Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Fuller’s first win couldn’t come at a better time

Friday, Aug. 26, 2005 | 9:56 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.

Rod Fuller picked the perfect time to win his first NHRA Top Fuel race when he defeated Tony Schumacher in the final round of the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals on Sunday in Memphis.

Fuller, a Las Vegas resident who is racing a part-time schedule this season, happened to be in the midst of negotiating his 2006 contract with team owner David Powers when he won in only his 10th outing of the year and 19th career start.

"I know I'm going to go full time next year, but I can't say 100 percent I'm going to be here next year," Fuller said of David Powers Motorsports. "I've proven myself (that I deserve) to have the opportunity to run a full season and run for a championship.

"Hopefully, me and David and (crew chief Lee Beard) and everybody can put this thing together where we can do that. My contract hasn't been signed with David and we're a little bit away on money. I've got a win now and that means a lot -- there are not that many guys that have got one of these in the history of Top Fuel. I think I've proven myself."

Fuller, who had advanced to two finals prior to Sunday's race at Memphis Motorsports Park, said he wasn't surprised that his part-time team was able to win an NHRA national event but admitted he was caught off guard by the timing of the victory. Fuller earned the win in just the second race since veteran crew chief Lee Beard joined the team.

"I honestly believed that when Lee came in, I knew I was going to win -- I just knew it in my heart that he could do it," Fuller said. "But the second race? No, I definitely didn't think it was going to happen that quickly. I knew that we all were capable of it ... but we're a part-time team with part-time help and we shouldn't be able to compete with the Prudhommes and the Schumachers and the Kalittas -- and we beat all three of those that day."

Although Beard has a reputation for being hard on his drivers, Fuller said he has found Beard to be the most "driver-friendly" crew chief he has worked with this season -- and Fuller is on his third crew chief in 2005.

"I had to change everything with my driving style to fit in with Lee and how Lee wants things done," Fuller said.

"Lee actually fixed a lot of things for me that I didn't like and he is more driver-friendly than any of the other crew chiefs that I've had. He understood (that) if the driver isn't happy and the car doesn't make it down the track, it doesn't matter how well the car is tuned."

Fuller also credited Rob Flynn, who was brought in to assist Beard in the week leading up to the Memphis race, for helping the team earn its first Top Fuel victory.

"It's so cool because the two of them are 180 degrees apart," Fuller said of Flynn and Beard. "(Flynn is) like the calming influence of the team and Lee is high strung and he'll jump down your (throat) if you do something wrong. Rob's just the complete opposite; he really picks you up and pats you on the back.

"The two of them make a great team together -- a good cop, bad cop type of deal."

Fuller, 34, said he had yet to come down from the victory even after two days of testing this week in preparation for the 51st annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, which begins next Friday at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind.

"It's been incredible just walking around Indy today," Fuller said. "(Before the win,) the other drivers and other teams' crew members didn't even know who I was. I can't believe a win could make so much difference but everybody's coming up and saying, 'Hey, Rod, good job.' "

But Fuller acknowledged he still has some work to do to educate the fans -- which he will be able to do now that the team has decided to run all six of the remaining races on the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series schedule.

"People come up to my car and ask if the driver is there and I say, 'Yeah, I am the driver,' " he said. "I haven't really developed an identity with the fans, but I definitely think this (win) is going to help my cause.

"Plus, being the first one to bring a Top Fuel victory home to Las Vegas is pretty cool."

SAD NEWS: Bert Bernstein, father of NHRA drag-racing legend Kenny Bernstein and grandfather of Brandon Bernstein, died Tuesday in Dallas after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 82.

"My dad is largely responsible for whatever success I can claim in the business world," Kenny Bernstein said in a statement. "He was a businessman extraordinaire. He was the man who dressed me up in a sandwich board at the tender age of seven and sent me out on the street corner to sell men's socks. When I was growing up, the dinner table conversation was always about sales.

"Dad was strong and upbeat. He successfully faced down three other bouts with cancer and sadly could not win the war against his fourth."

The Bernstein family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to The American Cancer Society, In Memory of Bert Bernstein, P.O. Box 560089, Dallas, TX 75356. Cards can be sent to the family at Budweiser King Racing, 26231 Dimension Drive, Lake Forest, CA 92630.

FANS INJURED: Two spectators were treated and released from a Bristol, Tenn., hospital Wednesday night after they were hit by debris that flew into the grandstands at Bristol Motor Speedway during a Hooters Pro Cup Series race.

The man and woman, whose names were not released, were sitting together about halfway up the bleacher section near Turn 3, according to a report in the Bristol Herald Courier. A piece of a racecar -- which witnesses said looked like a shock absorber -- flew "hundreds of yards" into the stands and struck the two spectators when a car spun and hit the wall, the paper reported.

The extent of the fans' injuries was not released.

SHORT NIGHT: Brendan Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, turned only 18 laps in Wednesday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race before he got caught up in a wreck at Bristol Motor Speedway. Gaughan finished last in the 36-truck field -- his worst finish of the season.

Kyle Busch finished fifth in his fourth Truck Series start this season in the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevrolet. Busch's other starts in the truck resulted in two victories and a second-place finish.

Gaughan's Orleans Racing teammate, Steve Park, stuck around for all 200 laps but finished 15th. Casey Kingsland, another Las Vegas native, failed to qualify for the race.

BELL MOVES UP: Former open-wheel prospect T.J. Bell, a native of Sparks, will replace Stanton Barrett in the No. 36 DCT Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Busch Series beginning with next weekend's race at California Speedway.

Bell got his start in go-karts and raced in the Toyota Atlantic Championship before moving to stock cars in 2003.

U.S. OPEN: Kawasaki's James Stewart will compete in his first U.S. Open as a professional when the top motocross riders converge on the MGM Grand Garden Arena Oct. 7-8 for the event, which pays $100,000 to the winner.

Stewart has not raced at the U.S. Open since 1999, when he won the 85cc Mini division. He made his 250cc debut in the AMA Supercross Series this year and won three main events.

Two-time defending U.S. Open champion Chad Reed, two-time winner Ricky Carmichael and Kevin Windham are among the riders confirmed to race in this year's event.