Deby
Nitro Member
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COMMERCE, Ga. (April 28, 2007) – Despite the lack of a primary sponsor, Rod Fuller and his David Powers-owned Top Fuel team continue to impress in drag racing’s elite category, Top Fuel. The current NHRA points leader claimed his third career pole award Saturday at Atlanta Dragway to conclude qualifying at the 27th annual Summit Racing Southern Nationals.
After qualifying either second of third at the first five races on the 2007 NHRA schedule, the four-time NHRA Top Fuel winner paced the field for the third time in his career. Fuller made four solid runs in qualifying behind the wheel of his all-white, Rob Flynn-tuned dragster. Fuller’s quickest effort of the weekend came on Friday’s second attempt when he blistered the Atlanta Dragway quarter mile in 4.506 seconds at 326.71 to lead the 16-car order. He has an average qualifying position of 2.17 this season.
The rising Top Fuel star and the Flynn-led crew used two solid runs on Saturday to work on their race-day setup. Battling a sunny race track, Fuller carded a run of 4.595 at 320.05 before clocking a performance of 4.596 at 307.30 on his final qualifying effort. The team now hopes to break its winless drought when starting on pole. Fuller’s team also earned the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge award for the second time this season.
"This is exciting for our whole team,” Fuller said. “It's time to break a little jinx we have being the No. 1 qualifier. We've done it three times now. The first time we smoked the tires right at the hit. The second time an oil line came off on the burnout and we didn't even make a pass. So hopefully the third time will be the charm for us. I feel like I've aged this year. We're under a tremendous amount of pressure to perform because we don't have a major sponsor and I don't know if people understand what it's like to race without really knowing what the future holds. All we can do is try our best to get attention for our team and the longer we stay No. 1 in the points, the more media we'll get, so our mission has become very clear."
Fuller will match-up against No. 16 qualifier Doug Kalitta in the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations which begin at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday. ESPN2 will air three hours of final eliminations coverage from 7-10 p.m. (ET) on Sunday evening.
Q1 4.679 ET, 309.34 MPH No. 14
Q2 4.506 ET, 326.71 MPH No. 1
Q3 4.595 ET, 320.05 MPH No. 1
Q4 4.596 ET, 307.30 MPH No. 1
FULLER CLAIMS THIRD CAREER POLE, QUALIFIES FIRST AT ATLANTA
COMMERCE, Ga. (April 28, 2007) – Despite the lack of a primary sponsor, Rod Fuller and his David Powers-owned Top Fuel team continue to impress in drag racing’s elite category, Top Fuel. The current NHRA points leader claimed his third career pole award Saturday at Atlanta Dragway to conclude qualifying at the 27th annual Summit Racing Southern Nationals.
After qualifying either second of third at the first five races on the 2007 NHRA schedule, the four-time NHRA Top Fuel winner paced the field for the third time in his career. Fuller made four solid runs in qualifying behind the wheel of his all-white, Rob Flynn-tuned dragster. Fuller’s quickest effort of the weekend came on Friday’s second attempt when he blistered the Atlanta Dragway quarter mile in 4.506 seconds at 326.71 to lead the 16-car order. He has an average qualifying position of 2.17 this season.
The rising Top Fuel star and the Flynn-led crew used two solid runs on Saturday to work on their race-day setup. Battling a sunny race track, Fuller carded a run of 4.595 at 320.05 before clocking a performance of 4.596 at 307.30 on his final qualifying effort. The team now hopes to break its winless drought when starting on pole. Fuller’s team also earned the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge award for the second time this season.
"This is exciting for our whole team,” Fuller said. “It's time to break a little jinx we have being the No. 1 qualifier. We've done it three times now. The first time we smoked the tires right at the hit. The second time an oil line came off on the burnout and we didn't even make a pass. So hopefully the third time will be the charm for us. I feel like I've aged this year. We're under a tremendous amount of pressure to perform because we don't have a major sponsor and I don't know if people understand what it's like to race without really knowing what the future holds. All we can do is try our best to get attention for our team and the longer we stay No. 1 in the points, the more media we'll get, so our mission has become very clear."
Fuller will match-up against No. 16 qualifier Doug Kalitta in the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations which begin at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday. ESPN2 will air three hours of final eliminations coverage from 7-10 p.m. (ET) on Sunday evening.
Q1 4.679 ET, 309.34 MPH No. 14
Q2 4.506 ET, 326.71 MPH No. 1
Q3 4.595 ET, 320.05 MPH No. 1
Q4 4.596 ET, 307.30 MPH No. 1
