Fuller hits it big, fast

Rod Fuller never looked taller at a dragstrip.

The 5-foot-6-inch Las Vegas resident didn’t need the lift to the starting line aboard a double-decker bus to feel sky high Saturday.

All it took was a victory over Melanie Troxel at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s dragstrip in the final round of the Top Fuel Technicoat Shootout. Fuller won $100,000 in the special event featuring the best qualifiers over the past 12 months.

“I’ve been lucky enough to win a lot of races, but this might be the topper,” Fuller said. “To win this race here at home in Las Vegas, after getting so close last year (before) breaking a motor in the final, to come back and win it all this time is so cool. I’m floating way up there right now.”

Fuller was expected to renew his rivalry with Tony Schumacher in the championship round after Schumacher defeated Troxel in the semifinals. But the NHRA disqualified Schumacher for not stopping to have his dragster weighed after winning an elimination round.

Controversy aside, Fuller complimented the power provided by crew chief Rob Flynn by winning two rounds with hole shots. He was quicker to leave the starting line than Dave Grubnic in the opening round and against Troxel.

“We’ve been struggling a little the last three races, and my (crew) guys have worked so hard,” Fuller said. “(Today) they said they needed me.”

Fuller also needed support from a pair of fellow Southern Nevadans to get the opportunity for his biggest racing payday.

The future of the Shootout was in jeopardy a year ago when Budweiser decided to discontinue sponsorship of the event after 21 years. Bob Coffman and Glen Williams, owners of Technicoat, which is based in the industrial park adjacent to the speedway, stepped up to fund this year’s Shootout.

Coffman and Williams could not have asked for more from their first Shootout than to have a local driver win it and to have some controversy add a little spice.

But best of all for Fuller, the ruling by NHRA had nothing to do with him. It did, however, infuriate Schumacher, who goes into today’s championship eliminations of the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals as the No. 1 qualifier.

Other top qualifiers for today’s eliminations are Robert Hight (Funny Car), Dave Connolly (Pro Stock) and Chip Ellis (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Although Schumacher posted the best run of the weekend — 4.482 seconds at 327.59 mph on Friday night — Troxel qualified second to him (4.529) and posted three of four runs at 330 mph or better. She also won the NHRA event title two weeks ago in Richmond, Va.

“Nothing changed,” Fuller said of his approach when he learned he’d face Troxel instead of Schumacher. “I was just going to face another great racer.”

Schumacher, a three-time NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series winner at Las Vegas, said he was not told to stop at the scale to make sure his car met minimum weight.

Graham Light, the NHRA senior vice president of racing operations, said Schumacher stopped after winning the first round and should have known to stop after his next win.

“We stopped after the first round because we wanted to weigh the car,” Schumacher said, adding his dragster was 40 pounds over weight at that time.

Fuller stopped to weigh his car after his last run, and it passed. Fortunately, it wasn’t filled with the cash or trophy he won.

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