Medlen said it was a testament to the crews who braved the brutal day. “I don’t care where they were, or who they were, every one of them made the extra effort to make sure everything was bolted tight. You saw no oil-downs out there, which is amazing and I think crews tuned to the track itself. You didn’t see great times (it was one of those days they should’ve hauled out the throwback uniforms, because the clock was turned back about 10 years and a couple of tenths down the board), but you saw great races.”

Anderson tipped his winner’s hat to the Safety Safari that produced a track that, despite some serious age bumps in the right lane of the Memphis quarter-mile produced at least one winner in each lane (Fuller took the right side to Victory Lane). “They gave us a good, consistent surface today, and that meant they had to get through the heat, too.”

Hight added, “You’re also seeing some of the rules changes such as the standard (MSD) ignition and the limiting of technology. Everybody’s bunched together now, and it’ll stay that way.”

TOP FUEL

It was Schumacher whose car bobbled at the 1,000-foot mark to open the door for Fuller, who ran a flawless 4.612 (313.07 mph) final compared to Schu’s 5.747 (172.47). That included a nice jump at the starting line.

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Schumacher made another impressive run to his sixth final of the year and 50th of his career. The Number 1 qualifier put away Bobby Lagana Jr. (4.832), Lucas and Cory McClenathan (4.672), who had scored his first win on this track on another hot, humid day in spring 1992.

But the Fuller/Powers team, which reached two finals while running only nine of the first 16 races of the season, was even better in the first two rounds against Scott Weis (4.806) and David Grubnic (4.745). Fuller, an Arkansas native now living in Las Vegas, just missed lane choice in the semis (4.673) but ended Larry Dixon’s run of consecutive finals in this event at five.

It was the team’s second race under Lee Beard, who came over after his release from Whit Bazemore’s squad, and Rob Flynn sitting in as a consultant after stints with Doug Herbert and Gary Densham this season.

But as the pair worked on the car, Fuller said he was left to his own devices. “Lee didn’t say anything to me today. Nobody did,” said Fuller, who had won 13 national events on the sportsman level. “Guys on the crew told me ‘You’ve got that look in your eye’ and I did. I was confident in the car, and focused on what I had to do.”

Powers, who dominated on the old UDRA circuit in the Midwest, had a smile just as big.

“We ran at Indy and other places (on the NHRA) circuit, but never could bring home one of those Wallys,” said Powers, a 60-year-old Iowa native who made his fortune as a custom homebuilder in Houston. “Life begins at 60.”

Schumacher said “he felt something funky in the burnout (before the final),” but added, “In terms of points we had an outstanding day. Gaining 66 on Doug Kalitta (a first-round loser to Melanie Troxel after back-to-back wins at Sonoma and Brainerd), is huge.”