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.
