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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 15, 2007) – Five-time NHRA Top Fuel winner Rod Fuller raced his David Powers-owned Caterpillar dragster to the No. 8 qualifying position Saturday afternoon at Memphis Motorsports Park with a 4.583-second elapsed time.
The longtime Rogers , Ark. resident carded three solid runs in qualifying at the 20th annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals near Memphis . Fuller drove his Caterpillar-backed rail to the No. 11 spot on Friday evening with a run 4.608 seconds at 317.34 mph. He bettered that mark on Saturday’s first attempt by using a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to power the yellow-and-black dragster to a performance of 4.583 at 321.83. Fuller, who earned the pole at the Memphis race last August, will start eighth for the first time this season.
“For some reason the car just didn’t run that good this weekend,” Fuller said. “We can’t seem to find our gremlin. I felt a weird vibration on the last run and shut it off. We’re confident though. We need to continue to go rounds on Sundays. We were only two hundredths (of-a-second) off of the No. 1 spot, so it’s not like we’re far off. We’ll control our own destiny and I like that.”
The 2005 Memphis Top Fuel winner will face off against No. 9 qualifier Cory McClenathan when final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. (CT) on Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park . ESPN2 will televise three hours of final eliminations coverage from the O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals at 7 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.
Q1 4.668 ET, 319.75 MPH No. 6
Q2 4.608 ET, 317.34 MPH No. 11
Q3 4.583 ET, 321.83 MPH No. 8
Q4 5.283 ET, 178.17 MPH No. 8
FULLER RACES CATERPILLAR CAR TO NO. 8 POSITION AT MEMPHIS
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 15, 2007) – Five-time NHRA Top Fuel winner Rod Fuller raced his David Powers-owned Caterpillar dragster to the No. 8 qualifying position Saturday afternoon at Memphis Motorsports Park with a 4.583-second elapsed time.
The longtime Rogers , Ark. resident carded three solid runs in qualifying at the 20th annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals near Memphis . Fuller drove his Caterpillar-backed rail to the No. 11 spot on Friday evening with a run 4.608 seconds at 317.34 mph. He bettered that mark on Saturday’s first attempt by using a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to power the yellow-and-black dragster to a performance of 4.583 at 321.83. Fuller, who earned the pole at the Memphis race last August, will start eighth for the first time this season.
“For some reason the car just didn’t run that good this weekend,” Fuller said. “We can’t seem to find our gremlin. I felt a weird vibration on the last run and shut it off. We’re confident though. We need to continue to go rounds on Sundays. We were only two hundredths (of-a-second) off of the No. 1 spot, so it’s not like we’re far off. We’ll control our own destiny and I like that.”
The 2005 Memphis Top Fuel winner will face off against No. 9 qualifier Cory McClenathan when final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. (CT) on Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park . ESPN2 will televise three hours of final eliminations coverage from the O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals at 7 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.
Q1 4.668 ET, 319.75 MPH No. 6
Q2 4.608 ET, 317.34 MPH No. 11
Q3 4.583 ET, 321.83 MPH No. 8
Q4 5.283 ET, 178.17 MPH No. 8
