TOP FUEL
(Linda Brock photo)
Revenge was sweet for Rod Fuller as he got the Top Fuel win over 2007 champ Tony Schumacher. Fuller used crew chief Rob Flynn’s “Canadian Horsepower” to clock the quickest pass of the day en route to his seventh career Top Fuel win. The Caterpillar dragster posted a pass of 4.525 at 328.70 to edge Schumacher’s run of 4.583 at 325.45 in the U.S. Army dragster. It was the third win in four races for the David Powers Motorsports team. Fuller now ranks fourth in the NHRA Top Fuel standings.
 Rod Fuller with his mother and father. (Linda Brock photo) |
“Any time you beat the (U.S.) Army car, you’re fired up,” Fuller said. “I’ve had a chip on my shoulder with the way things played out last season, so it does feel really great to beat them. How about this David Powers Motorsports team? Four straight finals with three wins is just awesome.”
“I have to dedicate this win to two things. This is the fourth anniversary of the death of Darrell Russell. Darrell and his brother, Chris, partnered with David Powers with the idea of starting a Top Fuel team and they hired me. It was an honor to get that call to drive their car. I’m going to dedicate this win to the Russell family. I also had to fight tears at the top end because this was the first race my mom has seen me win in Top Fuel. She hasn’t been in great health and when I got out of the car, she was in tears. If it wasn’t for my mom and dad, I wouldn’t be here. What a great day.”
PRO STOCK
(Linda Brock photo)
Kurt Johnson earned his first win since Phoenix of last year when he drove his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt to a 6.631 at 209.30 for a win over Dave Connolly's 6.651 at 208.78 in his Charter Communications Chevy
Cobalt. It is his 37th career and third at Gateway (2005, 1998).
Starting from the fifth position, Johnson methodically posted the quickest time in each round to defeat Todd Hoerner, Jeg Coughlin and V. Gaines. This set the stage for a final-round encounter with David Connolly, who was racing in his second race since returning to the POWERade Drag Racing Series in Atlanta a week ago.