Following a delay of on-track activities today because of moisture after a rain-out on Sunday, No.
4 qualifier Cory McClenathan's Monday at the NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park
ended in the quarterfinal round, when he was defeated by Steve Torrence.
In the opening Top Fuel stanza, McClenathan disposed of TJ Zizzo with a solid 3.927-second pass at
314.61 mph, then met up with Torrence in the quarterfinal, without lane choice. After the launch at
the starting lights, Torrence sailed to the finish line to a 3.888/305.77 pass, as the FRAM Tough
Guard dragster lit on fire while posting a losing 4.190/211.89 run.
"We don't know what happened," said a surprised McClenathan, who held on to third in the Countdown
to 1 playoffs standings. "We'll have to take it apart to see. It just literally blew up and caught
on fire. I have no idea. It didn't indicate anything to me, nothing, so it could be a parts
failure, a ton of things.
"That was our time to capitalize on the opportunity and we let it get by us. We'll just have to
find out what happened and see if we can't stop that from happening again. It just burns up too
much equipment."
Next up is the Fourth Annual NHRA Virginia Nationals in Richmond, Va., Oct. 9-11.
