NHRA
Topeka: Larry Dixon preview
* Larry Dixon won the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga. this past weekend. With the win, his fourth of the season, Dixon tied NHRA legend Joe Amato for second place on the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel winners list and seventh ...
Published: May 19, 2010, 4:30 AM
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* Larry Dixon won the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga. this past weekend. With the win, his fourth of the season, Dixon tied NHRA legend Joe Amato for second place on the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel winners list and seventh place on the NHRA's all-time career winners list.
* Dixon has now won four races at Atlanta Dragway, more than any other Top Fuel driver. Dixon was the No. 1 qualifier last weekend; he defeated Steve Torrence, T.J. Zizzo, Tony Schumacher and Brandon Bernstein on his way to the winner's circle. He recorded the low elapsed time of all four rounds of qualifying and three of the four rounds of eliminations. The Al-Anabi Top Fuel team has won three of the last four NHRA national events.
* Dixon enters Topeka in first place in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings. He leads second-place Cory McClenathan by 112 points and third place Doug Kalitta by 137 points.
* Dixon is the defending champion of the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Summer Nationals; last year, he defeated Steve Chrisman, Cory McClenathan, Spencer Massey and Clay Millican on his way to the winners circle. It was the second of Dixon's five wins last season. Dixon also won at Topeka in 2003, the year he won his second NHRA Top Fuel championship. Dixon is one of three active Top Fuel drivers with two wins at Topeka, the most among active drivers.
* Dixon has advanced to at least the semifinals in six of the eight events so far this season. In addition to this past weekend at Atlanta Dragway, he won the season-opening Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals in Baytown, Texas and the summitracing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.
* Dixon has been an excellent qualifier this season having qualified in the top three at all eight races. Dixon's average qualifying position so far this year is 2.125. Dixon has been the No. 1 qualifier twice this season and 42 times in his career.
* Dixon won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 2002 and '03. He is currently tied with Joe Amato for second place on the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel winner's list with 52 victories; Tony Schumacher tops the list with 63 wins. Dixon is tied with Amato for seventh place on the NHRA's all-time career victories list. Dixon was the 1995 NHRA Rookie of the Year.
Dixon prior to Topeka:
"Tying Joe Amato is humbling; when I started racing Top Fuel, he had so many wins and championships, and he was "the guy.* He was the dominant force in our class, and to be able to equal something he did is really humbling. I don't feel worthy; the number represents great cars and teams that I've been with, but I still have a long way to go to be truly in Joe Amato's league.
"We had a good qualifying package for the A-Anabi car last weekend so we got a lot of bonus points, and the win extends that. Being able to win the race was the icing on the cake because we were able to add to our points lead. It's a long season, and you never know when you're gonna need some extra points so it's nice to have a small cushion right now.
"Looking back at Topeka last year, we tested before the race, and it really kick-started our season. We left that test and won three out of four races. This year we go into Topeka having won three out of four, but last year at Topeka is where we started running really well. You'd like to think your team's performance continues to evolve. Top Fuel is so competitive, and every round is big so we have to keep evolving. We hope to keep getting our Al-Anabi car a little bit better each time we make a run."
-source: al-anabi racing
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