Madison: Larry Dixon Friday summary

MADISON, Ill. (June 25, 2004) - Larry Dixon drove his Miller Lite dragster to the No. 5 qualifying position Friday at Gateway International Raceway after blasting his Don Prudhomme-owned rail to a run of 4.571 seconds at 318.09 mph. The ...

MADISON, Ill. (June 25, 2004) - Larry Dixon drove his Miller Lite dragster to the No. 5 qualifying position Friday at Gateway International Raceway after blasting his Don Prudhomme-owned rail to a run of 4.571 seconds at 318.09 mph.

The two-time defending NHRA Top Fuel champion powered to the 4.571 at 318.09 effort on Friday's second qualifying session to claim the No. 5 spot. Dixon, a 34-time NHRA winner, drove to a pass of 4.655 at 313.80 on his opening run of the weekend at the Illinois facility.

"I think it's great that we started out where we left off last weekend in New Jersey and we improved upon those numbers," Dixon said. "Our goal tomorrow is to improve our qualifying position going into Sunday."

Dixon, who has yet to earn a victory at Gateway Int'l Raceway, aims to move up in the Top Fuel order Saturday when nitro qualifying continues under the lights at 6 and 9 p.m. (CT).