Joliet II: Larry Dixon final summary

DIXON RACES MILLER LITE DRAGSTER TO FIRST-ROUND EFFORT AT JOLIET

JOLIET, Ill. (Oct. 2, 2005) -- Veteran Top Fuel driver and 38-time NHRA winner Larry Dixon drove his Don Prudhomme-owned Miller Lite dragster to a first-round performance Sunday at Route 66 Raceway during the Ameriquest Mortgage Co. Nationals.

After qualifying the Miller Lite/Ameriquest dragster with a 4.511-second elapsed time, the two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion matched up against No. 10 qualifier Scott Kalitta in the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations. Dixon got the jump at the start to race to the early lead before Kalitta's rail powered around to score the narrow victory. The Miller Lite dragster clocked a run of 4.578 at 326.71, while Kalitta posted a run of 4.541 at 327.35. It marks the first time since the Sonoma, Calif. event on July 31 that the Miller Lite/Lucas Oil team did not advance to at least the semifinals.

"At this point, I'm disappointed that we lost the round," Dixon said. "I think that from what I've gathered we didn't adjust enough for the air conditions and our car slowed down. We ran a 4.57 and a 4.56 would have won the round."

Dixon remains second in the NHRA Top Fuel standings. The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 20th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals, Oct. 6-9, at Texas Motorplex near Dallas. The race was rescheduled in mid-September due to Hurricane Rita. Dixon won the Dallas event in 2001.

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