Nevada’s “Hot Rod” Fuller, who has been one of NHRA’s most prolific Sportsman class racers (with 13 career wins), breaks through to win in Top Fuel. Driving for team owner David Powers and participating in only his 10th start as a Pro, Fuller scores a major upset when he beats Tony Schumacher in the final round. Fuller runs a winning 4.612 secs at 313.07 to claim victory while Schumacher smoked his tires.

Fuller’s first career win includes round wins over Scott Weis, David Grubnic and Larry Dixon. He had entered eliminations after qualifying #3 with a 4.625 secs.

Schumacher’s final round loss denied him the opportunity to move back into first place in NHRA POWERade points standings ahead of Doug Kalitta. However Schumacher still did well after being given a big opportunity courtesy of his new teammate Melanie Troxel who took Kalitta out in major first round win. Melanie ran 4.869 secs 294.82 mph to Kalitta’s 4.914 secs 290.69 mph. That was Troxel’s first round win since joining the Schumacher racing camp in July.

Eric Medlen, driving John Force’s Castrol Syntec Mustang continued his hot hand in FC eliminator by winning for the 3rd time in the last four NHRA events. Medlen jumps out to a big starting line advantage in the final round over opponent Ron Capps and wins rather decisively, 4.911 secs 300.13 mph to 4.985 secs 302.32 mph. Medlen’s victory further tightened NHRA’s already ferocious POWERade FC points chase putting him in the 5th slot but only 71 behind overall points leader (and teammate) Robert Hight.

Hight qualified on the pole at the event with a run of 4.883 secs which held up for low ET of the meet. The timely qualifying effort did earn the soon to be 2005 NHRA “Rookie of the Year” driver the 8th and final slot in the prestigious Skoal Funny Car Showdown scheduled at the upcoming Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

Capps’s strong R/U finish driving his Brut-sponsored Dodge Stratus moved him into second place in NHRA POWERade points.

FC class racing included a new participant with former TAFC pilot Paul Lee making his class debut. Driving his Chevy Monte Carlo, Lee’s best run of 5.364 secs missed the cut.

Defending and 2X POWERade Pro Stock World champ Greg Anderson notched his 5th win of the season by beating his closest points rival Kurt Johnson in the final round. Anderson wheeled the Summit Racing equipment Pontiac GTO to a winning 6.801 secs at 201.49 mph to hold back Johnson's ACDelco Chevy Colbalt which ran 6.834 secs at 201.88. Anderson's 36th career victory included low ET of the meet -- a 6.785 secs -- which he recorded during round one of competition.

Rickie Smith, driving his all new Chevy Cobalt had a strong outing at Memphis. Smith ran top speed of the meet at 202.91 mph while qualifying 2nd and went on to a semi-final round finish. David Howard, also driving a Chevy Cobalt (sponsored by Indicom), was another surprise semi-finalist after upsetting Larry Morgan and Ron Krisher.

For the 2nd NHRA event in a row the Pro Stock Motorcycle final round was all Harley Davidson with teammates Andrew Hines and GT Tonglet facing off. GT Tonglet, who had won at Brainerd, Minnesota 7 days before could not duplicate that effort as he left the starting line too soon (.028 red) making Hines the automatic winner. Hines, riding the Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod was however full marks for his victory (the 5th of his career) after earning the pole with a 7.127 secs. R/U Tonglet had qualified #2 at 7.129 secs.

Hines victory moved him to the #1 points position within the NHRA POWERade class chase following 11 of 15 scheduled events this season.

Racing conditions during the O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals were extremely heated with the air temperature topping 100 degrees F each day of the event. Very hot track temperatures combined with poor atmospheric conditions severely limited performances in all categories. That was evidenced by the fact that not a single track record was broken in any Pro category – a true rarity for NHRA racing.