Columnist Larry Dixon: We’re coming to LVMS with some momentum

Larry Dixon

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2001 | 11:32 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 inaugural ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The National Hot Rod Association and Snake Racing Miller Lite Top Fuel team are back this weekend for our second race of the year at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and things could not be more exciting.

This weekend's AC Delco Las Vegas Nationals will play a huge role in determining this season's Winston Top Fuel Champ for the 2001 Winston Drag Racing Series. I am really excited and proud to be driving one of the two cars still battling for the title. While I have always enjoyed coming to race here in the desert, I am especially looking forward to this weekend after coming off such a huge win for our team in Dallas last Sunday, just two days before my 35th birthday (Oct. 23).

A couple of weeks ago we lost in the second round at Reading, Pa., and that found us 58 points out of the Top Fuel points lead. The strategy we had after that was to try and pick up at least one round of points over leader Kenny Bernstein at each of the next three races. Well, we did one step better than that as we beat him in the semifinals and went on to win the race.

While it was real nice to win around the time of my birthday, I have always wanted to win races for my family on their birthdays, too. My dad's always seems to fall around the Reading race while my mom's usually falls around national events at Seattle or Sears Point. I'd like to say that I have been able to do that for them, but at this point I only have myself covered. I have even won races at Brainerd, Minn., right around the time of my wife Ali's birthday (Aug. 12).

Some of you might wonder how a "big time" drag racer like Larry Dixon got to spend his birthday? Well, it was not as glamorous as you might think. I spent the entire day driving straight from Dallas to Las Vegas -- all 1,200 miles of it. We pulled into town Tuesday night and my wife baked a cake for me and when she lit all those candles, I thought she was going to set off the smoke alarm in our motor coach.

Spending your special day with your wife and your son makes you feel really blessed. When you think about all the crazy things going on in the world right now, it really made me appreciate the time I was able to spend with them.

Thinking about this weekend, the weather should be great and our crew chief Dick LaHaie and the team has our car running real strong and consistent right now. I am sure we will see some real big numbers and some intense, side-by-side racing.

In fact, with only this weekend's race and the NHRA World Finals (Nov. 8-11) left on this year's schedule, every one of the qualifying and elimination-round points left to be earned will play a key role in deciding who gets to be crowned this year's champion.

And as if that wasn't motivation enough, I still have my son Donovan's first birthday (Nov. 29) to think about.