Columnist Larry Dixon: LV trip always a good time

Larry Dixon

Thursday, April 4, 2002 | 11:29 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 third annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Well, it's early April and for all of us on the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series, that means that we get to return to one of the best cities, as well as racetracks, on tour -- The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

This weekend's SummitRacing.com Nationals will showcase the fastest form of motor sports on the planet as drivers hurl themselves down the track at more than 320 miles per hour in less than 4.5 seconds.

Even though this is my eighth season as a professional driver, I still get goose bumps just thinking about it. As if the thought of spending the day racing down one of the country's premier quarter-miles -- followed by the thrill of what Las Vegas nightlife has to offer -- wasn't enough to get me excited, then all I have to do is look at the success that our Snake Racing Miller Lite Top Fuel team brings to this week's race.

I am happy to say that our crew chief, Dick LaHaie, has us running just as good, if not better, than we were last year when we fell just short of winning our first NHRA Top Fuel world championship.

While I realize it is way too early to be patting ourselves on the back, I do want to let you all know just how great the beginning of the season has been for us.

First of all, the 2002 season marks our team owner and Hall of Fame drag racer Don "The Snake" Prudhomme's 40th anniversary season. We all realize how much of an accomplishment that is and we wanted to start the season off on the right foot. We were able to accomplish that early goal with our first win of the year at the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona, Calif.

The Phoenix race was special, too, in that we ran a lap of 4.555 seconds to win our first low-qualifier award of the year. While we didn't run as smoothly as we would have liked on race day, we did make it to the finals and finished runner-up.

Our momentum kept going into our next race, the Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla. We won our second pole of the year, taking home some more low-qualifier money. Race day at the Gators was really fun because I got a chance to race against Shirley Muldowney in the second round for the first time in my life. What a thrill -- I am just glad I won.

Anyway, we went on to our third final round of the first three races and our second championship meeting with Kenny Bernstein. It was a close race, but we pulled it off again.

We come into Las Vegas having won 11 out of 12 elimination rounds, won two of the first three races and have a 105-point lead in the standings. With some more hard work and a little luck, maybe we'll get our first ever win at The Strip on Sunday and keep this train rolling.

For those of you who can't make it out to the track this weekend, but would like to stop by to get an autograph or take a picture, I will be at the Instant Replay (7777 W. Sahara Ave.) tonday from 7 to 8 p.m.