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ENNIS, Tex. -- Larry Dixon is fourth in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings; he trails third place by 11 points and first place by 21 points after the first race in the Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoffs. Dixon finished second in the countdown last year and is making his third countdown appearance in as many years.
Larry Dixon, Top Fuel Dragster Dixon has advanced to at least the semifinals in 10 of the 19 races this season. He has won five of the seven races in which he has advanced to the final round of eliminations; he has advanced to the finals at three of the last four events. Dixon was the No. 1 qualifier at last week's NHRA Carolinas Nationals; he defeated Terry Haddock before losing to Cory McClenathan in the second round of eliminations. He won races earlier this season in Gainesville, Fla., Topeka, Kan., Englishtown, N.J., Norwalk, Ohio and Reading, Pa. One year ago at the Texas Motorplex, Dixon was the No. 1 qualifier; he defeated Morgan Lucas before losing to Tony Schumacher in the second round of eliminations. Dixon won races at Texas Motorplex in 2001 and '07. Dixon won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 2002 and '03. He is currently third on the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel winner's list with 48 victories. Joe Amato is in second place with 52 wins; Tony Schumacher tops the list with 60 wins. Dixon is tied with Jeg Coughlin for ninth place on the NHRA's all-time career victories list; they trail eighth-place Don Prudhomme by one win. Dixon was the 1995 NHRA Rookie of the Year.
Dixon prior to Dallas: "At Charlotte our car slowed down a little bit; I slowed down a little bit, and it was the wrong time to do it. We picked a bad time to slow down, and we lost to a good car. We stayed over on in Charlotte Monday to let Alan (team owner Alan Johnson) and Jason (crew chief Jason McCulloch) answer some questions before we qualify in Dallas on Friday. We made a few test runs and got some questions answered so hopefully we'll be in better shape for these next three races. "In the grand scheme of things, we're in pretty good shape. We came into Charlotte 30 points out of first place, we lost second round and now we're 21 points out of first. So we're fortunate not to have more damage in points. We're fortunate that the three of the top four in points went out early at Charlotte so we pretty much held our ground. "We have 20 rounds of racing left in the playoffs, and we plan on trying to be a part of all of them. Our points position could have been a lot worse. You look at Robert Hight, and he entered Charlotte in 10th place and now he's third; he had the best weekend he could have. So a lot can change in a hurry with the countdown." For additional information on Larry Dixon, please visit http://www.alanjohnsonracing.com to view his full bio.
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