susan roush-mcclenaghan

words by donut > written on a nifty new macbook > photos by the author and the rest of his cohorts > car 2001 mustang
family business
SUSAN ROUSH MCCLENAGHAN IS CARRYING ON THE FAMILY’S
WINNING TRADITIONS.
W
hen your dad is Jack Roush, growing up around
drag racing is a given. However, while Susan Roush
McClenaghan fondly recalls those memories, she’s
also busy making memories of her own at the drag strip.
Humble as they come, McClenaghan’s soft spoken manner
belies the fact that on the track, she’s a force to be reckoned
with. Wearing a number three on her windshield for the 2008
season in Modular Muscle, she has quickly become someone
that no one wants to draw in the first round.
FROM DAY ONE
As a racer’s daughter, McClenaghan’s formative years were
spent in what you might call the heyday of the sport. “I grew
up at the dragstrip, and that’s a big part of my childhood
memories,” McClenaghan says. While it would be a few years
before McClenaghan would get behind the wheel of a drag
car, she was actively involved in other forms of motorsports,
she explains. “I was a navigator for a two person rally team,
but I never drove.” It wasn’t until quite recently that she got
behind the wheel herself, and started drag racing. “We had
our Competition Parts program and they were taking cars to
Milan to test them, and needed drivers to test the parts. That
was how I got started in all of this. I learned how to drag race
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through those test sessions in 2005,” she explains.
It wasn’t long before she went from test sessions to racing
in earnest, making her competition debut at NMRA
Bradenton in 2006. After what would best be described as a
learning season, Susan came back out in 2007 with the car
that was formerly driven by her brother, and proceeded to
work her way up the ladder in points, displacing class regulars one by one, finally coming to rest at the number three
spot at season’s end, thanks to a pair of runner-up finishes
and consistent top-tier qualifying.
HAND ME DOWN? NOT QUITE...
While her brother drove her current car before she did, it’s
anything but a hand-me-down. The car is a 2001 Mustang
with ROUSH Stage 3 mods, powered by a 4.6L 2-valve. The
motor uses a stock block, with a stock Cobra crankshaft,
forged Manley rods, and Weisco pistons – they are all stock
sized. The motor has the same bore, stroke, and compression
ratio as it did from the factory. OEM 2-valve castings, put
through the ROUSH CNC porting program and then hand finished, top off the combo. A ROUSHcharger (Eaton M90-based
Roots blower) pushes 7 psi through an intercooler and into
the motor via a Roush Competition Engines manifold. Open
BBK long-tube headers get the spent charge out of the motor
as quickly as possible. A F.A.S.T. XFI box controls the 62lb/hr
RC injectors, which are provided fuel from an Aeromotive fuel
system. Power is transferred from the bullet to the wheels via
a TCI Powerglide with a Reid Racing case and TCI 5,800 rpm
stall 8-inch converter. From there, it completes its journey
through a Moser 9-inch rearend, filled with 35-spline axles,
spool and 4.09 gears. The chassis really shines in the car
with ROUSH Special Vehicles Department building the cage
and setting up the suspension with Koni struts and AJE
coilovers up front, and Strange double adjustable with Hyper
coils and RJ ladder bars out back. The car has 60-footed a
best of 1.409 and clicked off a best pass of 10.45 at 127 mph.
McClenaghan points out that the motor is really nothing that
isn’t attainable by the average Joe. “It’s basically a standard
ROUSH supercharged 4.6L. We’ve done some work to the
internal components for durability’s sake, but really it’s just a
stock ROUSH-supercharged 2-valve.”
WHO IS SHE >> A FAST-RISING MOD MUSCLE RACER
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE >> SHE’LL END YOUR
WEEKEND ON SUNDAY.
[ susan roush-mcclenaghan ]
“We had our Competition
Parts program and they were
taking cars to Milan to test
them, and needed drivers to
test the parts. That was how
I got started in all of this.”
CLIMBING THE LADDER
While happy with her number three points finish in ’07,
McClenaghan isn’t content to stay where she’s at. “I’m going
for the championship this year. I’m a racer, so that is a given.
Part of our program is to do the best we can, and the championship is part of that,” McClenaghan says. “Every round you
win is an accomplishment, and every round you lose, you
learn something. If you are racing someone who is very good,
competitive and very knowledgeable, even though you lose,
you learn a lot. And next time, things could be different. I’m
out there to learn, and every round counts, win or lose.”
The 2008 season started well for McClenaghan, taking a
runner up finish in Bradenton, putting her in an enviable spot
going into the rest of the year. While the outcome was a good
one, the weekend was anything but easy. She explains, “Our
Bradenton event was extraordinarily challenging for our
entire team. Dale lost a lifter in the Falcon’s 598 and wiped
out two cylinders, so we rebuilt the engine there at the track
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++++
[ susan roush-mcclenaghan ]
++++
“Every round you win is an
accomplishment, and every
round you lose, you learn
something.”
between testing and when the event started. Then, I was running my spare engine from last year that was still brand new,
and in testing we discovered that it was having troubles at
high RPM. I don’t know if the valves were floating or what, but
it would go completely flat at the 1000-foot mark. So before
qualifying – we barely made first round – we put last year’s
engine back in the car. It was killer all weekend except for the
last round. Part of my wiring harness came undone at the top
end and I lost half my cylinders, and still broke out.”
PLANNING AHEAD
With the 2008 season, the team is planning ahead and
already thinking about what comes next. “We’re looking at
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JUNE 08
building a new chassis for me for the 2009 season. It’ll probably be the new 2010 Mustang. I’ll probably be staying in
Modular Muscle, but that new chassis is going to have its own
set of challenges. It’s going be a really cool project and lend
itself well to showcasing our performance product line, but
every new car has its challenges, with all the fine tuning you
need to get it where you need it. That’s what’s really cool
about the chassis I have today – between my brother and
I, we’ve run that car quite a bit, and have been able to really
get everything down. We’ll have to go through all that with the
new chassis,” McClenaghan reveals.
With the raw talent that McClenaghan has displayed in
what is truly a driver’s class, and having the support to properly develop that talent, Susan Roush-McClenaghan is going
to be a competitor to watch.
[ susan roush-mcclenaghan ]
IN FOCUS
++++
susanroush-mcclenaghan
I respect the experience of many of the other competitors who have been
doing this a lot longer than I have. But if I allowed myself to get all bound
up and nervous about racing them, I wouldn’t be doing my job.
What prompted you to get behind the wheel competitively? >> I thought I could do it. I had never raced a car competitively before. I had been a navigator for a two person rally
team, but I’d never driven in competition. It was something
that I thought was worth a try, so I started driving at the Milan
test sessions in 2005. My father had a lot to do with me starting to compete. He encouraged us to see what we could do
competitively. Of course, he’s a man of competition, and we
just kind of went from there. I’m still learning a lot.
You currently wear a lot of hats at ROUSH. Was it always
expected that you’d go into the family’s business? >> I do
a lot of different things here; I have a lot of job descriptions. I
started managing the museum about 15 years ago, and I’m
also a Program Manager. My father always expected my
brother to get into the family business, but he – until recently – was running his own business, so for a long time I was
the only one involved on any level. He started calling me his
gearhead. My background is actually in advertising and
graphic design. What I’m doing today is pretty far removed
from my education and work experience.
Being located where you are, how do you keep in practice with snow on the ground? >> It’s so cold up here that
we don’t get a chance to get any runs on the cars prior or
Bradenton or Reynolds, but we have a practice tree here in
the museum. We have it set up for the people who come in, to
demonstrate our interest in drag racing, and let people have
some fun with it. We have it set up for our classes – Open
Comp and Modular Muscle [.500 Pro tree] so that we can
practice on it, too. To be perfectly honest though, I haven’t had
a lot of time lately.
Is there anyone in the class who you don’t like to line up
against? >> I respect the experience of many of the other
competitors who have been doing this a lot longer than I
have. But if I allowed myself to get all bound up and nervous
about racing them, I wouldn’t be doing my job.
What’s your favorite part of racing? >> I really, really enjoy
the community that follows the NMRA series. As you’ve seen
at the track, we have our own little neighborhood within the
community. I also enjoy going out there and shooting for my
best reaction time, and trying to be as consistent as possible.
Consistency is key, and I really enjoy that challenge. It’s
addictive.
technical highlights
++++
<< McClenaghan’s motor has
the same stroke, bore, and
compression as a stock motor.
Although the parts have been
upgraded to more-durablethan-stock components, the
setup represents something
that is readily attainable by an
everyday person.
<< The car runs on a very wellset-up ladder bar suspension
with Koni struts and AJE
coilovers up front and Strange
double adjustables and
Hypercoils out back. That has
helped the car to a 1.40 short
time.
<< McClenaghan’s cage and
chassis were all done by the
ROUSH Special Vehicles
Department. The car is a very
stable, very consistent platform
that has led Susan to three final
rounds in the past eight races.
Not bad at all for someone
who’d only been drag racing
competitively for two seasons.
Driver:
Hometown:
Occupation:
Owner of the car:
Class:
Car:
Quickest 60-foot, ET, MPH:
Chassis:
Engine:
Builder:
CID:
Crank:
Rods:
Pistons:
Cams:
Block:
Heads:
Intake:
Transmission:
Converter:
Rearend:
Engine Management:
Power Adder:
Intercooler:
Front Suspension:
Rear Suspension:
Steering:
Exhaust:
Wheels and Tires:
Brakes:
Body:
Safety Equipment:
Crew:
Sponsors:
Susan Roush-McClenaghan
Livonia, MI
Automotive Museum Curator and Program Manager
ROUSH
ROUSH Modular Muscle
2001 ROUSH Stage 3 Ford Mustang
1.409, 10.45 @ 127 mph
Roush Special Vehicles Department
2-Valve 4.6L ROUSH Competition engine
Leo Cavender, ROUSH
281
Cobra 4340 Kellogg
4340 forged Manley; stock
Weisco
Comp
Stock, Iron
OEM 2v, ROUSH CNC-ported and hand finished
Roush Competition Engine
TCI Powerglide, w/ Reid Racing case
TCI 8-inch, 5800 stall
Moser 9-inch w/ Moser 35-spline axles, 4.09 gears and Spool
FAST XFI
ROUSHcharger – Eaton M90 roots blower, 7 psi
ROUSH
AJE K-member, Koni struts, AJE springs
Strange Double Adjustable shocks,
Hypercoil springs, RJ ladder bars
Stock
BBK 1-5/8-inch long-tubes
Weld wheels, 28.5 x 10.5 Mickey Thompson
Wilwood
ROUSH Stage 3 body kit
Sabelt 5-point harness
Leo Cavender, Mick Hower, Kyle Carrothers
Valvoline, 3M, Mickey Thompson, Sabelt
JUNE 08
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