Brainerd: Dixon seventh after first day

BRAINERD, MN (Aug. 18) - After the first day of action at the Colonel's Truck Accessories Nationals, defending top fuel champion Larry Dixon posted a time of 4.711 seconds at 314.02 mph to qualify the Don Prudhomme-owned Miller Lite Dragster in ...

BRAINERD, MN (Aug. 18) - After the first day of action at the Colonel's Truck Accessories Nationals, defending top fuel champion Larry Dixon posted a time of 4.711 seconds at 314.02 mph to qualify the Don Prudhomme-owned Miller Lite Dragster in the No. 7 position at Brainerd International Raceway.

Dixon, who defeated Eddie Hill to win last year's event, began the day with a lap of 4.745 seconds at 301.47 mph to secure the No. 4 spot after the day's first session. In the cooler temperatures of the evening session, crew chief Dick LaHaie was able to trim a few hundredths off of the Miller Lite car's quarter mile elapsed time with the 4.711 clocking.

Dixon's best qualifying effort at Brainerd was a No. 3 seeding in 1995 where he posted a first round finish to Hill, the man responsible for ending Dixon's race weekends at three of the five previous events at B.I.R. The Miller Lite pilot enters this weekend's race ranked No. 2 in the Winston Top Fuel points race, just 97 points behind leader Gary Scelzi.

The final two qualifying sessions of the weekend resume Saturday and are scheduled to be run at Noon and 4 PM CT. Sunday's elimination round begins at 10 AM and will be televised by TNN.