Retirement is a relative term; just ask Cory McClenathan.
So what was 34-time NHRA national event winner doing behind a wheel of a Pontiac Firebird Nostalgia Funny Car at the Bakersfield March Meet?
“You know, that’s a good question,” McClenathan said. “About two months ago, I got a call from Rick Akers, and he was wondering if I wanted to come out and wheel his Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car. And I’m thinking, ‘Well, I’ve never driven one before. But that’s not going to stop me from trying.”
Mclenathan missed the field on a weekend that demanded more resolve from the drivers and teams than usual because Mother Nature was throwing a hissy-fit complete with rain and cold temperatures.
Regardless, while the team was there to win, they were most importantly there to prove a point.
“They’ve been through some growing pains with this car, and we just wanted to bring it out and show them that you can run these things and not beat them up,” McClenathan explained. “Everybody jumped on and started working a little bit here, a little bit there. It’s taken a lot of work to get to this point, but we got a ’69 Trans Am body on it with the old Mac attack paint job. And just trying to do something different.”
It didn’t take McClenathan long to realize this classic flopper is a different animal than the long skinny cars.
“Testing was interesting when I first got in the car,” McClenathan said. “Things got the front end in the air. I’m out there, and I can’t steer it. I’m steering it like a dragster, and you can’t drive these like a dragster. You really got to manhandle these things. Figured out in my Friday pass and dropped the laundry out down at the other end.
“They’re plenty fast, and it’s been a long time since I had a car that you had to shift at the same time. But yeah, looking over the blower’s a little bit different for me.”
McClenthan is officially retired from the Big Show, or is he?
“Not necessarily,” McClenathan responded. “I think me getting my license in this Funny Car can open up some doors in the big show, Funny Car area. So, I would love to switch over and get my license in that as well. Or maybe we’ll take this thing to Funny Car Chaos, put a big blower on it, bigger fuel pump.”
For the record, the Bakersfield excursion was not his first time behind the wheel of a Funny Car.
“Nothing like this one, though,” McClenathan said. “It was a Karmann Ghia Funny Car that my father and I had built in ’86, actually. So it had a single turbo, 2,800, Autocraft motor in it that made about, let’s say, a little over 600 horsepower. So it’s not even close.
“I’m not claustrophobic, so that doesn’t bother me, but it’s so cool to be up there in one of these nostalgia cars where the windows are still open. You’re still out there, and it’s a great feeling. The biggest thing is for me is looking up to try to see the tree. And now I know how the Pro Stock guys feel when they got to switch lanes and looking up there. But we’re going to fix that. Get it to where the body’s a little bit higher there, or me a little bit lower. One or the other. But for now, I fit in the car great.
McClenathan did receive advice from one of Funny Car drag racing’s best, Del Worsham. He said Worsham provided sage advice.
“With Del, it’s always about, ‘Okay, the Funny Car’s going to do this,” McClenathan explained. “[Del said] It’s preloaded in certain areas. And this is the way I built the car. But you got to keep the weight in the front.” So he basically said, “You need to shorten up your burnout.
“Back up a little bit quicker, so it keeps that weight in the fuel tank. So on the starting line, it doesn’t carry the wheels too far out and start moving you over.”
“Which is a problem I was having in the first couple of runs.”
When Worsham speaks Funny Car, McClenathan understands listening is paramount.
“We sped up our deal, and it worked out fantastic,” McClenathan said. “Went right down through there. So this is a thing that really gets me with these cars. You don’t have a tach in the car, so you don’t know how much you’re revving it. And we bring this thing up to about between 35 and 4,000 RPM on the starting line. What that sounds like, I have no idea. So that threw me. No shift light, but they want to shift 9,200. So I’m going by feel and by what I’m hearing. Well, that motor in the front of me it’s tricking me because it’s right in my face. It’s a lot louder inside than I’m used to.”
McClenathan admits the Funny Car is challenging him to return to his raw driving talents.
“It definitely has got my attention,” McClenathan said. “Obviously, it’s making me think. So I think I’m a little behind the car right now. I’ll catch up to it. But it’s part of the deal. The nostalgia thing goes way back. I remember racing without tachs and without shift point lights. And obviously, it would make it a lot more consistent, but I’m just going to have to figure it out in my head.”
And as McClenathan sees it, the Nostalgia Funny Car is the ultimate seat of the pants car.
“When you’re talking driving by the seat of your pants, being on the rear end of this thing and sitting that close to it, I can feel everything this car’s doing,” McClenathan admitted. “So, that’s the plus. With a dragster, it takes a little bit of time when the thing starts smoking the tires for the driver to feel it. Where this car, you can feel it raise up right away until you’re on top of it. So I’m hoping that works for me better.”
