Roush® Drag Racers Start Strong On 2008 Nmra Campaign

[Shay]

ROUSH® DRAG RACERS START STRONG ON 2008 NMRA CAMPAIGN


Roush Press Release:


BRADENTON, Fla. (March 10, 2008) - The four-car ROUSH® drag racing team
started the 2008 NMRA season with a strong showing in the Sunday, March
9 elimination rounds at Bradenton (Fla.) Motorsports Park, but it
didn’t always look like it. In fact, during the pre-race shake-down
runs on Thursday and Friday, three of the cars struggled with major
mechanical issues.

The ROUSH quartet was led by Susan Roush-McClenaghan who took her car
to the finals of the ROUSH Modular Muscle class, the second time in her
career she has advanced to the trophy dash. Unfortunately, her car ran a
10.49 in the finals, faster than her 10.51 breakout, so she walked away
from Florida as the runner-up but very high in the point standings.

“This really is a terrific way to start the season,” Susan said
following the finals. “You always want to go to the finals and win,
but making it this far is a major boost in the points and for our team
confidence. Our crew guys worked really hard this weekend. They
continually thrashed on all the cars and kept us in the races.”

The road to the finals wasn’t an easy one for Susan as she paired up
in the first round against Roxanne Shepherd, the 2007 champion. However,
a 10.53 run against a 10.51 breakout was enough to put the champion on
the trailer. Prior to the qualifying rounds, the crew discovered that
the engine wasn’t running properly on Susan’s Mustang and had to
swap to the backup.

Susan’s husband, Dale McClenaghan, ran his 1962 Ford Falcon into the
semi-finals, the deepest he has gone in his NMRA drag racing career. In
the offseason, the team installed a new 589 cubic inch, 1013 horsepower
ROUSH engine in his ride, and the powerplant change paid off. The
engine, nicknamed “Big Thunder,” powered Dale to a career best run
of 8.76-seconds at 155.01-mph in the second round of eliminations.

Donnie Bowles made it to the second round, and had his 2005 ROUSH
Mustang running very consistent elapsed times. He was forced to sit out
the first round of qualifying with a broken dampner, but once that was
resolved his elapsed times were consistently within .01-seconds of his
career best of 10.06.

Don Bowles, the team patriarch, was the lone member of the ROUSH drag
team who experienced terminal mechanical woes. During the testing runs
the crew discovered that the experimental engine he is working on with
Ford had cracked the block and the oil was mixing with the water. They
drained and replaced the fluids, made one qualifying pass at 9.3
seconds, and felt that it would be fine to lineup in the first round of
eliminations. However, when no fluid leaks were observed the decision
was made to attempt a second qualifying run on Saturday morning which
proved disastrous.

Don launched the car and, essentially, went nowhere. The car coasted to
half-track and sat with a fatal engine failure. Unfortunately, being a
developmental Ford motor, spare parts were not readily available so
Don’s weekend was finished without making a single elimination pass
where the points are doled out.

Luckily, not scoring points in this season-opener will not affect
Don’s chase for the 2008 championship. The NMRA rules allow the
points from the lowest two events to be dropped so he won’t take a hit
from this event.

The four cars carry sponsorship from ROUSH Performance, Valvoline,
Simply Wow and Battery Brain. The next event on the NMRA schedule will
take place on April 4-6 at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, Ga.

Brandon Ford of Tampa, Fla., furthered the ROUSH presence at the
racetrack with a midway exhibit that included a ROUSH Trak Pak™, a Drag
Pak™, Stage 3™ and 428R™ Mustangs. The four cars received plenty of
attention from the fans as they wandered among the displays between the
rounds.

[Mr DayZee]

It is great to see Roush back in drag racing. Thats where he got his start and thumbs up to them!!!

[360Rocket]

Met Susan and Dale this past weekend, very nice people.