Dallas: Rod Fuller final report

FULLER RACES HOLT CAT CAR TO QUARTERFINAL FINISH AT HOUSTON

ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 23, 2007) -- Rod Fuller drove his David Powers-owned HOLT CAT dragster to a quarterfinal finish Sunday at Texas Motorplex. The five-time NHRA Top Fuel winner remains second in the NHRA Countdown to Four standings.

Fuller qualified his HOLT CAT dragster fourth for the third time this season with a run of 4.552 seconds on Friday evening at the Motorplex. He defeated four-time series champion Tony Schumacher in the first round before falling to two-time champion Larry Dixon in round two.

In a monster of match-up between the Nos. one and two ranked drivers in the standings entering the Dallas race, Fuller used a starting line advantage in the HOLT CAT rail and never looked back. The Las Vegas racer used Rob Flynn horsepower to clock a run of 4.591 seconds at 323.55 to earn the win light in the left lane. Schumacher's black rail lost traction immediately and slowed to a run of 6.158 at 178.80. The win leapfrogged Fuller over Schumacher in the Countdown to the Championship standings.

Facing off against Dixon for the fifth time this season, Fuller used a stout .057 of-a-second reaction time, but the HOLT CAT rail overpowered the track and slowed to a run of 5.424 at 215.55. Dixon sped to a lap of 4.670 at 275.00 to earn the trip to the semifinals. Fuller is now 2-3 versus Dixon this season. It is the second straight race that Fuller has been defeated in the second round.

"It was a frustrating day," Fuller said. "It was great to take out Tony (Schumacher), but we lost our points lead as quickly as we earned it. This makes things a little dicey heading into Richmond in a few weeks. We need to be good because we could lose our place in the Countdown to One."

-credit: dpm