RPW Column: Rivalry Builds Stronger At Can-Am Between Fuller & Dunn After Friday Night’s Action

Column By: CAN-AM SPEEDWAY STAFF – LAFARGEVILLE, NY – It’s a story of two race car drivers from Watertown, New York. Both have storied and successful careers. Both have decided to do battle at Can-Am Speedway in Lafargeville, New York for the 2021 season.

Tim Fuller drives the St. Lawrence Radiology Bicknell chassis number 19 and was able to capture the first victory of the points season at Can-Am earlier this year. Billy Dunn, who drives a mostly unsponsored red and orange Bicknell chassis number 49 was a close second in that race.

Fuller, who is articulate and doesn’t usually speak with bravado, stated in the Bob Johnson Auto Group Victory Lane, “I think there will be a lot of back and forth with him [Dunn] as the season goes on.”

Those words proved prophetic. The next two races that ensued on subsequent Friday nights went to Dunn, with Fuller in second place each night. In victory lane, egged on by Jeff Barrett the announcer, Dunn said that Fuller was always fast, but if he was going to win, he was going to have to “pack a lunch.”

On Friday night, the next race to take place since the ‘pack your lunch’ comment, Tim Fuller poured it on, apparently packing a whole banquet. He started eleventh in the Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified feature race, with Dunn in twelfth starting position right on his door.

Both Fuller and Dunn jumped out at the green flag and gained position over the field of other talented drivers. When an early race caution slowed things back down for a restart, it was Fuller who took prime advantage, leap-frogging out into the lead, with Dunn nipping at his heels. It was mostly green-flag racing for the rest of the competition with both Fuller and Dunn weaving through lapped traffic as they fought for the lead. Fuller ended the race in first place when the white and black checkers flew over the track.

Fuller exited his car in victory lane and was more animated than usual. He was thankful to his sponsors, but then took a moment to thank someone else.

“I want to thank Billy Dunn for telling me to pack a lunch last week,” Fuller said, with a grin. “He runs pretty good around here and I’m not going to spout off. But if he wants some competition, he’s got it.”

This is a healthy dose of good, old-fashioned racing going on at Can-Am Speedway. On the track, both competitors race with respect and sportsmanship. They aren’t banging into each other or spinning each other out. They are racing to the front and may the fastest (or luckiest) driver win, each and every week.

Both Fuller and Dunn are seasoned veterans, with Dunn scoring several track championships and capturing a victory at the now demolished Syracuse Fairgrounds Racetrack known as the Moody Mile during Super Dirt Week several years back. Fuller has notched multiple victories and track championships in his own career, including winning the King of the Big Blocks in the Super DIRTcar Series 100 at Bridgeport Speedway in early May of this year.

Whether the fans recognize it yet or not, they are being treated to an amazing competition between two stellar drivers, at the peak of their talent, each and every week.

What will happen this week? One must be on hand to see it with your own eyes.

For more information on the race schedule so you can check out the Dunn-Fuller competition, visit: racecanam.com