| 
They approached Valvoline at the 2004 NHRA U.S. Nationals
as a potential sponsor. They were told, sure, we’re
interested, but it would help if Rod Fuller was driving for
you. “When Chris Russell heard my name mentioned, he
said, ‘Wow, I didn’t even think of him.’
He knew that I was in the running for John Force’s ride,
because it was me, Darrell Russell, Alan Bradshaw and Eric
Medlen. I pulled myself out of that because of my relationship
with Valvoline. (Force, of course, is sponsored by Castrol
Oil.) Everybody thought I was crazy. But I am loyal to Valvoline,”
Fuller says.
When he got home on Tuesday from Indy (he went red in his
Super Gas car first round, and blew a motor in Super Comp
third round), Rod got a call from Chris Russell. “I
was eating at a restaurant, and he asked me if I would be
interested in driving a Top Fuel car for him and David. I
said, ‘Well, yeah!’ The next thing they told me
was odd – could I fly down that weekend to Houston and
do what they call corporate testing, where they analyze individuals
for corporations?” Well, yeah, again. Two other drivers,
Alan Bradshaw and Joe Severence, were also tested.
Chris Russell picked Fuller up after the testing and took
him to lunch. Within the first five minutes, Fuller says,
he knew that he and David Powers had found their fuel driver.
“He told me that it just felt right,” Rod says.
He got the job a week later. Fuller took Valvoline with him
as primary sponsor.
The team started in October without a single part or even
tool. They bought everything brand new, the best of the best,
including a hauler, equipment, Alan Johnson heads, TFX blocks.
“They only thing we got used was the air tank that the
Russells brought from their old alcohol dragster operation,
and some kind of valve tool,” Fuller says. “Everything
else was new.” Now there are eight Powers/Russell/Fuller
crew members, plus a new car and rig.
His Top Fuel license was inactive, but all Fuller had to
do was make a brief pass to re-activate it. They went to Houston
and made a squirt, and David Powers told everybody to pack
their bags and hit the road. At the first race of the year,
the NHRA “tune-up” at Phoenix, Rod hit a 4.78
at 306 mph, then went to the Winternationals, where, he says,
“everybody was blown away. We didn’t publicize
anything. All of a sudden, we show up at Pomona in a new fuel
car with everything new.”
Fuller qualified 15th in the quickest NHRA Top Fuel field
ever, with a 4.59. “I went 4.59 at 319, and I had to
run David Grubnic first round, and he had the second-fastest
time in history, a 4.46 on 85 percent nitro. Unbelievable!”
he said. Fuller ran a 4.60-flat.
The team skipped Phoenix, according to Powers’ plan
of 15 races for 2005 with Valvoline aboard as a primary associate
sponsor. Then at Gainesville, Fuller qualified 13th and ran
Tony Schumacher first round, and Tony hit low elapsed time
of the event with a 4.49 to Rod’s 4.60-flat. Then came
Houston and a No. 8 berth, and Fuller beat Clay Millican,
4.56 at 326 mph in the first round, only to lose to Schumacher
in the second with a 4.56 to his 4.55, losing by 12 thousandths
of a second.
At Vegas, Fuller and his team won the Coca-Cola Full Throttle
Pit Crew Challenge, based on the four best runs in qualifying
(average: 4.61) and got the 4th qualifying position with a
4.55. Again, first round was against Schumacher, who beat
him. Rod’s car had a clutch malfunction.
At Bristol, he hit the No. 4 qualifying position again with
a 4.54 and got runner-up to Doug Kalitta. “The ETs are
the hard part. I went 4.57 with a ‘5’ to his 4.58,
but I lost by five-thousandths on a holeshot,” Fuller
said. “Five races in and we’re already to the
finals, and had the fastest car on the property,” he
said.
Chicago is coming up.
Lucky? Fuller was asked. “Oh, yeah, I’m lucky
for my parents, Bob and Cathy. My dad helped me buy all my
Super Comp stuff. I was also lucky that I went to college
and graduated. I think that helped with my career, because
that put me in a position to get some of these sponsorship
deals,” he said. Mac Tools also sponsors the Powers/Russell/Fuller
team.
Rod has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree
in marketing, from the University of Arkansas. “I bet
I’m the only Top Fuel driver who has a master’s
degree,” he says.
“Now I’m trying to get a Ph.D. in Top Fuel racing.
I’m working on it. When I start winning these things,
like I did in my Super Comp car, I can say that.
“People ask me how I got so good in a fuel car, but
they don’t understand that Sportsman cars are really
hard to drive, and you have to be talented in those cars as
well.
“I think next year will be a 23-race deal, and my goal
is to finish in the Top 10, with two or three national wins.”
We bet Valvoline and Mac Tools will be on board. 
|
