Baca and Rick Henkelman formed a Top Fuel team. Baca drove one dragster and hired McClenathan to drive another one. But in order to run both dragsters in 2003, major sponsorship was needed. That didn’t work out and once again McClenathan was looking for a team and a ride. He got what he needed when Daryl Gwynn and Gwynn’s parents hired him to drive for Daryl Gwynn Racing. Then, without major sponsorship for 2004, Daryl Gwynn Racing shut down.

In 2004, McClenathan teamed up with Carrier Boyz Racing and signed a multi-year contract. Griffin was a friend of the Carriers and became partners with them in 2007. At the St. Louis race, Griffin took over full ownership of the team, but that only lasted a few months until the money ran out, leading McClenathan to DSR.

Big Changes
McClenathan, who is 45 years old, said he’d like to be out of the car at age 50. He’d like to continue to work for DSR, but in a different capacity.

“I’d like to work with drivers and groom someone to drive this great dragster,” he said.

He has had his share of loss in the last few months. He lost his best friend’s mother, Peggy Rogers, to cancer on June 17, and he also lost his grandmother, Dorothy Jones, earlier this month. Then there came the death of NHRA Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta on June 21. McClenathan and Kalitta were close friends in the 90s before things got so hectic in their careers, and they spent a lot of time together playing practical jokes on one another.

“We had a lot of fun on and off the track. Scott was a great husband and father and a great ambassador for the sport,” McClenathan said. “The one thing about the Kalittas is they are a racing family. Connie [Scott’s father] is the strongest man I’ve ever known. He’s handling it well. He is determined to make drag racing safer. If we can take something away from this tragedy, it is to all learn something and save another driver. It’s brought everyone together.”

He loves coming to Infineon and is looking forward to entertaining some of the heads of the companies who sponsor him. He said when he comes to Sonoma there is nothing better than getting up in the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee and going outside and sitting and looking out at the vineyards. McClenathan participates at the annual NHRA Go-Kart race at Infineon, which benefits children’s charities, a cause close to his heart.

This weekend fans will get to see “Cory Mac” live against the top racers in his sport at Infineon. For tickets or more information, go to http://www.infineonraceway.com.