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Richmond: Larry Dixon Saturday summary

DIXON AND MILLER LITE TEAM WINS FULL THROTTLE AWARD AT VIRGINIA MOTORSPORTS PARK RICHMOND, Va., (Oct. 14, 2006) -- Larry Dixon will tell you that Saturday was all about finding the boundaries of performance. The two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion ...

Published: Oct 15, 2006, 6:03 AM

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DIXON AND MILLER LITE TEAM WINS FULL THROTTLE AWARD AT VIRGINIA MOTORSPORTS PARK

RICHMOND, Va., (Oct. 14, 2006) -- Larry Dixon will tell you that Saturday was all about finding the boundaries of performance. The two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion knows that Sundays are too valuable a day to test the limits of what the race track will give each nitro-burning entry.

Dixon drove his Miller Lite Top Fueler to the No. 6 qualifying position at the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. His best time of the four-session qualifying was a 4.557-second pass at 314.75 mph. Dixon said the team learned some important lessons that could translate into round wins on Sunday.

"Saturday was all about figuring out what you could get away with down track," Dixon said. "You can tell that the speeds are down about 10-15 mph from what they should be with the type of conditions we have. This race track surface is giving all of the teams trouble because it's new and it just doesn't have enough rubber on the top end yet.

"Basically we've been working on our back half setups and seeing what we can and can't get away with. We've had trouble getting hooked up down track and we spun the tires both runs. The car really spun the tires during the first run, but not as bad on the second pass. That shows that we're going in the right direction."

For the team's consistent efforts throughout the four sessions, they were given the Full Throttle Award for the first time. Teams compete each weekend for the honor and the team with the most consistent ET's gets a $3,000 prize.

Now Dixon will face Steve Torrence in the first round of eliminations on Sunday -- a driver who has a professional license featuring Dixon's signature.

"I met Steve a couple of years ago through Snake (team owner Don Prudhomme) and he's been racing in Super Comp and in the alcohol classes the past couple of year," Dixon said. "He won the Top Alcohol Dragster championship last year but wanted to make the move up to Top Fuel. He's been working with Dexter Tuttle and Dexter asked me to hang out in St. Louis this year and watch Steve's licensing runs. He made the runs and I signed his license."

Dixon -- a 38-time NHRA event winner behind the wheel of the Don Prudhomme-owned dragster -- earned his first career No. 1 qualifying award in Richmond during his rookie season in 1995. He also has a win (2000) and a runner-up (1999) finish there.

-credit: snake racing

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