TOPEKA, Kan. – Rod Fuller drove his David Powers-owned Caterpillar dragster to the provisional No. 3 qualifying position Friday evening at Heartland Park Topeka with a pass of 4.565 seconds.
Fuller, whose dragster is flying the colors of Warren, Foley and Martin CAT this weekend at the 20th annual O’Reilly Summer Nationals, paced the Top Fuel field on Friday’s opening qualifying pass. The Caterpillar/Matco Tools rail sped to a pass of 4.605 seconds at 312.06 mph. Fuller’s run was later disqualified as the car was under the required weight limit, 2,300 pounds. The seven-time Top Fuel winner then used a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to blister the Heartland Park quarter mile in 4.565 at 320.13 to finish third in the Top Fuel order. Fuller qualified fourth at Topeka last June (4.566 seconds).
“Our first run was great, ” Fuller said. “I’m much more impressed with that 4.60 in the heat of the day than the 4.56 at night. We won’t run in conditions like tonight on race day. It didn’t bother me that we were light and the first run got DQ’d (disqualified). We were a few pounds light and it cost us. I guess I better start eating M&Ms instead of grapes. That’s an easy fix. We have a great race car. I think we can win this race. ”
Professional nitro qualifying resumes Saturday afternoon at Heartland Park with sessions scheduled for Noon and 2:30 p. m. (ET). Fuller is a three-time sportsmen winner at Heartland Park. His teammate, Antron Brown, qualified fourth at 4.584 seconds on Friday evening.
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