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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 16, 2007) – Rod Fuller and his David Powers-owned Caterpillar Top Fuel team moved into second place in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship standings Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Fuller, who won his first career Top Fuel race at Memphis Motorsports Park two years ago, qualified his Caterpillar rail in the No. 8 position with a run of 4.583 seconds. In the opening round of eliminations he bested seasoned racer Cory McClenathan before smoking the tires and falling to Doug Foley in the quarterfinals.
Fuller evened his 2007 mark (1-1) against McClenathan by driving the Caterpillar/Valvoline dragster to the opening round victory. As the first pair of dragsters to do battle on the M.M.P. quarter mile, Fuller used a Rob Flynn tune-up to score the wire-to-wire win. The Las Vegas racer used a solid reaction time (.064 of-a-second) and a pass of 4.594 seconds at 314.68 mph to outdistance the 29-time Top Fuel winner’s FRAM dragster. Fuller is now 3-5 in his career versus McClenathan.
In the quarterfinals, the racers used nearly identical reaction times but the Caterpillar dragster lost traction instantly and smoked the tires causing Fuller to slow to a pass of 9.831 seconds. Foley sped to the second quickest pass of the round, 4.605 seconds, to record the round win. It was Fuller’s first career loss to Foley in three races and just the second time he fell in the second round of eliminations this season (Englishtown).
“We were very fortunate today,” Fuller said. “We’re fortunate that both (Tony) Schumacher and (Larry) Dixon went out early. We really struggled all weekend and never could get our finger on it. We’re going to test on Monday and get our car figured out for Dallas . Some of our stuff is worn out and we had to cycle in some new parts and they just didn’t respond the same. Our morale is still good. Our goal is to be No. 1, but we just need to stay in the top four.”
The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 22nd annual O’Reilly Fall Nationals, Sept. 20-23, at Texas Motorplex in Ennis , Texas . Fuller drove to a runner-up finish at Dallas last Sept.
R1 FULLER (.064) 4.594 ET, 314.68 MPH def. McClenathan (.095) 5.005 ET, 223.50 MPH
R2 Foley (.089) 4.605 ET, 309.13 MPH def. FULLER (.095) 9.831 ET, 75.17 MPH
FULLER DRIVES CATERPILLAR DRAGSTER TO QUARTERFINAL FINISH AT MEMPHIS
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 16, 2007) – Rod Fuller and his David Powers-owned Caterpillar Top Fuel team moved into second place in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship standings Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Fuller, who won his first career Top Fuel race at Memphis Motorsports Park two years ago, qualified his Caterpillar rail in the No. 8 position with a run of 4.583 seconds. In the opening round of eliminations he bested seasoned racer Cory McClenathan before smoking the tires and falling to Doug Foley in the quarterfinals.
Fuller evened his 2007 mark (1-1) against McClenathan by driving the Caterpillar/Valvoline dragster to the opening round victory. As the first pair of dragsters to do battle on the M.M.P. quarter mile, Fuller used a Rob Flynn tune-up to score the wire-to-wire win. The Las Vegas racer used a solid reaction time (.064 of-a-second) and a pass of 4.594 seconds at 314.68 mph to outdistance the 29-time Top Fuel winner’s FRAM dragster. Fuller is now 3-5 in his career versus McClenathan.
In the quarterfinals, the racers used nearly identical reaction times but the Caterpillar dragster lost traction instantly and smoked the tires causing Fuller to slow to a pass of 9.831 seconds. Foley sped to the second quickest pass of the round, 4.605 seconds, to record the round win. It was Fuller’s first career loss to Foley in three races and just the second time he fell in the second round of eliminations this season (Englishtown).
“We were very fortunate today,” Fuller said. “We’re fortunate that both (Tony) Schumacher and (Larry) Dixon went out early. We really struggled all weekend and never could get our finger on it. We’re going to test on Monday and get our car figured out for Dallas . Some of our stuff is worn out and we had to cycle in some new parts and they just didn’t respond the same. Our morale is still good. Our goal is to be No. 1, but we just need to stay in the top four.”
The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 22nd annual O’Reilly Fall Nationals, Sept. 20-23, at Texas Motorplex in Ennis , Texas . Fuller drove to a runner-up finish at Dallas last Sept.
R1 FULLER (.064) 4.594 ET, 314.68 MPH def. McClenathan (.095) 5.005 ET, 223.50 MPH
R2 Foley (.089) 4.605 ET, 309.13 MPH def. FULLER (.095) 9.831 ET, 75.17 MPH
