Columnist Larry Dixon: Early part of the season packed with drag action

Larry Dixon

Thursday, April 5, 2001 | 11:19 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.

While this weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is just our fourth event of this year's 24 national event season, there has already been a lot of drag racing action in the pits, on the track, and in the administrative offices.

Although it sounds like a cliche, there honestly wasn't much of an off-season for anyone at Don Prudhomme Racing. It is hectic enough just trying to enjoy what little time we have off for the holidays before returning to the shop.

Besides my usual off-season responsibilities such as ordering new decals, paint schemes, fire suits, helmets and clothing for the team, I had a special side job of my own. I had to outfit an exact replica of the car we drove last year to be used as a display in the Miller Lite Racing Garage, which is traveling around to NASCAR, CART and NHRA races this season.

On the track, we opened the season at Pomona as the No. 3 qualifier with a time of 4.600 seconds at 316.82 mph. It was only the third time in my seven-year pro driving career that we qualified in the top three for the Winternationals.

Our runs during qualifying that weekend also gave us a good feeling about how much more horsepower our engine was making and proved that the changes we made during testing would probably lead us in the right direction. We put together a string of six consecutive 4.6-second laps all the way up until the semifinals on Sunday.

While we had to settle with a semifinal finish to Mike Dunn at that race, we all left feeling pretty optimistic about our chances to make a run for the Winston Championship this season.

The next stop for us was Phoenix, where crew chief Dick LaHaie tuned us to four straight 4.5-second laps and the No. 2 spot on the ladder. Boy, was that car hauling on Friday and Saturday! Unfortunately, the weather did a complete 180-degree turn on Sunday and left most crew chiefs looking for answers just minutes before the first round of eliminations. We did manage to get out of the first round but lost to Doug Kalitta in the second round.

Next was Gainesville for the Gatornationals where we again qualified well with a 4.588 and the No. 2 position. Rain forced us to postpone the race until later this month but I have a good feeling about our return to Florida.

Our most recent event was in Houston just two weeks ago. We were all excited about returning to Houston Raceway Park, seeing as how we had won the race two out of the last three times we were there.

LaHaie and the crew really shined there again as we qualified No. 2 for the third straight time and also managed to set a new career speed mark at 324.75 mph. I really feel that we had the best car that weekend, but we lost a tough, close battle in the final to Dunn.

When you take all that has happened to our team so far this season, and then multiply it by three when you take into consideration my Snake Racing Skoal Funny Car teammates Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr., you can imagine just how crazy things have been at the track.

And while it is not always easy, it just makes it all the more sweet when you raise that trophy in the Winners' Circle.