NHRA

Bristol: David Powers Motorsports preview

Powers' Top Fuel Dragster Racing With Valvoline At Thunder Valley Nationals BRISTOL, TN 4/24/05 This coming weekend's NHRA O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn. April 29th --May 1st will mark the first NHRA ...

Published: Apr 27, 2005, 5:34 AM

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Powers' Top Fuel Dragster Racing With Valvoline At Thunder Valley Nationals

BRISTOL, TN 4/24/05 This coming weekend's NHRA O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn. April 29th --May 1st will mark the first NHRA POWERade Series national event in which the David Powers Motorsports Top Fuel dragster will compete in full Valvoline livery.

"I'm pretty thrilled about this one," says Rod Fuller, 13-time NHRA national event champion in the sportsman ranks and now the driver for the David Powers Motorsports Top Fuel dragster. "I have been racing with Valvoline for more than a decade, and we have had a very satisfying relationship because we've won a lot of races together. I'm really excited to be driving a car that's all red, white and blue in Valvoline trim, and I'm hoping I can bring them their first Top Fuel victory in a few years. The level of competition's going to be really tough in Bristol, but based on the way we've been running in the last couple of races, I think we've got what it takes to win."

Valvoline became an important Associate Sponsor of the David Powers Motorsports entry at the beginning of the season. "When Valvoline asked us to represent them in Top Fuel we were obviously thrilled," said team owner Powers, a custom home builder in Houston, Texas. "But, as excited as we were to be affiliated with Valvoline, to have them ask us to run both this race and the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend in complete Valvoline livery was a real honor."

"I think the team is really getting anxious to get out on the track," said Richard Hogan, Crew Chief for Powers Motorsports. "We've been running better than expected but we would like to get out there and really make something great happen, particularly for Valvoline. They've been providing us with the finest lubricants, and believe me, lubrication in one of these 7,000 or 8,000 horsepower engines is absolutely critical. These engines are on the edge of failure on every run just because of the horsepower we generate, and Valvoline oil helps us make smooth, trouble-free runs, time after time.

"Every race we go out to do our best and nothing less, but this time we are going out with the mind set to bring home the team's first win. Rod did a great job in the last two races, putting together personal bests in elapsed times and speeds, so if we give him a good car to drive in eliminations, I think we can come home with our first national event victory, and this is the race to do it at!"

David Powers Motorsports has been running well since they made their debut in February at the Winternationals, where they qualified for the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history. The team has qualified for eliminations at every NHRA POWERade Series race they've entered this season, and two weeks ago at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway won the prestigious Full Throttle Top Fuel Pit Crew Challenge at the NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals for producing the best average elapsed times through four rounds of qualifying. That's also where Fuller notched his career best elapsed time of 4.557 seconds.

"Everyone at Valvoline is really proud of Rod and David Powers Motorsports for the strides they've made thus far this year in Top Fuel," said Mike Gruber, Racing Representative for Valvoline Motorsports. "This is a brand new team, and we know it takes time for things to jell, but clearly, this team is beginning to catch a lot of people's attention. We know they're going to be great representatives for Valvoline not only this weekend, but for the balance of the season. We're just hoping that when everything's settled on Sunday afternoon there's going to be a red, white and blue Valvoline machine sitting in the Top Fuel winner's circle!"

-dpm-

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