FULLER AND CATERPILLAR TEAM FALL IN CLOSE RACE AT MEMPHIS
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 28, 2008) -- Hot Rod Fuller drove his David
Powers-owned Caterpillar dragster to a first-round finish Sunday morning
at Memphis Motorsports Park. The seven-time Top Fuel winner lost a narrow
match against five-time series champion Tony Schumacher.
Fuller, whose dragster is flying the colors of Caterpillar dealers Riggs
CAT, Louisiana Machinery and Thompson Machinery, qualified in the No. 11
position at 3.909-seconds on Saturday at the Memphis track. Fuller, who
earned his first career Top Fuel win at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2005,
was matched-up against the points leader for the ninth time in 21 races
this season. The talented drivers used nearly identical reaction times as
Fuller used a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to race the Caterpillar
car to a lap of 3.897 seconds at 304.94 mph. However, the U.S. Army car
was slightly quicker at 3.880 at 310.63 to score the narrow win. The Alan
Johnson-tuned car posted the second quickest lap of the round. Fuller is
now 2-7 against Schumacher this season with an elimination record of
23-20, including a win at the St. Louis race in May. Fuller now ranks
eighth in the Countdown to 1 standings.
"We just lost a close race," Fuller said. "That seems like
the story of our season. It was a great race. I'm just not a big fan
of this 1,000-foot racing. It takes so many factors away, including a
third of the race track. Both of our David Powers cars ran great, but
just didn't get the win light. We'll come back in Richmond (Va.)
in two weeks and give it our best to try and win the race for
Carter."
The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the third annual Torco
Racing Fuels Nationals, Oct. 10-12, at Virginia Motorsports Park in
Dinwiddie, Va.
-credit: dpm
