Fuller Races To Another Semifinal Finish At Gainesville
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Gainesville, Fla.
Mar 19, 2007
After racing his Valvoline dragster to its second semifinal finish of the 2007 NHRA season Sunday at Gainesville Raceway, four-time NHRA Top Fuel winner Rod Fuller continues to lead the POWERade Top Fuel standings. It marks the sixth time in the last seven races that he has advanced to at least the semifinals.
Starting from the No. 2 qualifying slot for the third straight race, Fuller knocked off rising star J. R. Todd and Dave Grubnic, before falling short to four-time series champion Tony Schumacher in the semifinals.
As the seventh pair of cars to battle the tricky Gainesville Raceway quarter mile on Sunday morning, the two rising stars used nearly identical reaction times and put on a great show for the capacity crowd in Gator Country. Fuller carded his fifth straight round win by racing his Rob Flynn-tuned Valvoline dragster to a performance of 4.515 seconds at 328.70 mph to just edge Todd at the finish line. The 2006 NHRA Rookie of the Year drove his Johnny West-tuned dragster to run of 4.569 seconds. Fuller recorded the quickest elapsed time of the round.
The veteran NHRA competitor scored his sixth straight round win by powering to the win over the fan-favorite Australian driver. Fuller used a slight starting-line advantage to score the wire-to-wire victory. He piloted his Valvoline dragster to a run of 4.646 at 309.13, while Grubnic’s rail slowed to a 5.393-second elapsed time. It is the second straight race where Fuller has knocked off Grubnic during eliminations.
