Tim Fuller has a lot of Kenny Schrader in him. Where Schrader is an open-cockpit driver at heart, but known to the masses for his success in Nextel Cup and ARCA, Fuller has DIRT modifieds in his soul, but has become a national figure racing with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.
Fuller leads the WoO LM rookie standings and ranks eighth in the standings. He posted his first WoO LM victory in June at North Dakota’s River Cities Speedway.
“Modifieds and late models are both fun,” says Fuller. “But the LM is interesting and new and we’ve been to a bunch of new tracks. And I love the money. It’s a lot better. We did a LM race a couple of weeks ago that paid more just to start than winning a couple of features at a local modified track.
“But to get the really good money, you’ve got to run really well too. It’s a steep learning curve. You have to figure out what to do and when to do it, which is tough when all the tracks are new to you.”
And while Fuller is quick to attribute much of his success to the support of owner John Wight and his crew, a cultural difference between modified and LM racers has also been a major factor.
“They’re good at helping newcomers. Where I came from, the modifieds, everybody pretty much keeps to themselves. On the LM circuit, there’s a lot of people willing to help each other,” Fuller explained.
“Everybody’s been great, but Chub Frank, Clint Smith and Mark Richards from Rocket have helped me a lot. You can’t make it without help because the talent pool is so deep. There are great LM racers everywhere in the country and just getting into the races is something.”
Modified hero Brett Hearn once told us that it took Fuller a while to adjust to the rigors of the big-block modified tour after early success in the small blocks.
“But,” said Hearn, “once he figured it out, he’s been really tough.”
Indeed he has, winning the 2005 Mr. DIRT modified title and currently leading the standings despite running both the WoO LM and Advance Auto Parts modified tours.
The LM deal has gone the same way. After two seasons running a handful of races before mounting a concerted effort this year, Fuller is in the swing of things.
“There was a turning point for us in the summer, just before we won,” says Fuller. “We finally started running good at every race. It’s still not easy, but we feel that we’re finally starting to catch on.”
Does that mean that he finally got used to the cars flopping around all over?
“I don’t know if you ever get used to that feeling. It’s a lot better now but if you run a couple of modified shows and go back to the LMs, it takes a few laps to get back into it,” Fuller said. “They jack up and move around all over the place. They’re a handful, especially when the track is heavy, but they’re also a lot of fun. They’ve got a lot of power.”
Fuller smiles broadly when told he sneaked up on everyone this year.
“We’ve got this year under us and we learned as much as possible,” he said. “The big thing was to go to all those tracks once and take good notes. When we come out of the gate in ’08, we’ll be a lot stronger than we were this year.
“We plan on running the late model full-time next year. But I’ll never give the modifieds up completely. There’s too many good paying shows. I’ll always do this because I enjoy it so.”
Close your eyes and it could be Kenny Schrader, not Tim Fuller, talking.