Indy ORP: Rod Fuller Friday notes

FULLER DRIVES TO NO. 6 SPOT FRIDAY AT INDY

CLERMONT, Ind. (Aug. 31, 2007) -- Rod Fuller opened qualifying for the 53rd annual U.S. Nationals with a solid effort on Friday at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. The five-time NHRA winner used a 4.524-second elapsed time in his MacAllister CAT dragster to card the sixth quickest run of the opening day of qualifying for the prestigious drag race.

Fuller, who enters the Countdown to Four atop the NHRA points standings, used a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to traverse the ORP quarter mile in 4.524 seconds at 325.85 mph on his first qualifying attempt of the extended race weekend. Professional racers get five qualifying attempts to make the 16-car field at the U.S. Nationals with final eliminations being held on Monday. Fuller and his MacAllister CAT dragster will run twice on Saturday

"We were real conservative tonight," Fuller said. "With all the CAT reps here, we just wanted to get down the track and show them what we're capable of not to try and be No. 1. I'm starting to believe this No. 1 qualifier jinx. This car is capable of running in the 4.40s, so the goal tomorrow is to run in the 4.40s."

-credit: dpm