Sore Fuller hopes to race following appendectomy
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Tim Fuller
Tim Fuller’s status for this week’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series Wild West Tour is uncertain after he underwent an emergency appendectomy on Monday afternoon.
Fuller, 42, of Watertown, N.Y., was in his hauler Tuesday afternoon and headed to Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., for the opening event of the four-race swing on Wednesday, but he said he would have to wait until race time to determine his ability to compete in the July 7 event.
“Right now I’m not even sure I can make a lap (for last-place points),” said Fuller, who was still extremely sore 24 hours after the surgery. “My doctor said he wouldn’t recommend racing for a couple weeks, but he said, ‘You most likely aren’t gonna reinjure yourself, so it’s more a matter of if you can take the pain.’
“They only made three small cuts on me and went in with a scope (to remove the appendix), but they’re still moving your guts around so it’s painful. I’ll have to see how I feel (on Wednesday night) and then decide what I’m gonna do.”
Fuller began to experience pain on Sunday afternoon while at racer April Farmer’s shop in Livingston, Tenn., where Fuller and Shane Clanton headed to spend a couple days working on their equipment after Saturday night’s WoO event at nearby Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway.
He initially thought he was suffering from a case of food poisoning, but after spending a sleepless night doubled over in pain he asked Farmer and her husband, Chris, to take him to a local doctor’s office on Monday morning to find out if his problem was something more serious. Tests revealed that his appendix was inflamed and in danger of bursting, so he was told to immediately report to a nearby hospital and by 2 p.m. he was on an operating table undergoing an appendectomy.
The surgery went well and doctors allowed Fuller to check himself out of the hospital at 8:30 on Monday night. He was able sleep in reasonable comfort in his hauler and left Farmer’s shop on Tuesday afternoon, bound for Minnesota with his crew and Clanton’s team.
“I guess I’m fortunate that this happened while we were at April’s place rather than somewhere on the road where we don’t know anybody,” Fuller said. “April and Chris were great shuttling me back-and-forth to the doctor and the hospital, and Shane and his girlfriend Michelle were at the hospital with me.
“Now all I can do is go to Deer Creek and play it by ear. Hopefully I’ll be able to race.”
Fuller currently ranks fifth in the WoO LMS points standings, 182 points behind leader Josh Richards and just six points ahead of sixth-place Austin Hubbard. He won twice and finished third in the first three events of the recent Great Northern Tour to pull within 84 points of Richards, but in the five events since then he’s finished no better than 12th and lost 98 points in the standings.
The Wild West Tour kicks off on Wednesday at Deer Creek and then visits Superior (Wis.) Speedway on Thurs., July 8; River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., on Fri., July 9; and Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, S.D., on Sat., July 10. Fuller earned his first career WoO LMS A-Main victory at River Cities in 2007.
