Columnist Dixon: Finally, it’s time to make some noise on ‘The Strip’

Friday, April 7, 2000 | 10:08 a.m.

Larry Dixon, driver of Don Prudhomme's Miller Lite Top Fuel Dragster, is writing a daily column exclusively for the Las Vegas Sun in conjunction with the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Attention residents of Las Vegas:

Late this afternoon, there will be a series of explosions that will shake the ground, making thunderous noise that may have you thinking that the end of the world is near.

But don't run for your bomb shelters quite yet, it's just us crazy Top Fuel drivers firing up our 6,000-horsepower, nitromethane-burning dragsters for the opening qualifying session of the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals.

The day I have been waiting for all week has finally arrived. All the talk is behind us and now I will get my first chance at the quarter-mile strip of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And while I am on the subject of the track, I have to tell you that it is the most incredible facility we have on the NHRA tour.

If the massive grandstands, huge pit area and top-notch control tower and media center are any indicator of how good the track surface is, then this place is the best -- bar none.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of breaking in a new track and having the opportunity to go down in history as the first driver to win an inaugural event. Over my six-year career, I have been fortunate enough to have the chance to race at several brand new tracks, including Bristol Dragway, Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis, Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, and Virginia Motorsports Park that debuted in Richmond in 1995, my Rookie of the Year season.

Even though I was the first driver to win a pole in Richmond, I haven't had the kind of results I would have liked at these first-time events, so I am looking for my luck to change -- and what better place to see that happen than Vegas.

This is the kind of race where my crew chief, former NHRA Winston Top Fuel champ Dick LaHaie, and all of the guys on the team will really earn their keep. Without much data to go on, Dicko must go back in his records to try and find similarities between the track and weather conditions here in the desert, and the conditions of other tracks we have raced on, in order to try to come up with an initial qualifying day tune-up.

It's not enough though for the crew chief to make the right call on the combination. Every team member has to do his part all weekend long if we expect to come out of here with the little gold man. It may not seem like a big deal, but a fraction of a gram of weight on a clutch disk, one pound difference in air pressure in the tires, or in my case, one hundredth of a second slower reaction time on the Christmas tree can see a team pack it up and start the bus home.

Hopefully, after the second run at 6:30 tonight, we will be solidly qualified in the field so we can start to experiment a little and see if we can come up with some new information to try to gain an advantage over the competition.

But just because we find a tune-up doesn't necessarily mean that it will work for us all weekend. As the weather changes, and depending on how hot the sun is on the track, the engine setup that works for us on Saturday may not be the right one for the elimination round come Sunday.

One advantage that we have is the fact that we are part of a two-car team owned by Don Prudhomme.

One thing is for sure, no matter how we finish, I promise that we will show you some awesome power, reach some incredible speeds and most importantly, make a lot of noise.