LOOKING IN ON: MOTOR SPORTS

Thursday, June 22, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

The weekend weather forecast for Madison, Ill., calls for temperatures in the mid-80s - a refreshing change from the near-100-degree days earlier this week.

While that may come as good news to fans planning to attend this weekend's NHRA national event at Gateway International Raceway, it won't sit well with Top Fuel driver Rod Fuller.

As far as Fuller is concerned, the hotter the track conditions, the better. Fuller, who grew up in Arkansas and now lives in Las Vegas, has scored all three of his NHRA Top Fuel victories - including last weekend in Englishtown, N.J. - on hot days.

"Honestly, we feel like we can go to St. Louis and win there," said Fuller, who is looking to win back-to-back races for the first time in his Top Fuel career. "It's going to be hot and muggy and play right into our favor."

Fuller had been winless in eight races before last weekend's K&N Filters Supernationals in Englishtown. He sits fourth in the Top Fuel standings, 221 points behind front-runner Melanie Troxel.

"I just had this feeling when I went into Englishtown," Fuller said. "The weather was hot and we hadn't really been on a hot racetrack since Phoenix, where we won.

"We were coming into Englishtown and they were calling for 100-degree temperatures, and I just had that feeling like we were going to win. Sure enough, I felt like our car was dominant all weekend."

Fuller said that having veteran crew chief Lee Beard tuning his dragster gives him an advantage when the weather turns hot and the track becomes slick.

"Lee really has a handle on the car," Fuller said. "It's harder to run it down a racetrack that's hot because there are so many more variables to it; you have to really, really tune that race car.

"When it's cool, then it's just basically who's got the most horsepower and who's got the most money is going to win. The heat and track conditions are the equalizer."

Even though he had not won a race since February prior to his victory last weekend, Fuller said he was not discouraged by the team's or the car's performance.

"It was just one thing after another," he said. "We were either too aggressive or we had a malfunction - just the worst things at the worst times were happening to us, which is all part of drag racing.

"It's like a merry-go-round ride; sometimes you get off the ride and you have to wait for your turn to get back on. Last week was our turn to get back on the merry-go-round and hopefully I stay on it for a little while."

He admits to being biased, but Jimmy Vasser said he likes the idea of a Champ Car World Series race on the streets of downtown Las Vegas.

Vasser, a 10-year resident of Las Vegas and a co-owner of PKV Racing in Champ Car, was impressed with what he saw of the proposed 2.44-mile, 14-turn circuit when he took his street car around the course.

"It looks like a great street circuit," said Vasser, who won 10 races in his 15-year open-wheel racing career. "There are a couple of real quick sections underneath the railroad tracks (and) that long straightaway coming in front of the Furniture Mart. I think it's got a pretty good layout."

Race organizers are in negotiations with city officials to stage the race April 6-8, 2007.

Also noted

176.244

The IndyCar track record, in miles per hour, at Richmond International Raceway, where the IRL races Saturday night

129.983

The NASCAR Nextel Cup track record, in miles per hour, at Richmond

"What possessed me to do that, I have no idea. That was a night that I bit off more than I could chew because I'm now stuck doing that the rest of my life every time I win a race."

Tony Stewart

on climbing the catch fence following his victory last July in the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Daytona International Speedway