Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Dixon wants to be first to win 3 consecutive Gator titles

Thursday, March 6, 2003 | 9:43 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.

Reigning NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon has been busy this season rewriting the record books.

At the season opener in Pomona, Calif., Dixon became the first Top Fuel driver to win back-to-back Winternationals titles. Two weeks later, in Chandler, Ariz., he finished runner-up to Brandon Bernstein and set a record for the longest time spent atop the Top Fuel points standings (25 race weeks, dating to Feb. 10, 2002).

But Dixon and his Don Prudhomme Racing team aren't resting on their laurels. A day after the Arizona race, Dixon and his team remained in Chandler to test the Miller Lite dragster before embarking on another potential history-making run next weekend in Gainesville, Fla.

Dixon will attempt to become the first Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to win three consecutive Gatornationals. A victory at Gainesville Raceway would be the fourth of Dixon's career there, adding to wins in 1995, 2001 and 2002.

"Winning at Gainesville is ex- citing, period," Dixon said. "I have been fortunate enough to win there three times. Would I like to make it four? Of course, but I don't think the competition is just going to lay over and let us do that.

"We have to go out there and earn our spot -- both car and driver. I am just going to try to do my best to hold up my end of the deal and see how the chips fall."

Dixon's affection for Gainesville Raceway runs deeper than his recent success there.

"I love going to Gainesville," he said. "The first time I got into an open-wheel car was at Frank Hawley's (drag-racing) school. I got licensed in (Prudhomme's) car there and came back and won the race the first time I drove there. And, for the past two years, we have won the race.

"It's a great place and we enjoy running there. The cars always seem to run real quick, real fast, and our team is hoping that with some of the testing that we did at Phoenix, some of the things that we learned we will be able to apply to our tuneup to the performance of the car to hopefully step it up a notch."

Win or lose, Dixon said he plans to stay an extra day in Gainesville and test in preparation for the next event on the schedule, the fourth annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway April 3-6.

"We tried a bunch of different things in a bunch of different areas -- ignition, superchargers, clutch and motor," Dixon said of his Chandler test. "Some things worked great and some things didn't work at all. From both sides of it, that's good to get that all in during testing so when you show up at a track like Gainesville you can just try and go out there and run your hardest.

"We actually have a test date set up for the day after the race to try and work in some more performance-related equipment."

If testing goes well, Capps would be in line in 2004 to become the first driver to represent the NHRA in the four-race all-star series. This year's IROC series features drivers from NASCAR, the IRL IndyCar Series and the World of Outlaws.

Capps leads the NHRA Funny Car standings after his semifinal finish in Pomona with his 14th career NHRA title in Arizona.