Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007 | 7:28 a.m.
Rod Fuller is in the fight of his professional racing life going into this weekend's NHRA national event in Richmond, Va., and the pressure is beginning to show.
Fuller, a Las Vegas resident, is second in Top Fuel points heading into the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. Under the NHRA's new "Countdown to the Championship" format, only the top four drivers in each of the four professional categories after this weekend's race will be eligible to win a world championship.
The pressure of the new elimination-style championship format has had a noticeable effect on Fuller and his David Powers Motorsports teammates.
"We're all a little nervous because there's a good chance, if we mess up, we can get knocked out of the (top) four," he said. "Even with me, I've gotten a little tighter. I'm thinking about things where before I was just out there having fun and getting it done."
Fuller has two victories in five final-round appearances this season and has raced his way into the semifinals at 13 of 20 races this season. In the past two races, however, Fuller has suffered a pair of second-round losses .
"The thing is, we've got to keep on doing what we had been doing," he said. "We kind of got off of it the last two races , but we've got to do what we've done all season long."
As big of a race as he is facing this weekend, Fuller admitted he couldn't help but look ahead to the next event on the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series schedule, the Oct. 26-28 ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In addition to the Top Fuel race being his hometown race, Fuller said , the financial and championship implications make it one of the biggest of the year - even bigger, he said, than the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis because of the $100,000-to-win Technico at Top Fuel Shootout.
"Everyone makes such a big hype about Indy , but Indy's nothing compared to this race in Vegas," he said. "First of all, you've got the Technicoat Shootout ... and if you win the race in Top Fuel, you're potentially going to win the world championship , so it's basically almost a $700,000 race."
Give it a rest
Although he escaped punishment by NASCAR this time, Tony Stewart's put-upon act that he drags out every so often has grown old.
Stewart, already on probation by NASCAR for his boorish behavior (he skipped out on his postrace media obligations following the race in Phoenix in April), uttered a profanity - the really bad one - on live television this past weekend when he objected to a cameraman invading what Stewart considered his personal space.
Stewart also was fined and docked points earlier this summer for swearing during a live television interview . On separate occasions in his career, Stewart was in NASCAR's doghouse for slapping a tape recorder out of a reporter's hand and then kicking it under a hauler and shoving a photographer.
Here's a suggestion: If interacting with the media is such a burden for Stewart, perhaps he should go back to the open-wheel racing ranks, where he would be largely ignored by most of those who follow racing and carry cameras, microphones and notepads.
Driving Force
John Force, the 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion who suffered many injuries during a race Sept. 23 near Dallas, has scrapped plans to return to his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang for the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals later this month at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Force, 58, sustained a compound fracture of the left ankle, broken toes and a broken bone in his right foot, broken and mangled fingers on his right hand and a dislocated left wrist when his Funny Car broke apart and crashed as the result of a tire failure at 300 mph.
"I know I said I was going to drive at Richmond (this weekend) and that I was going to drive at Las Vegas," he said. "That's what I wanted to do, but the truth is, I'm beat up pretty bad."
Force, who can't put weight on his ankle, said he would continue to undergo rehab in Dallas .
5
Career NASCAR Cup victories for Jeff Gordon at Talladega Superspeedway, site of Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 Nextel Cup Series race
16
Consecutive seasons in which Jeff Gordon has won a NASCAR Cup race - the longest such streak among active drivers
"I've got bruises in places that I never knew I could have bruises."
NASCAR driver Carl Edwards ,
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