Cory McClenathan, the best Top Fuel dragster driver never to have won a NHRA title, recently shared a chuckle with teammate Tony Schumacher, a six-time titlist in the class.
“He said he couldn’t believe that everyone was talking about him, Larry Dixon and Spencer Massey for the championship,” McClenathan, of La Habra, said as he relaxed inside the lounge area of his hauler while rain fell on the Pomona Raceway pit area. “We just kind of laughed.”
Not that McClenathan found the oversight the least bit amusing. He finished third in points last year and was a close witness to Schumacher’s record-setting season in the U.S. Army car. It marked the ninth time in McClenathan’s 18-year NHRA career that he’s finished in the top five.
In fact, the 45-year-old has been runner-up four times and won 30 national events.
“I think they’ve forgot some of the other players,” said McClenathan, who made NHRA history with the first run in the 4.70s (4.799) at Reading, Pa., in 1992 at the old 1,320-foot distance.
“I’m eager to see how things turn out. It just gives me more motivation to go out there and beat them all,” said the former Orange County and Lake Havasu City resident. “Since it appears we’re being considered the underdog, I guess we have something to prove.
“I thrive on this. We’ll let the dragster do the talking for us.”
McClenathan drives for the team owned by Don Schumacher whose son, Tony, has won the last five consecutive top-fuel titles and six overall.
Lots of speculation about how Schumacher and Green would fare this year, with little mention of McClenathan, even though McClenathan finished third in the title standings last season.
“I kind of thrive on that,” McClenathan said about staying under the radar. “It just gives me more to prove. We’ll let the car speak for itself and go out there and do the best we can.”
And despite his admiration of teammate Schumacher, McClenathan said the challenge faced by Schumacher and Dixon in melding with their new teams gives him a better opportunity to win.
“It definitely does that,” said McClenathan, whose new co-crew chiefs are Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler. “We’ll have two cars,” his and Schumacher’s, “that will be very close to each other.”
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