My trusty iPhone rang and the caller ID indicated to me that it was Cory. I concluded that a blog entry was needed and I was right. So here I am, your humble guest blogger. Cory wanted me to update all of his Mac fan base as to what he was up to this week. He’s headed for the land down under!

Yup, Cory’s back in Australia for a 10-day stint driving a Top Fueler for Santo Rapisarda. Santo has been racing in Australia for over 40 years and is the owner of a successful business. His company is called Uplift Crane and it is the largest mobile crane company in Sydney. He has called on our very own Cory McClenathan to pilot his Top Fuel dragster down an Australian quarter-mile.

Cory was pretty excited when he told me about it on the phone. He misses being in the seat and is looking forward to the opportunity to race with Santo. Cory is accompanied by crew chief Tony Shortall on the trip to help with tuning duties on the dragster. I was hoping to get the nod to accompany him on the trip but seeing as how I can’t tune a dragster I’ll have to settle for a trip to Joliet for the upcoming Route 66 Nationals. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Cory will be racing in Chicago, too. How I will continue to type with my fingers crossed will be a slick accomplishment but if it will help get Cory a ride...

One major difference between the NHRA and Australian Top Fuel drag racing is that they still run a full quarter-mile in Australia. When Cory reminded me of that little tidbit I cautioned him to resist the temptation to lift at the 1000-foot. mark! He said that he it’s probably going to feel like the throttle is stuck when he crosses the finish line at the full 1320 feet. As most drag racing fans know, it only takes a fraction of a second to cover the last 320 feet but I’m sure it can feel a lot longer at 330 mph when the driver isn’t used to it.

Before we concluded our call I made Cory promise to send me some pictures from over there when he got the chance. Of course if I was with him he wouldn’t have to worry about taking pictures but I’m not with him, so I’m at his mercy for visual aids! As soon as he sends me some pictures, I promise to pass them on to all of you Mac fans out there. I haven’t been to any races this year yet so I don’t have any recent ones to share with you. So keep your fingers crossed (I’m still typing with mine crossed...) or whatever you can do to conjure a good mojo for Cory. I will keep you updated. In the mean time, if you hear a distant thunder from the land down under, it’s probably the sound of our own Cory Mac puttin’ an Aussie on the trailer!

Hi guys! Guest blogger Billy Knight here. I talked to Cory via FaceTime on our iPhones last night. We figured it was time to blog. As you probably read yesterday on NHRA.com, Cory will be driving for Dexter Tuttle in Topeka!

I just got off of the phone with Cory. He’s pumped up to say the least! I am, too. I think he has a good chance to go out there and qualify in the top eight and go a round or two, or three. Not only will he backed by Dexter Tuttle’s Colorfast but Randy Davis of Nordic Boats has tossed his hat into the ring to be part of the action. Even Pro Stock driver Bob Yonke has a hand in backing the effort this weekend. Hey, I didn’t hear JEGS name mentioned. Maybe Jeggie will come out and play, too? OK, this is exciting. I’m sure Cory is going to be very busy again starting right now! I will keep up with him via text message and cellphone and keep a diary this weekend and blog next week. Pop over and say to him this weekend. I’m sure he will be very happy to see all of his Topeka fans again. Remember this is kind of a homecoming for him. Cory was born in Wichita, Kan., so get out there and cheer one of Kansas’ own—right into the winner’s circle!

So there I am sleeping peacefully having a good rest, except for the bad dream bouncing off the walls inside my skull. I wake up relieved that what was in my head is only a bad dream. Then it hit me, remember that feeling you got when you were in high school after you broke up with someone? Yeah, that feeling that says, “Oh man this can’t be happening.” No I didn’t break up with anyone. It’s that same sick feeling I get when I realize that Cory isn’t driving this year. Every now and then it hits me again and I still can’t believe it. The subject keeps coming up again and again in my endeavors. I was doing my military unit training assembly at Fort Bragg last weekend and my squadron first sergeant approached me and said that he watched the Gatornationals a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to know why he didn’t see Cory. He’s not a big drag racing fan obviously so he didn’t know. So I had to muddle through the story again.

Okay, I’m not going to launch into why a driver with more name recognition than anyone else in the Top Fuel ranks does not have a permanent seat this season but I can tell you that he will be back. He will be well rested. He will be looking to make up for lost time. If the Greek can run top fuel at his age (83 or 84, who knows...) and John Force can snag championship number 15 at the age of 61, Cory Mac is only in the middle of his career and I kid you not—his best drag racing days are ahead of him. OK, that said, I will step down off this box with the Tide logo on the side and talk about something else ... for now.

Cory is getting better at Scrabble! Yeah, I used to beat him all the time and the other day he cleaned my clock by 139 points. I’m not going to tell what happened in a subsequent match (I won...hehe). If he ever ticks me off though, I will show some of his less flattering scores. Just kidding, I wouldn’t do that (yes, I would!).

Like most other men, we love our gadgets. Not only do we both have iPhone 4s but we have iPads. Although he has the original iPad, I have the iPad2. That would be a notch on the board for me! The “keeping up with technology” war is nothing more than a pedal fest though.

First I have the newest stuff, then he does, then I have it again. So many new things continue to appear on the market that one can only have all the latest stuff for a short time. I’m sure that when the iPad3 comes out in November, he will be taunting me as he waves it over his head. I would die laughing if he dropped it!

Cory says hi to everybody and see you in Topeka. If you never hear from me again, that means Cory didn’t like this blog and I’m wearing a pair of concrete shoes at the bottom of Lake Michigan. Few things could be worse—except for what I’m about to do. I have to read a chapter about “Relational Dialectics Theory.” Yeah... See you in the pits!
 

It's been a few weeks and I wanted to get up to date with everyone on what's been going on. It's funny I have been back and fourth from California and Indy so much its like being on the tour with the NHRA gang but I have seen my family more this year than i normally get to in a three years.

I think a lot of drivers get so caught up with the tour the sponsors and the championship that we don't think about the time lost with our own families and i am certainly  guilty of that myself. But that's the life we have chosen and one I love: the fans, going for the championship and taking care of the sponsors and some how we get our families in there too.

I have been working on a lot of different things as far as getting back out there in a fuel car and I have to say things are looking better than they have in a while. Mike Dakin and I have been trying to get his dragster ready to do some testing in Indy and then see what races that he would like to attend. He has hired Rob Peck to try and get us organized and ready to go racing. One thing is for sure the oildown format can kill a new team if you are not ready for it so we are going to be extra careful and work on going A to B first before we go to an event.

 Also I will have some help from all the good friends at DSR that I have made over the years to make sure things go as smooth as they can.

I guess we will have to wait and see and you never know what might pop up between know and then. Also I have had some great sponsors that I have worked with that might want to jump on for some great exposure.

Let's change gears a little. My boy Jacob joined Cub Scouts this year so that has been a blast. We built our first pinewood derby car. It was a lot of fun but I have to admit I was a little concerned at first because some of the parents said they were expecting a lot out of us because of what I did for a living so I was sweating it out at first.

 we show up for race day and there are about 60 other cars to compete with but Jake is a very happy-go-lucky kind of kid and i just kept telling him its not winning as much as it is about good sportsmanship. ok who am I kidding; I still want to do WIN.

The gods were shining on us not only did he win his Bear Pack but he won overall for the day set an ET Record and a Top Speed Record as well. It was so cool to see the look on his face. I will never forget it as long as I live.

So for being first overall he was qualified for the District Championship and he did great there as well. There were 51 cars there the best of the best in Indy the track was a little steeper and longer when the day was done Jake got 9th place and Deb and I are very proud of the way he represented Pack 110.

But this blog has to end with my mother, Carol McClenathan. You see today is Mothers Day and I can't tell you how lucky I am to have her for a mom. She put up with me as a crazy kid and even a wild teenager and I love her very much. So to all the mothers out there Happy Mothers Day ....
 

Hi folks, I'm back and it's time to catch you guys up on what I have been doing.

I went to the Vegas race and it was a great time for the fans and some very good races. But once again its hard for me to be on the sidelines and not wearing a driving suit..

The good folks at Impact are making me one as I write this so at least when the time comes I will be ready to jump in a car and do my thing. I can't wait to get back in a race car but it has to be the right deal as well.

I can't afford to pay for a ride. Don't get me wrong; it's what I was born to do but I need to be able to make money just like everyone else in America who doesn’t have a job right now: we need to make money to be able to take care of our families.

Speaking of family, I have been in California with my mom and dad doing some things around the house and spending some time with Courtney. We also went out to my Grandma’s house and did some interviews to find someone to spend a few days a week with her to help around the house and make it a little easier for her. We have a big family and we all see her a lot, but she is 97 years old and she still wants to do her own thing and who can blame her? Most of us would be so lucky!

While I was there I could hear my mother and her cracking up about a letter she had received in the mail and so they asked me to read it. The county she lives in said they were going to have about 75 goats roaming the hillsides to take care of all the weeds to help during the dry parts of the summer when there are lots of fires. After we all had a good laugh about it I decided to go out and see if I could find any goats, She had the letter five days before I read it but I'll be dammed if I didn’t walk out and there they are, right behind her house eating away so I snapped a few photos with my trusty iPhone and ran back inside to tell Mom and Grandma. They thought I was pulling their legs so I made them go outside and they got a big kick out of it. I have to say it was very cool.

I'm hoping to be testing a car in Indy soon and back out on the track shortly after. I will let you know more as it comes along.

Take care and keep it shiny side up.