NHRA
Topeka: Consistancy could bring Larry Dixon first title
The Dixon Dispatch Weekly News Release of Larry Dixon & the Miller Lite Dragster Larry Dixon Hopes Consistant Performance Continues As He Looks For First Career Win At Heartland Park Topeka TOPEKA, KS (May 22) - "Consistency is king" in the ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
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The Dixon Dispatch
Weekly News Release of Larry Dixon & the Miller Lite Dragster
Larry Dixon Hopes Consistant Performance Continues As He Looks For First Career Win At Heartland Park Topeka
TOPEKA, KS (May 22) - "Consistency is king" in the sport of drag racing and if that old motorsports clich rings true, then Larry Dixon may be well on his way to his first career win at Heartland Park Topeka, as well as his first NHRA Winston Top Fuel Championship.
With one third of the 2001 NHRA season complete, Dixon is continuing to enjoy the same kind of performance and results that gave him a career-best-tying third-place finish in last year's Top Fuel points standings.
The Don Prudhomme-owned Miller Lite Dragster has shown great promise under the guidance of two-time Winston Championship crew chief Dick LaHaie, who has tuned Dixon to the top half of the qualifying ladder at seven of the first eight races this season (87.9%). More impressive is the fact that Dixon has only qualified lower than No. 3 on one occasion (No. 9) at Las Vegas.
Qualifying well at Topeka has never been a huge difficulty for Dixon, and that pattern is not likely to change for this weekend's 13th Annual Advance Auto Parts Nationals (May 25-27). Beginning with his career track-best No.2 qualifying effort at Heartland Park during his 1995 NHRA Rookie of the Year campaign, Dixon has appeared on the top half of the ladder a total of five times out of nine races at HPT. The one thing that will change this season however is the time of year that the Topeka event falls on the NHRA schedule.
Unlike last year's race which was held in late September, this year's event will move to the late May.
If it is true that numbers don't lie, then Dixon has a very good chance at going deep in this Sunday's elimination rounds. Dixon owns a mark of 17 wins and 7 losses in 24 elimination rounds (.708%) and has seen the Miller Lite Dragster post a semifinal finish season average after advancing to the final four at six out of the eight races this season, including two trips to the finals and a pair of second round finishes.
He has also extended his streak of opening round wins to nine, with his most recent first-round loss coming last October at Houston Raceway Park.
Dixon's first win of the year came at the rain-delayed Mac Tools Gatornationals (April 21) and it was just one week later that his consistency paid off with the Winston Top Fuel points lead following the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, TN. He enters this weekend's event just three points behind points leader Mike Dunn, who Dixon defeated for the first time this season last week at Englishtown. <pre> Larry Dixon's Career Results in Topeka Year Event Qual. Finish & Winning Driver 1995 Western Auto Ntls. No. 13 2nd round- C. McClenathan 1995 Sears Crftsmn Ntls No. 2 2nd round- M. Dunn 1996 Western Auto Ntls. No. 5 1st round- A. Woods 1996 Sears Crftsmn Ntls. No. 7 1st round- C. McClenathan 1997 Western Auto Ntls. No. 12 1st round- S. Kalitta 1997 Sears Crftsmn Ntls. No. 14 2nd round- K. Bernstein 1998 Parts America Ntls. No. 3 2nd round- K. Bernstein 1999 Advance Auto Ntls. No. 11 1st round- K. Bernstein 2000 Advance Auto Ntls. No. 6 2nd round- D. Kalitta
Larry Dixon to Meet Topeka Race Fans </pre> NHRA Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon will be making some appearances this week throughout the Topeka area where he will be meeting an d signing autographs for local drag racing fans. Below is a tentative schedul e for Dixon: <pre> Date & Time Location Thur, 5/24 700-800p Thursday Night Live Street Fest Downtown Main Street 810-825p Goose 1, 3203 SW 10th Ave. (785) 357-8474-phone 835-850p The Dugout, 1554 W. Fairlawn Rd (785) 273-8430-phone Fri, 5/25 530-830p Qualifying sessions #1 & #2 Sat, 5/26 100-400p Qualifying sessions #3 & #4 Sun, 5/27 1030a Eliminations begin
2001 NHRA Winston Top Fuel Point Standings 1. Mike Dunn 630 n/a 2. LARRY DIXON 627 3 out 3. Kenny Bernstein 625 5 out 4. Doug Kalitta 595 30 out 5. Darrell Russell 506 124 out 6. Gary Scelzi 461 169 out 7. Tony Schumacher 447 183 out 8. Doug Herbert 376 254 out 9. David Grubnic 339 291 out 10. Rhonda Hartman 315 315 out
<A HREF3D"www.snakeracing.com">www.snakeracing.com</A>
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