Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: After failed effort in St. Louis, Dixon moves on

Thursday, July 18, 2002 | 9:05 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Larry Dixon has had two weeks to stew about his inexplicable failure to qualify for the 16-car elimination field at the Sears Craftsman Nationals near St. Louis.

But instead of dwelling on the past, the 35-year-old NHRA Top Fuel points leader is going into this weekend's Mile-High Nationals in Denver even more determined to claim his first NHRA championship.

"We've got bigger goals than just conquering St. Louis," Dixon said. "Our goal since the start of the season was to try to win the Powerade championship. We have our sights set on that and we hit a speed bump on the road towards that.

"You can't fix anything that happened in St. Louis, you just have to flush it and go to the next race. We're going to Denver (and) we won there last year."

Dixon, who has seven wins this season, took a 259-point lead over Kenny Bernstein into St. Louis. While Dixon sat out Sunday's eliminations, Bernstein beat Andrew Cowin in the final and climbed within 157 points of Dixon.

Dixon, who lost a tight championship battle with Bernstein in 2001, is applying lessons learned last year to this season's chase.

"From Indy on last season, when it was pretty much us and Kenny going for the championship, when you stumble and do anything wrong at any run, whether it is qualifying or race day, it can take you out of the championship," Dixon said. "It just let me know how important every round is, regardless if you are running Kenny or number 50 in the points.

"I think our team and myself have taken that kind of attitude since we started testing in January and we really haven't let up on that. Every round and every run is important. The (runs) that have happened, you try to learn from and carry on."

Force, the Funny Car points leader, told ESPN.com that doctors want to remove his gall bladder. The 53-year-old is delaying surgery until after the event at Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point Raceway) concludes Aug. 4.

"They want me to have the surgery now," Force said. "Me, Tony (Pedregon) and (Gary) Densham all have a shot at the championship and I'll have some time after Sonoma to rest up and get this thing straightened out.

"It's a little tender but, hell, it'll hurt worse if ol' (Whit) Bazemore or that kid (Del) Worsham get around us in the points."

"Up until three years ago, I approached the Mile-High Nationals as Matt's (Hines) race," Savoie said. "After all, even though they were our biggest rivals, this was their home track and they were used to running in the thin air up here while our team was from down in Georgia. While we saw Gainesville and Atlanta as our races, Matt's team was supposed to win here.

"But our mind-set changed in 2000. We came in here determined to not let anything stand in our way, and we won."