RPW Column: It Was A Swap Of A Week Ago At Can-Am; Billy Dunn Wins With Tim Fuller Chasing

Column By: CAN-AM SPEEDWAY STAFF – LAFARGEVILLE, NY – A week ago, at Can-Am Speedway in LaFargeville, New York, it was Tim Fuller standing in the Bob Johnson Auto Group Victory Lane, giving a post-race interview.

He was asked about second-place finisher Billy Dunn, who was right on his bumper throughout the DIRTcar Modified 358 race, challenging for the top spot.

“I think there will be a lot of back and forth with [Dunn] as the season goes on.” Fuller said, and he couldn’t have been more right.

One week later, it was Dunn in the Bob Johnson Auto Group Victory Lane, giving the post-race interview, while Fuller had to be satisfied with second place for the night.

“I didn’t have the best start at the beginning,” Dunn said. “But on the second restart things went my way and I could pretty much put it anywhere on the track and get what I wanted. We made a lot of changes [to the car] from last week to this week and it paid off.”

Whatever those changes were, they were enough to power Dunn past Fuller and not give the latter a chance at winning the race.

It wasn’t the easiest task for Dunn to drive to victory. He started the race in tenth position and had to climb past a talented field. Several early cautions allowed Dunn to do what he excels at; take advantage of restarts and slingshot out ahead of the competition.

Can-Am is Billy Dunn’s home track, having been born and raised in nearby Watertown, New York. He raced just about everything he could at Can-Am, and now makes a weekly appearance in the Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified division. He is intimately familiar with the track and knows how to hit his marks and find the fast groove.

“I felt like I could put the car anywhere on the track and make it work. The track was good tonight,” Dunn said.

Dunn’s biggest victory in his career was the win at Super Dirt Week in Syracuse several years back, prior to the demolition of the Moody Mile there. He has also garnered multiple track championships over his career.

Now that he is settling into fatherhood, he is focused on winning yet another track championship at Can-Am and has taken one step closer with the victory on Friday night. Dunn posed with his daughter in victory lane after his win, him in front of his 358 Modified, her in her modified push wagon made to look like dad’s Modified.

Dunn and Fuller will square off again this week at Can-Am for a special Memorial Day Weekend race, which will honor and memorialize former race car drivers and team members who we’ve lost. The race on Friday May 28th is sponsored by RJW Enterprises and Jiffy Dumpster.