New Yorker Hasn’t Registered Top-Five Finish Since Series Visited His Home-Region Tracks In June
CONCORD, NC – Aug. 17, 2010 – A lot has happened to Tim Fuller since the World of Outlaws Late Model Series last visited the Northeastern tracks he’s most familiar with – just about all of it bad.
As the renowned full-fender series returns this week to Fuller’s home region for a swing of five races over a seven-day period – call it ‘Great Northern Tour II’ if you like – beginning on Wednesday night (Aug. 18) at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., the 42-year-old driver from Watertown, N.Y., is struggling to find himself. The racer who was red-hot two months ago has gone ice-cold.
“We’ve just been in a slump of all slumps,” said Fuller, who hasn’t registered a top-five finish in the 16 WoO LMS events contested since he scored two wins and a third during the original ‘Great Northern Tour’ in mid-June. “I thought we had it turned around after the wins (on June 15 at Can-Am Motorsports Park in Lafargeville, N.Y., and June 17 at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ont.), but we’ve done nothing since then. It’s just been a miserable summer. Everything I’ve been doing is wrong – picking tires, setups, everything.
“I don’t know how we got into this funk,” he added, “but I’ve got to find a way out of it.”
Fuller is hopeful that this week’s ‘Great Northern Tour’ sequel will be the tonic for his struggles – just like June’s mini-series snapped him out of his early-season doldrums, albeit only fleetingly. He has, after all, been victorious at every track that is part of this season’s last extended stretch of WoO LMS racing.
Consider the facilities that will comprise this week’s swing and Fuller’s history of success at them:
* Grandview Speedway, a high-banked, one-third-mile oval that kicks off the trip with a 40-lap A-Main paying $8,000 to win. Fuller won a Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified feature there in 2005 and also captured the track’s inaugural WoO LMS event last year.
* Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y., which hosts the WoO LMS for the first time since 2005 on Thursday night (Aug. 19). The five-eighths-mile specials-only oval has been very good to Fuller, who has won there seven times in big-block Modified competition (including his first-ever Super DIRTcar Series triumph in 2003) and three times in the DIRTcar 358-Modified ranks. He also holds the dirt Late Model track record after setting fast time for the Wheels’ 2005 WoO LMS show in what was just his second career start in the division.
* Mohawk International Raceway, a completely refurbished four-tenths-mile oval on the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation in Akwesasne, N.Y., that will present the ‘Battle at Eastern Door’ weekend on Aug. 20-21. Fuller owns several DIRTcar 358-Modified victories at the former Frogtown International Speedway, which will gain national attention for the first time with a blockbuster two-day program topped by a 100-lap A-Main offering a $20,000 winner’s prize.
* Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Que., a four-tenths-mile oval that puts the WoO LMS in front of the rabid French-Canadian fans on Mon., Aug. 23, after its date on June 19 during the original ‘Great Northern Tour’ was rained out. Fuller has been triumphant there in Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified action.
* Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway, a one-third-mile, D-shaped track that hosts the series in a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win showdown on Tues., Aug. 24. Operated by Fuller’s Gypsum Express Racing team owner John Wight, Brewerton was Fuller’s Friday-night big-block Modified home for a decade. He has 26 career Modified wins there and also emerged triumphant in last year’s inaugural WoO LMS event.
Of course, Fuller understands that it will take more than his knowledge of the tour’s upcoming tracks to change his fortunes. He needs to get his team’s complete package in synch, including Gypsum Express Racing’s new in-house engine program that remains a work in progress.
“The tracks are close to home for me, but I don’t buy that familiarity deal being a big advantage for me,” said Fuller, who won a career-high seven WoO LMS A-Mains in 2009, including a record-tying four in a row. “Yeah, I won at my hometrack (Can-Am) this year and we know the tracks we’ll be going to. But these Outlaw guys are no dummies. I mean, the competition level in the top 10 is so good, anybody can win. There might be an edge there when you go to tracks you know more than (the other WoO LMS regulars), but it’s so slight it doesn’t really matter.”
Fuller also concedes that the hometrack advantage doesn’t mean much if you’re struggling. After following up his back-to-back victories with a third-place finish on June 20 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway, Fuller went without a top-10 run for 12 straight races. He’s recorded top-10 finishes in three of the last five series A-Mains, but an eighth was his best (on Aug. 1 at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.) and he’s tumbled from fifth in the points standings (84 points out of the lead) after Cornwall to a dismal eighth (354 points behind) heading into this week’s action.
“This is about as rough as it gets,” said Fuller, whose slump was exacerbated by the emergency appendectomy he underwent on July 5 (the surgery left him too sore to race competitively in the four-race ‘Wild West Tour’ that ran from July 7-10). “I can’t think of a year like this since 1994, when I won only two races. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve contemplated going to church – grasp that one.”
Fuller did gain a sliver of confidence for this week’s swing – not to mention some money for his lagging bank account – when he swept a pair of O’Reilly All-Star Late Model Series events at Quebec’s Autodrome Granby (Aug. 11) and Brockville (Ont.) Motor Speedway (Aug. 12). But that positive development will mean nothing to him if he can’t carry the momentum onto the WoO LMS – especially the ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ at Mohawk International Raceway, a track that is co-owned by Fuller’s former sponsor, St. Regis Mohawk businessman and DIRTcar 358-Modified racer John Lazore.
“Winning that one would help us erase a lot of the struggles we’ve had this year – not all of them, but a lot,” said Fuller, whose best finish in a 100-lap dirt Late Model event during his four years as a full-timer in the division is a second in the 2009 USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis. “I’m looking at that $20,000 – that’s all I care about. My half of that money would pay a lot of bills right now.”
Fuller, who tested his dirt Late Model at Mohawk during an off night of June’s ‘Great Northern Tour’ when he participated in an exhibition event that also included defending WoO LMS champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., and rookie Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa, sees the ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ as the highlight of an exciting Northeastern swing to close out a busy summer.
“I can tell you that (Mohawk) is gonna be jammed for that race,” said Fuller. “John Lazore and Don Thompson have sunk a lot of money into rebuilding that place and they’re pumped for this race. They could’ve done two $10,000-to-win shows, but they wanted to have the biggest dirt Late Model race ever run in New York – and I don’t blame them.
“I just hope I can take that 20-grand from them.”
For more information on the WoO LMS Northeastern swing:
* Grandview Speedway on Wed., Aug. 18: Visit www.thunderonthehillracingseries.com and www.grandviewspeedway.com or call 610-754-7688.
* Rolling Wheels Raceway on Thurs., Aug. 19: Visit www.rollingwheelsraceway.com or call 315-834-6606.
* Mohawk International Raceway on Fri., Aug. 20, and Sat., Aug. 21: Visit www.MohawkInternationalRaceway.com or call 518-358-3225.
* Autodrome Drummond on Mon., Aug. 23: Visit www.autodrome-drummond.com or call the track office at 819-474-2222.
* Brewerton Speedway on Tues., Aug. 24: Visit www.brewertonspeedway.com or call the track office at 315-668-6906 or the speedway hotline at 315-668-RACE.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), STP (Official Fuel Treatment), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel), DirtonDirt.com (Hard Charger Award) and Chizmark Larson Insurance; in addition to contingency sponsors Eibach Springs, MSD Ignition, Ohlins Shocks, Pink Carburetors, Pro Power Engines, Quartermaster, Rocket Chassis, R2C Performance and Wrisco Aluminum.
CONCORD, NC – Aug. 17, 2010 – A lot has happened to Tim Fuller since the World of Outlaws Late Model Series last visited the Northeastern tracks he’s most familiar with – just about all of it bad.
As the renowned full-fender series returns this week to Fuller’s home region for a swing of five races over a seven-day period – call it ‘Great Northern Tour II’ if you like – beginning on Wednesday night (Aug. 18) at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., the 42-year-old driver from Watertown, N.Y., is struggling to find himself. The racer who was red-hot two months ago has gone ice-cold.
“We’ve just been in a slump of all slumps,” said Fuller, who hasn’t registered a top-five finish in the 16 WoO LMS events contested since he scored two wins and a third during the original ‘Great Northern Tour’ in mid-June. “I thought we had it turned around after the wins (on June 15 at Can-Am Motorsports Park in Lafargeville, N.Y., and June 17 at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ont.), but we’ve done nothing since then. It’s just been a miserable summer. Everything I’ve been doing is wrong – picking tires, setups, everything.
“I don’t know how we got into this funk,” he added, “but I’ve got to find a way out of it.”
Fuller is hopeful that this week’s ‘Great Northern Tour’ sequel will be the tonic for his struggles – just like June’s mini-series snapped him out of his early-season doldrums, albeit only fleetingly. He has, after all, been victorious at every track that is part of this season’s last extended stretch of WoO LMS racing.
Consider the facilities that will comprise this week’s swing and Fuller’s history of success at them:
* Grandview Speedway, a high-banked, one-third-mile oval that kicks off the trip with a 40-lap A-Main paying $8,000 to win. Fuller won a Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified feature there in 2005 and also captured the track’s inaugural WoO LMS event last year.
* Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y., which hosts the WoO LMS for the first time since 2005 on Thursday night (Aug. 19). The five-eighths-mile specials-only oval has been very good to Fuller, who has won there seven times in big-block Modified competition (including his first-ever Super DIRTcar Series triumph in 2003) and three times in the DIRTcar 358-Modified ranks. He also holds the dirt Late Model track record after setting fast time for the Wheels’ 2005 WoO LMS show in what was just his second career start in the division.
* Mohawk International Raceway, a completely refurbished four-tenths-mile oval on the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation in Akwesasne, N.Y., that will present the ‘Battle at Eastern Door’ weekend on Aug. 20-21. Fuller owns several DIRTcar 358-Modified victories at the former Frogtown International Speedway, which will gain national attention for the first time with a blockbuster two-day program topped by a 100-lap A-Main offering a $20,000 winner’s prize.
* Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Que., a four-tenths-mile oval that puts the WoO LMS in front of the rabid French-Canadian fans on Mon., Aug. 23, after its date on June 19 during the original ‘Great Northern Tour’ was rained out. Fuller has been triumphant there in Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified action.
* Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway, a one-third-mile, D-shaped track that hosts the series in a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win showdown on Tues., Aug. 24. Operated by Fuller’s Gypsum Express Racing team owner John Wight, Brewerton was Fuller’s Friday-night big-block Modified home for a decade. He has 26 career Modified wins there and also emerged triumphant in last year’s inaugural WoO LMS event.
Of course, Fuller understands that it will take more than his knowledge of the tour’s upcoming tracks to change his fortunes. He needs to get his team’s complete package in synch, including Gypsum Express Racing’s new in-house engine program that remains a work in progress.
“The tracks are close to home for me, but I don’t buy that familiarity deal being a big advantage for me,” said Fuller, who won a career-high seven WoO LMS A-Mains in 2009, including a record-tying four in a row. “Yeah, I won at my hometrack (Can-Am) this year and we know the tracks we’ll be going to. But these Outlaw guys are no dummies. I mean, the competition level in the top 10 is so good, anybody can win. There might be an edge there when you go to tracks you know more than (the other WoO LMS regulars), but it’s so slight it doesn’t really matter.”
Fuller also concedes that the hometrack advantage doesn’t mean much if you’re struggling. After following up his back-to-back victories with a third-place finish on June 20 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway, Fuller went without a top-10 run for 12 straight races. He’s recorded top-10 finishes in three of the last five series A-Mains, but an eighth was his best (on Aug. 1 at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.) and he’s tumbled from fifth in the points standings (84 points out of the lead) after Cornwall to a dismal eighth (354 points behind) heading into this week’s action.
“This is about as rough as it gets,” said Fuller, whose slump was exacerbated by the emergency appendectomy he underwent on July 5 (the surgery left him too sore to race competitively in the four-race ‘Wild West Tour’ that ran from July 7-10). “I can’t think of a year like this since 1994, when I won only two races. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve contemplated going to church – grasp that one.”
Fuller did gain a sliver of confidence for this week’s swing – not to mention some money for his lagging bank account – when he swept a pair of O’Reilly All-Star Late Model Series events at Quebec’s Autodrome Granby (Aug. 11) and Brockville (Ont.) Motor Speedway (Aug. 12). But that positive development will mean nothing to him if he can’t carry the momentum onto the WoO LMS – especially the ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ at Mohawk International Raceway, a track that is co-owned by Fuller’s former sponsor, St. Regis Mohawk businessman and DIRTcar 358-Modified racer John Lazore.
“Winning that one would help us erase a lot of the struggles we’ve had this year – not all of them, but a lot,” said Fuller, whose best finish in a 100-lap dirt Late Model event during his four years as a full-timer in the division is a second in the 2009 USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis. “I’m looking at that $20,000 – that’s all I care about. My half of that money would pay a lot of bills right now.”
Fuller, who tested his dirt Late Model at Mohawk during an off night of June’s ‘Great Northern Tour’ when he participated in an exhibition event that also included defending WoO LMS champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., and rookie Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa, sees the ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ as the highlight of an exciting Northeastern swing to close out a busy summer.
“I can tell you that (Mohawk) is gonna be jammed for that race,” said Fuller. “John Lazore and Don Thompson have sunk a lot of money into rebuilding that place and they’re pumped for this race. They could’ve done two $10,000-to-win shows, but they wanted to have the biggest dirt Late Model race ever run in New York – and I don’t blame them.
“I just hope I can take that 20-grand from them.”
For more information on the WoO LMS Northeastern swing:
* Grandview Speedway on Wed., Aug. 18: Visit www.thunderonthehillracingseries.com and www.grandviewspeedway.com or call 610-754-7688.
* Rolling Wheels Raceway on Thurs., Aug. 19: Visit www.rollingwheelsraceway.com or call 315-834-6606.
* Mohawk International Raceway on Fri., Aug. 20, and Sat., Aug. 21: Visit www.MohawkInternationalRaceway.com or call 518-358-3225.
* Autodrome Drummond on Mon., Aug. 23: Visit www.autodrome-drummond.com or call the track office at 819-474-2222.
* Brewerton Speedway on Tues., Aug. 24: Visit www.brewertonspeedway.com or call the track office at 315-668-6906 or the speedway hotline at 315-668-RACE.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), STP (Official Fuel Treatment), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel), DirtonDirt.com (Hard Charger Award) and Chizmark Larson Insurance; in addition to contingency sponsors Eibach Springs, MSD Ignition, Ohlins Shocks, Pink Carburetors, Pro Power Engines, Quartermaster, Rocket Chassis, R2C Performance and Wrisco Aluminum.
