Victory in NHRA Nationals leaves Fuller smiling … again

Rod Fuller usually has a smile on his cherubic face.

But from the time he got to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday it was almost blank, except his eyes were as piercing as those of a gunslinger.

You'd think the Las Vegas resident still would have been smiling after winning $100,000 and the Top Fuel Technicoat Shootout the night before.

Competitors, especially championship-caliber competitors, don't smile until the bell rings, buzzer sounds or, in Fuller's case, the last race has been run.

His smile returned once he defeated Doug Kalitta in the final round of the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals for his third title of the year and first at Las Vegas.

"I knew I had to stay focused," Fuller said. "I'm just one of those guys that when they get on a roll they're hard to stop.

''When I won (Saturday) I just knew I was going to win today."

Other winners in professional categories Sunday were Greg Anderson in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Fuller's win ended Kalitta's seven-round winning streak and gave Fuller a 52-point lead in the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series standings with one race left.

"The championship is my dream," Fuller said, "and it's within my grasp.

"To win this weekend in my new hometown with the all the added pressure ... it really is a dream come true."

By winning the Shootout and NHRA title on the same weekend, he earned an additional $50,000 bonus for his David Powers Motorsports team led by crew chief Rob Flynn.

Fuller, a graduate of the University of Arkansas who was raised in northern Arkansas, achieved a similar "double" 10 years ago as a Sportsman racer who often slept in his truck at races to save money. Back then he'd pay gymnasiums near race tracks a few bucks so he could work out and, more importantly, be able to shower.

For Ashley Force, one day she might reflect on this past weekend as being a monumental step in her career, much as Fuller's performance was 10 years ago. The daughter of drag racing legend John Force became the first woman to advance to the final round of Funny Car eliminations in an NHRA national event.

"It's cool that I came along at the right time," said Force, 24, who lost to Tony Pedregon in the final round when he was quicker to leave the starting line and got around her faster car.

"I'm proud to be a girl," she said, "but I wouldn't be here without the eight guys who work on my car."

Her team this year endured the loss of driver Eric Medlen, who died in a testing March testing accident. Then four weeks ago her dad was severely injured in a racing crash near Dallas. He returned to a track this weekend for the first since the accident.

With each round she ran, he hobbled more quickly from a truck to his walker to the starting line. After her semifinal victory, he rode on the tailgate of the truck with his wife, Laurie.

As the truck rode in front of the grandstand, the crowd rose seemingly like it was doing the "wave" as he passed by, hat in hand just above the blue cast that covers his right arm.

The victory by Pedregon, who won the 2003 NHRA championship while driving for John Force Racing, gave him a nearly insurmountable lead heading to next weekend's finale in Pomona, Calif.

Pedregon was the only one of the four Funny Car drivers eligible to win the Countdown to the Championship who did not lose in the first round. Robert Hight, Ron Capps and Gary Scelzi had traction problems that contributed to their losses.

"I wouldn't have imagined that would happen," Pedregon said of his opponents' early exit from the 16-car, single-elimination field. "You think of a lot of scenarios, but you just don't think of the improbable.

"In this town that would have been one the worst bets ever."

Pedregon left Las Vegas with a 91-point lead and needs only to qualify at Pomona.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0247.