Rod Fuller advanced to his fifth final round of the season on Monday at Maple Grove Raceway before Mother Nature again put a stop to the racing action at the Toyo Tires Nationals. He will face Doug Herbert in the final round.
After sitting on pole for the fourth time this season with a 4.521-second pass on Friday evening, Fuller edged teammate Whit Bazemore in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday before rain halted the day’s activities. On Monday, the current POWERade point leader then drove his Ransome CAT dragster to wins over J. R. Todd and Morgan Lucas to advance to his 13th career final round.
He used low elapsed time of the semifinals (4.550 seconds) to reach the final round for the third time while flying the yellow-and-black colors of Caterpillar (Joliet and Denver). Last month, Fuller scored his fifth career Top Fuel win when he drove his Wagner CAT rail to the win at Denver. He is a two-time sportsmen winner at Maple Grove Raceway (1999 – Super Gas, 2001 – Super Comp). If Fuller wins, he will hold a 204-point lead over Tony Schumacher.
“I always seem to do real good on the rainouts, ” Fuller said. “There’s no crowd and no hoopla and this is when real racers shine. My guys did a great job on Monday. I’m glad three of the guys from Whit Bazemore’s car stayed around to help us out. They played a big role after we beat J. R. (Todd). It’s awesome to get to another final round. There’s a rivalry between me and (Doug) Herbert. Rob Flynn used to be his crew chief and we’re coming in to win this thing. ”
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