Columnist Larry Dixon: Drag racers hoping for big encore at Speedway

Larry Dixon

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 | 10:25 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.

Well, we're back for another shot at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and I couldn't be more excited. When the National Hot Rod Association made its return to the desert last year, it was a huge success.

All of the drivers, team owners, crew members, sponsors and fans quickly named LVMS as one of their top places to race on the Winston NHRA Drag Racing Series. As a matter of fact, we all like coming here so much that in addition to this weekend's second annual SummitRacing.com Nationals (Thursday-Sunday), we are coming back a second time this year for the Inaugural Las Vegas Fall Nationals (Oct. 25-28).

A lot has happened with our Miller Lite Top Fuel Team since the last time we visited Las Vegas. After a 50-cent part broke on our car last year and cost us a second-round loss to Cory McClenathan, the team rebounded to win two races (Houston and Richmond) and we finished third in the points race, tying my previous career best in 1995.

We would have won a third race last season if it hadn't been for a pretty scary accident during the finals in Memphis last October. We were well on our way to the win when the car folded up underneath me going about 275 mph. While it looked bad, I actually only needed a small pin in my left ankle and I was back racing at the next event.

The NHRA and all of the teams do a great job when it comes to safety, but our accident combined with Tony Schumacher's wreck that same weekend in Memphis got all of us thinking even more about how to stay as safe as possible while blasting down the quarter-mile drag strip.

One way we have improved our safety measures is by developing a six-point harness that I wear in the cockpit of the Miller Lite Dragster. Another big addition in terms of safety has been the use of the HANS (head and neck support) device. I know that everyone might be a little tired of hearing so much about it lately, but it really does work and I wouldn't climb back behind the wheel without it ever again.

But the biggest thing that has happened to me since last year was the birth of our son, Donovan. My wife Ali and I must have planned things just right because he was born two weeks after the end of the 2000 season and that gave us a good month and a half to spend with him together before preseason testing began in mid-January.

It is really neat to be able to bring him out to the track to watch me race. Some of you already know that my dad, Larry Dixon Sr., drove in the 1960s and 70s. Well, I remember what it was like to go to the races and watch him drive and now I get to share the same thing with my son.

The first time I brought him to the track was our first race of the season in Pomona and that was a very special day. The NHRA was honoring past Pomona champions, which meant my dad was going to be there after winning the Top Fuel title in 1970. That day saw three generations of Dixons at the racetrack and there was nothing like it. And now I get to show him Las Vegas.

On Thursday, I'll tell you all about how this season has gone for us so far and what we need to do to get our first win of the year. It should be another great weekend in Las Vegas.