Bob Fuller Finds Super Comp Winner's Circle at AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals
- May 4, 2010
Of his NHRA national final rounds appearances, "I've only lost one final and that was last year on a red-light," according to the Rodger, Arkansas resident. The AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, held at Gateway International Raceway, was Fuller's first NHRA National event for the 2010 season. Fuller, who competes in both Super Gas and Super Comp, was on an immediate dash in both entries, until his Super Gas entry broke on the line during third round. While his day came to an end in one class, the rounds he was putting together in his 638 cubic inch, Chevy-powered Undercover dragster, were ones any racer would love to be able to claim the time slips for. Not only for staying on the winning side, but also the very consistent reaction times. During the seven rounds of Super Comp he averaged .010, helping him put quite a few tough customers on the trailer. Something Fuller considers being somewhat of a special race day advantage, is his mindset going into each and every round. "Every round is the last round, that's just the way I look at it," said Fuller. "If you don't get past the round you are about to be in, well that's your last round. So, I don't look ahead. I give everything to this round and treat them all as finals." With yet another event plagued by weather, many of the sportsman class elimination rounds were held during the nighttime hours, just to catch the schedule up from the earlier delays. "I love racing at night," commented Fuller. "The track is lit up very well and I've had a lot of experience running this track at night. What some may not realize is that when you would normally roll ten into your delay, at this track you can actually take some out. A lot of people don't know that." Fuller made it to the Super Comp final round via a single he earned by first defeating Kara Roedel in the quarter-finals, coming out on the good side of a double breakout, 8.889 to Roedel's 8.846. During Fuller's bye-run, he decided to take the other lane in case he didn't get lane choice in final. "I told my son Tony, that I'm going to roll ten on top of my delay and see what happens," said Fuller. "It was a seventeen, so that would have been a seven light. That told me we were seeing the tree the same on both sides of the track. So if we got tossed back into that lane in the final, we were going to roll the ten back out." Fuller got the right lane that he had competed in so much during the weekend's events and in the left lane was fellow K&N racer Tommy Phillips, who had already been to the winner's circle in Super Gas earlier this year at the NHRA event in Houston. Always studying other racers, Fuller felt he knew what to expect during his final with Phillips. "He was dropping everybody and we kind of figured he was going to do that to us, too," explained Fuller of his final round prep. "Just about the time we pull around and the excitement is getting pretty hot and we are about to run the final and it starts to drizzle again," he continued. "So we all huddling under the tunnel, no sooner do I get out of the car, everything was ready to go again. So I get back in the car and by that time the adrenaline had changed a little. I decided to roll four more in and four more thou showed up on the tree. I was just really seeing the tree the same all weekend." And seeing in this case, is winning. Fuller doubled Phillips on the starting line and by running his car honest, easily took the stripe by about eight feet when Phillips decided to dump too soon. The Super Comp victory gave Fuller his fourth NHRA National Event win and started off his National Event season on the right foot, right out of the gate. "I couldn't do it without all the great companies that I have worked with for all these years, K&N being one of them," noted Fuller. "K&N oil filters and K&N air filters can be found on my cars and what I don't think a lot of people realize are all of the reasons that K&N air filters work so well. One, being that I feel the air filter actually cools the air going into the engine because of the metal in the filter. I just know it cools the air down by a few degrees, plus not to mention all the protection their filters give." Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
