Cory McClenathan said he knows a coin has two sides. He’s discovered both of them as a veteran driver and fledgling team owner.

McClenathan said he’s experienced both sides of the frustration starting with a driving miscue during Friday qualifying in Indy. For him, accidentally shutting off the car was the tip of the hat in what has been an extremely stressful month.

McClenathan’s temper redlined after the incident. He said he chewed the man most responsible for the snafu – the man in the mirror.

“It’s difficult, frustrating and at the same time very good because at least I know what my destiny is,” McClenathan said. “The thing I find myself doing is remaining so busy with the other tasks that I make mistakes. Friday was a perfect example. You’re here in Indy. Best air … best conditions, the one you have looked forward to all night all year. What do I do? I go up there and as I backing up, I go to reset the clutch and accidentally hit the trigger switch. There was no one to blame but myself.

Cory McClenathan said he knows a coin has two sides. He’s discovered both of them as a veteran driver and fledgling team owner.

McClenathan said he’s experienced both sides of the frustration starting with a driving miscue during Friday qualifying in Indy. For him, accidentally shutting off the car was the tip of the hat in what has been an extremely stressful month.

McClenathan’s temper redlined after the incident. He said he chewed the man most responsible for the snafu – the man in the mirror.

“It’s difficult, frustrating and at the same time very good because at least I know what my destiny is,” McClenathan said. “The thing I find myself doing is remaining so busy with the other tasks that I make mistakes. Friday was a perfect example. You’re here in Indy. Best air … best conditions, the one you have looked forward to all night all year. What do I do? I go up there and as I backing up, I go to reset the clutch and accidentally hit the trigger switch. There was no one to blame but myself.

“All I could do is sit there and question myself and my actions. I was just being clumsy. It was one switch that I reached over to hit and accidentally hit one next to it. I feel bad for the guys, the sponsors and Keith Adams and Tony Shortall – for all of the work they put into the car. It’s very hard.”

McClenathan said he went back to the trailer and didn’t want to eat and remained angry at himself.

“I am my worst critic,” McClenathan said. “I came in the next morning and I was embarrassed.”

McClenathan called a team meeting and he said that he apologized to everyone for his shortcomings.

“We are a team and we did that because we are a team,” McClenathan said. “That part of it makes me understand why I am where I am today. I haven’t had that all year long or the year before. I actually have guys that care about what goes on here. They appreciate the way that I treat them. That’s what makes this a good team.”

 

SACRIFICING HIS FUTURE?  

McClenathan is quickly discovering the nuances of financing a competitive Top Fuel operation. He abandoned the Scott Griffin Motorsports operation to branch out on his own following Sonoma.

“Doing a lease program is definitely a harder way to go,” McClenathan said. “I am hoping that changes with the future. I can grow as a part of DSR as well as myself as a team owner. You almost feel like you’re in a lease-to-buy situation like with a house.”

McClenathan said he tends to make more of his decisions with the wallet than the foot.

“I am still driving with my pocketbook and I am careful with what I do and how I drive it. Everyone tells me I have to get away from that. Believe me when it comes to Sunday morning and we have to stand on the gas, I have always been one of the guys who says to never lift. That’s how I am going to do it.

“I do find myself being thrifty in certain areas where I wouldn’t have normally been if it was somebody else’s and I wasn’t running the deal. As far as the future it looks bright.”

McClenathan said he’s working on a two-year extension with primary sponsor Fram as well as his other associate backers.

“Everybody that came with me has been awesome,” McClenathan said. “My biggest regret in the whole deal was in losing Torco Race Fuels in the process because of things happening prior to this. Evan Knoll and Latrell Preston were always great to me. We still talk and it’s not like we have a bad relationship. I would to try and bring them back in the future.

“I think Evan Knoll is a big part of the future of drag racing. He wants to be here and he enjoys the people. I enjoyed having him on our car. Part of the nature of this sport is that people come and go, but I know Evan is going to be here a long time. I know that things that happened in the early part of the season is why he isn’t here now.

“That is the only part of the puzzle that I haven’t been able to fix. I am one of those people that like taking care of those who took care of me and Evan took care of me throughout the last few years. I want to rectify that situation.”

One has to give McClenathan an “A” for honesty when admitting he has a problem with micromanaging in his new role.

“I enjoy working with the sponsors but I will admit more micromanaging than I did in the past,” McClenathan said. ‘I do have the right people in place to take care of that. I will be able to separate myself from that and get back to looking for sponsors and taking car of those on there now.”

McClenathan said he’s careful of the future financial quality of his life in maintaining his drag racing driving career.

“I think we have to operate on the margin of caution,” McClenathan said. “I don’t want to overspend, not do I want to under-spend. I have to find a happy medium in there somewhere.”

McClenathan said that he’s one major associate away from being where he’d like to be in the budget.

“That would put me over that hump where I could buy the best of everything, every time,” McClenathan said. “That’s not to say I don’t have the best of everything now, I just don’t have as much. When I get to that point, I can go out there and drive it a little hard and even tune it a little harder.

“My crew chiefs can try new things. Right now we have everything at our hands as far as testing – a clutch dyno, a testing dyno and I am able to utilize things I haven’t had before. It’s just being up in that top five that opens up the opportunities.”