Richmond: Rod Fuller final report

FULLER FALLS TO RARE HOLESHOT LOSS AT RICHMOND

PETERSBURG, Va. (Oct. 12, 2008) -- Hot Rod Fuller suffered a rare holeshot loss behind the wheel of his David Powers-owned Caterpillar dragster Sunday morning at Virginia Motorsports Park at the third annual Virginia NHRA Nationals.

Fuller qualified the Carter Machinery/JLG dragster seventh at 3.823-seconds on Saturday afternoon at Virginia Motorsports Park to qualify for his 83rd consecutive race. He was matched up against Australian native David Grubnic in the opening round of eliminations. It was their fourth meeting of the 2008 season. Fuller used a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to power the Caterpillar rail to its second quickest pass of the weekend, 3.836 seconds at 314.24. However, as a result of a quicker reaction time, Grubnic's bright yellow dragster scored the win with a lap of 3.848 at 313.00. It was Fuller's first holeshot loss since the Sonoma, Calif. race in July 2006. Fuller has five career holeshot wins. He is now 2-2 against Grubnic this season.

"That was a tough loss," Fuller said. "I feel bad for my guys. It wasn't like my light was bad compared with the rest of the round, (David) Grunbic just cut an awesome light. Our car ran great this weekend, it just wasn't meant to be. We'll regroup and come back strong at home in Las Vegas."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, Oct. 30-Nov. 2, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Fuller is the defending event champion of the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals.

-credit: dpm