Joliet: Larry Dixon preview

Larry Dixon enters the United Association Route 66 Nationals in first place in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings. He leads second-place Cory McClenathan by 97 points and third place Tony Schumacher by 108 points.

Dixon has advanced to at least the semifinals in seven of the nine events so far this season. He has four wins this year: the season-opening Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals in Baytown, Texas, the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas and the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Dixon has been an excellent qualifier this season having qualified in the top three at eight of the nine races. Dixon's average qualifying position so far this year is 3.22. Dixon has been the No. 1 qualifier twice this season and 42 times in his career.

One year ago at Route 66 Raceway, Dixon was the No. 3 qualifier; he defeated Troy Buff and Morgan Lucas before losing to Spencer Massey in the semifinals. He won at Route 66 Raceway in 2002 and '07; team manager Alan Johnson has one win at Joliet as a crew chief.

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 64 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 Route 66 Raceway:

"Looking back on Topeka, as much trouble as we ended up having, it was still a good points weekend because we made it to the semifinals. We fought ignition trouble, but Sunday was still a good points day. Jason (crew chief Jason McCulloch) and the guys are working on the car to try to be sure we don't have that kind of trouble again, and it's onto Joliet.

"We have a lot of good success in Joliet, and we'll go in there, see what the weather is like, make the adjustments and try to keep our momentum going like it has been. I used to think it was hard to keep up the pace we're on, but watching Alan and Jason get the consistent results they got in 2008, I realized that the entire team is geared for that. They look forward to the challenge of repeating their success. They paved the road, so we all know it can be done. We just have to get out there and take care of business. We've been doing that in the last few races and to keep our lead, we just have to keep doing what we've been doing. The points will take care of themselves; win the rounds -- you get the points."

-source: al-anabi racing team