All of a sudden, the sting of a first round loss doesn’t burn as much for Cory McClenathan. The Fram-sponsored driver from Avon, Indiana lost in the first round during the NHRA Gatornationals to Hillary Will but the impression of a Saturday afternoon encounter remained emblazoned in his memory banks.

McClenathan, a 29-time winner in Top Fuel, was asked by a family of race fans to place the ashes of their patriarch inside the parachute. He obliged without hesitation.

“I do this every once in a while,” McClenathan pointed out. “This is twice we’ve done this in 2008. How can you say no to a request like that?” All of a sudden, the sting of a first round loss doesn’t burn as much for Cory McClenathan. The Fram-sponsored driver from Avon, Indiana lost in the first round during the NHRA Gatornationals to Hillary Will but the impression of a Saturday afternoon encounter remained emblazoned in his memory banks.

McClenathan, a 29-time winner in Top Fuel, was asked by a family of race fans to place the ashes of their patriarch inside the parachute. He obliged without hesitation.

“I do this every once in a while,” McClenathan pointed out. “This is twice we’ve done this in 2008. How can you say no to a request like that?”

McClenathan, who declined to mention the family’s name, said the family has been coming to the races and cheering him on for seventeen years. He’s watched the children grow into adulthood. On this particular instance, the father passed away the week before the NHRA Gatornationals.

“One of the sons came and he brought me some ashes from his dad and had me put it in the parachutes -- so this time the whole family got to come back kind of in memory of dad,” said McClenathan. “Both sons were here so I was able to do it again for them.”

“I do this every now and then. We’ve done this twice this year. Once for another family that lost their father right before Pomona. It's one of those deals where you can't say no to something like that where the family comes to drag races and they bring their kids as children and I'm able to see them grow up.”

McClenathan admits the experience enables him to quickly develop a bond with the special fans.

“It means a lot to me to be able to do something for them that aids in the healing process,” McClenathan added. “It's one of those things where it doesn't matter what their names were, when they’re coming out to ask me to do something like that. It's a heart felt experience and it's something you want to do to help them get some closure. You can see by the tears in their eyes how much it means to them.”

The experience hits home for McClenathan.

“Seems like yesterday that I was a 9-year old kid going to Orange County Raceway with my dad,” McClenathan revealed. “That’s why I wanted to do something for these families because I know what it means. I would hope that somebody would do something like that for me.”

For McClenathan, he’s feeling the love from drag racing these days.

“Drag racing has always been very good to me,” McClenathan said. “I think nowadays even though I feel the love from drag racing, I feel like I owe the drag racing fans something, I need to give something back. When I can give back to fans like that I was able to earlier, it means the world.”