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Cory McClenathan Not Closing Door on Return to NHRA Competition
All-time racing great Cory McClenathan is still active in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
Sure, the 34-time NHRA Top Fuel winner and four-time season championship runner-up hasn't raced in the category since losing his ride in 2020. And, sure, McClenathan is 62 years old. But that doesn't mean he doesn't still check his phone and his emails for a call asking him to get back in the game.
These days, the closest McClenathan gets to the cockpit of a race car is through a five-year partnership of his current business—Reno, Nev.-based RevChem Composites—with Kalitta Motorsports. McClenathan was at Kalitta HQ in Ypsilanti, Mich., this past Thursday to participate in a Business-to-Business Summit with fellow Kalitta Motorsports Partners.
"I last raced in 2020 during Covid," McClenathan said. "We did like five races at Indianapolis that year."
The two-time U.S. Nationals winner would love to get back out there.
"I try to keep my ties," McClenathan said. "It's not like I'm too old to drive a race car. If something was to come up, I think I'd do it. But really, I got tired of chasing the money myself, trying to do it all myself."
In a perfect world, McClenathan says he'd love to find a partial-season ride. He's not interested in going to a new team or helping a fledgling team figure it out.
"At first, I was going to people who had new teams," he said. "Let's get the car figured out. A guy like me could help. That got old after a while, and I finally decided that unless I'm doing three or four of five races in a row or in a year type of thing, I wasn't interested.
"There's no way I could go back to it full time. I have a house, I have a job, I have a daughter, my mother. If the right thing came along and came up and it was the right deal, I'd take it.
"I still have the competitive spirit. I can still drive one. I'm not too heavy to get into a dragster.
So, for now, the drag racing fix will have to be as a business partner to Kalitta Motorsports.
"I enjoy this," he said. "I can see my friends. I get to see all the sponsors. Scott Kalitta and I were really good friends. I have a lot of friends here."
McClenathan says that if he did get another opportunity, there's still room for guys like him in the sport.
"Kids with money, kids with parents with a lot of money, are the ones coming into the sport," he said. "Some eventually end up getting sponsors. Fans like seeing some of the good rookie drivers that have come up, but for the most part, a lot of people miss us old guys."
And McClenathan misses the action.
"I got replaced by a guy—Spencer Massey—that could leave the starting line and who had money in his pocket," McClenathan said. " I'm one of those guys who could be back at any time if the right thing happened.
"It's nice to see guys like me come back for five, six races. It brings my old fans back and it gives the NHRA something to talk about."
In the meantime, McClenathan keeps checking those messages.
"Always, always," he said. "I never let that go."
