Memphis - Fuller - Pre-race 08-15-06

News from
David Powers Motorsports
Valvoline / Louisiana-Pacific / 84 Lumber / Mac Tools

 

For Images or additional Information, Contact:  Don Armstrong (832)-252-8732
or (713) 202-4849 e-mail: Don@DavidPowersMotorsports.com

"Hot Rod" Fuller rolls into Memphis Motorsports Park with a brand-new phrase
bouncing through his mind -- "I'm the defending champ!"

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (August 15) -- A longtime sportsman racer who was named the
Super Gas Driver of the Decade for the 1990s, Fuller realized his dream of
turning professional last season when Houston-based custom homebuilder David
Powers offered him a ride in the Valvoline Top Fuel dragster, a 330-mph
quarter-mile monster that makes 8,000 horsepower. 

 

Fuller jumped at the chance, and in just his 10th professional outing with
the team -- Memphis' annual O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals -- Fuller scored
his first professional-level victory. It was a banner moment in the career
of the Rogers, Ark., native, who grew up calling Memphis Motorsports Park
his home track.

 

"This racetrack is where I fell in love with drag racing when I was a little
kid," Fuller said. "We'd come over here with my dad when he was racing or
with other friends of ours that were racing and I'd sit up in the stands and
dream about drag racing one day. To come back here as an adult with one of
the best race teams in the world and win the race was beyond anything I
could have imagined. It still blows me away."

 

Now Fuller returns to MMP with three Top Fuel wins under his belt, including
two wins this season, his first full campaign on the POWERade tour. For the
first time he is the defending champion of a national event, although he
collected 13 national event wins when he was a sportsman racer so the
experience isn't entirely new to him.

 

"It's very exciting, I have to admit," Fuller said. "I was lucky enough to
win quite a few races when I was a sportsman racer, including a bunch of
high-dollar bracket races right here at this track. But to come into town as
the defending Top Fuel champ is like nothing else. It says you belong among
the best in the sport.

 

"I couldn't think of a better time for us to defend a race title because the
Valvoline car is running so strong right now. My crew chief Lee Beard and
the rest of the guys have really busted their butts this summer to make us
consistent and fast and we have been a win waiting to happen ever since our
last victory in Englishtown."

 

Fuller has maintained a top-10 ranking all season and is currently sixth
overall heading into this weekend's race. He is just 25 points out of the
top five with seven races left on the schedule.

 

"Last year we only ran 15 out of 23 races and we finished in the top 10,
which I think shocked everyone out there," Fuller said. "This year, we've
been running with the top teams and we're staying in the hunt for the
championship. It sure would help if we got another win in Memphis. Maybe
some of that karma from when I was a kid is still lingering in the air."

 

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