Columnist Larry Dixon: Finally, we broke through at LVMS

Larry Dixon

Monday, April 8, 2002 | 9:31 a.m.

Editor's note: Larry Dixon, driver of Don Prudhomme's Miller Lite Top Fuel dragster, wrote a daily column exclusively for the Las Vegas Sun in conjunction with the third annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at LVMS.

What a weekend. We finally did it. Our Don Prudhomme Racing Miller Lite Top Fuel team has had a super season going so far and it got even better on Sunday with our first win ever at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

I can't tell you how happy we all are to have won this race. Just like at our last race in Gainesville, Fla., a few weeks ago, we were able to run the table by winning the race, being No. 1 qualifier, running the top speed and posting the low elapsed time of the meet. That's total domination and that's the best way to win races.

We had quite a celebration last night, but I am not going to get overconfident. We still have a lot of races ahead of us.

Our weekend started out just how we would have liked it to with a strong run of 4.575 seconds to take the low qualifier award and the No. 1 position on the elimination ladder. Our crew chief, Dick LaHaie, really has the car performing well during qualifying as we now have earned the pole position at three of the first four races this season.

But perhaps even more impressive than the 4.57-second lap in the cool air on Friday night was the 4.62-second qualifying pass we made during the extreme heat on Saturday afternoon. That pass right there really helped us in terms of getting some solid data we could use for race day on Sunday.

The heat continued for us on Sunday and made the first round a tricky one. As it turned out, we stepped it up and ran the best number of the day in the finals with a time of 4.639 seconds at 319.29 mph to get the win over Cory McClenathan. It was the first time in our three final-round meetings that I have ever beaten him, so that was the icing on the cake.

The win also gave me 19 for my career, tying me with Gary Beck for 24th on the NHRA's all-time list. I am not big on records and things like that, but it's kind of neat because I used to work for Gary back in the 1980s before I was a driver.

Now we are off to Houston next week where we have had some success in the past, including when we became the first car to travel the quarter mile under 4.5 seconds with a 4.486-second lap. We have a 147-point lead in the Powerade Top Fuel points race after our finish here in Las Vegas and hopefully when we return to the fall race here in Las Vegas, it will be an even bigger lead.