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Say Yas to drag racing

Top Fuel winner Rod Fuller is set to fuel drag racing in the capital as he helps enthusiasts quench their need for speed

With the Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management (ADMM), the venue operators of the Yas Marina Circuit having announced a packed winter racing schedule, Rod Fuller will have his hands full.

The seven-time Top Fuel winner, apart from being the Yas Drag Racing Centre team Top Fuel Dragster driver, is also a driving instructor at the Yas Drag Racing School.

With drag racing a popular form of motorsport in the region, ADMM launched the Yas Drag Racing Festival last season. In January this year, Yas Marina Circuit partnered with American team Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), winner of eight National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) championships and 136 races, to provide two complete Top Fuel dragster teams to be based in Abu Dhabi.

A Top Fuel Dragster has 8000 horsepower and can accelerate from zero to over 480 kmph in less than four seconds.

Now, there would be more drag racing this winter. The ADMM recently announced weekly drag racing, Open Drag Racing nights and the Yas Street Drag Racing events. The Yas Street Drag Racing has two events on the cards in December and also includes Pro Series races in January, March and two events in April. Members of the public can test their own cars on the drag strip at the Yas Drag Racing Centre.

The Yas Drag Racing Festival will be held in March next year and Fuller will face-off against a competitor.

The ADMM has also taken delivery of a unique three-seat Super Comp Dragster, which will be available for public rides and training. Apart from that four new single-seat Super Comps will be used for training purposes and will be offered for rental to qualified drivers.

Rod Fuller will be training the drivers at the Yas Drag Racing School and hopes that one day UAE will have its own drivers taking on the world.

The Chicago native is the Yas Drag Racing Centre team Top Fuel Dragster driver and took part in a four-race tour of the US. Fuller’s car was sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA).

Fuller was born into a family of drag racers and it came as no surprise that he followed in their footsteps. Fuller has been a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) competitor since 1994 and has reeled off 19 wins, including six in Top Fuel. He also won 30 races in the NHRA Divisional in the Super Gas and Super Comp categories.

Fuller started off by driving John Mitchell’s Montana Express Dragster in nine races in the mid-1990s but it was not until 2005 that Fuller made a mark. He was recruited by former racer-turned-businessman David Powers and Fuller competed in 15 races. He finished 10^th in the POWERade standings in 2005 to cap his first victory in a Top Fuel in the final round at Memphis Motorsports Park.

In 2006, Fuller won two in the five final rounds as he finished fifth in the Top Fuel standings.”There’s beauty and pain to drag racing. It’s brutal and totally unforgiving. One small error and it’s over. In all other forms of racing you might be given a second chance, but not in drag,” Fuller said about drag racing.

james@khaleejtimes.com