Reading: Rod Fuller Friday notes

FULLER RACES RANSOME CAT DRAGSTER TO PROVISIONAL NO. 2 POSITION FRIDAY AT READING

MOHNTON, Pa. (Aug. 15, 2008) -- Hot Rod Fuller blistered the Maple Grove Raceway quarter mile Friday evening to qualify the Ransome CAT dragster in the provisional No. 2 position. Fuller, who earned the pole at the Reading NHRA race last year, used an elapsed time of 3.861-seconds to finish second in the order.

Fuller, a seven-time NHRA Top Fuel winner, enters the 17th race on the 2008 NHRA schedule ranked fifth in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel standings. The Las Vegas racer powered his Ransome CAT dragster to an opening qualifying pass of 3.983 seconds at 301.13 mph on Friday's first qualifying attempt. That placed Fuller 10th in the Top Fuel order. Friday evening under the lights at the Reading, Pa. track, Fuller used a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to power the Caterpillar-backed car to performance of 3.861 at 310.77. Only the Alan Johnson-tuned U.S. Army dragster was quicker. In his previous two professional races at Maple Grove Raceway, Fuller has qualified third and first.

"I didn't think it would hold up," Fuller said. "I really thought it would be fifth or sixth. We're trying some things that we did last season. It ran what we felt it would and thought it would be in the top half, but not number two. It was a pleasant surprise. We're running on all eight cylinders and she has a lot left in her. If it holds, it keeps us on the opposite side of that Army car. We don't want to race them in the first or second round every week."

Professional nitro qualifying resumes Saturday afternoon at the Reading, Pa. track with sessions scheduled for Noon and 3 p.m. (ET). Fuller earned the pole at Maple Grove Raceway last August (4.521 seconds) and posted a runner-up finish (to Doug Herbert) at the rain-delayed event.

-credit: dpm