LOOKING IN ON: MOTOR SPORTS

Thursday, July 26, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

It might have been easy for someone walking past Rod Fuller's pit two weeks ago at Bandimere Speedway near Denver to mistake the Top Fuel outfit for a Sportsman team.

Between rounds during Sunday's final eliminations, Fuller, a Las Vegas resident, and crew chief Rob Flynn had tools in hand and were working on the car, which had been two crew members short the entire weekend.

"You just don't see drivers and crew chiefs working on their race cars" at the Top Fuel level, Fuller said.

In reality, what fans were watching was the NHRA's leading Top Fuel team pulling together in the face of continuing adversity. Later that afternoon, Fuller went out and earned his second victory of the season and extended his points lead in the Powerade Drag Racing Series. The following week, near Seattle, Fuller advanced to his 10th semifinal of the season and became the first Top Fuel driver to qualify for the NHRA's new Countdown to the Championship.

In addition to being shorthanded in parts and crew members, Fuller and his David Powers Motorsports team have not had a permanent sponsor on the car since the third race of the season, although Caterpillar has stepped up at several races to help keep the team going.

The trials and tribulations, Fuller said, have made him appreciate just what a phenomenal season he and his teammates are putting together.

"It's just one of those special things," he said. "We don't get all the parts, I don't get all the crew members, but we're just making the best of what we do. It's really special that we just keep on winning and going rounds - and we're not lucking into anything. We're a strong race car and it just makes you feel so good when you know you've got that behind you.

"But the thing that's scary is that we're just hanging on by a thread."

Although the team may be hanging by a thread in terms of making it to the next race, it certainly is on solid footing from a competition standpoint. In addition to earning the two victories, Fuller has qualified in the top four at every race this season except for last weekend's event near Seattle, in which qualifying was shortened to one round because of rain. Still, Fuller advanced to the semifinals despite being the 14th qualifier.

Even though he has a 134-point lead over second-place Brandon Bernstein in the Top Fuel standings, Fuller said he and his team aren't taking anything for granted. The team has been in test mode during the past two or three races in an attempt to improve the car's performance.

"We had such a good lead that we've been trying some stuff to try to help us out," he said. "We found some stuff and we won Denver with it.

"We're doing some things we probably wouldn't be doing if we didn't have this lead and we weren't locked in."

Only three races remain in the NHRA's regular season - including this weekend's event at Infineon Speedway in Sonoma, Calif. After the first 17 races (11 for Pro Stock Motorcycle), only the top eight drivers in each of the professional categories are eligible to win the championship.

That number will be trimmed to the top four with two races remaining, beginning with the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals in October at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Number of NASCAR Cup races Jeff Gordon has won at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

800

Number of NASCAR Cup starts for Kyle Petty when he takes the green flag Sunday in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

"I looked at my team manager, the technical director and (team co-owner) Gerhard Berger and told them that if my team chief ever touches me again, I'm going to knock him out."

American Formula One driver Scott Speed, who alleges Scuderia Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost "hit me in the middle of the back with a closed fist" during an argument last weekend at the European Grand Prix.