Denver: Larry Dixon Friday summary

DIXON DRIVES TO NO. 6 SPOT FRIDAY AT DENVER

MORRISON, Colo. (July 14, 2006) Two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon opened the first day of qualifying for the 27th annual Mile-High Nationals with two solid runs to position his Miller Lite dragster in the No. 6 position Friday at Bandimere Speedway.

The 38-time NHRA winner opened qualifying with a solid run of 4.866 seconds at 303.03 mph to claim the fourth quickest time of the first qualifying session in his Miller-backed rail. Then, under the lights at the scenic Colorado drag strip, the veteran Top Fuel racer powered his Don Bender-tuned dragster to a pass of 4.654 at 314.90 to capture the provisional No. 6 qualifying position.

"Both runs were nice today," Dixon said. "Some of the stuff that we learned during testing after St. Louis, we applied here and it worked. We ran a 4.65 tonight and had much better conditions at St. Louis and didn't run that quickly there. The car seems to be responding to the things we're doing and we'll keep going in that direction."

Dixon, a two-time winner of the Denver race, looks to move deeper into the top half of the Top Fuel field when qualifying continues at 3:30 and 6 p.m. (MT) on Saturday afternoon. He qualified third here one season ago.

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