Columbus: Larry Dixon Saturday summary

From The Snake Pit

COLUMBUS, OH (June 14) - Defending POWERade NHRA Champion Larry Dixon secured the No.3 spot headed into tomorrow's final elimination round of the 39th Annual Pontiac Excitement NHRA Nationals in Columbus, OH. Dixon drove the Miller Lite dragster to a 4.565-second run at a speed of 321.35 mph during the third and final qualifying session

During the first qualifying attempt of the day, the Don Prudhomme owned dragster was hoping merely to qualify. Friday, a blocked fuel nozzle kept the car from starting and ultimately kept Dixon out of a qualifying spot.

Not only were Dixon and the Miller Lite crew able to qualify but also for 15 minutes they held the National Trail Raceway track speed record, later replaced by Doug Kalitta's pass. The previous record, set by Joe Amato in 1998, had been the longest withstanding record of the series, broken first by Dixon and moments later by Kalitta.

"To be honest I don't really care about the track record, I'm just happy we made a good run & got our car qualified," said Dixon. "I think the conditions over the past few years is the reason why the record hasn't fallen; it's why it got crushed this time."

During the third and final qualifying pass, the Miller Lite dragster made a pass of 309.27 miles per hour at a 4.650 ET.

Two-time defending Pontiac Excitement Nationals Champion; Larry Dixon will pair against No.14 qualifier Bruce Litton tomorrow in the first round of Sunday eliminations.

"We weren't trying to run a 50 flat," said crew chief Dick LaHaie, "we went up there conservative on our first run, to make sure we got qualified." According to LaHaie, during the second and relatively slower run, they changed out the supercharger.

Don Prudhomme Racing is giving adult race fans of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series the chance to be treated like VIPs at an upcoming race weekend during the 2003 season when they register at the team's newly designed website - www.snakeracing.com.