Phoenix: Larry Dixon Friday qualifying notes

CHANDLER, ARIZ. (Feb. 22) With No. 5 for the Arizona Diamondbacks cheering on his Miller Lite teammates, honorary crew member & World Series champion short stop Tony Womack got a full dose of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing as Larry Dixon posted a lap of 4.555 seconds at 321.50 mph in the debut of Miller Lite-Arizona Diamondbacks to become the low qualifier Friday at the 18th Annual Checker Schucks Kragen Nationals at Firebird International Raceway.

Standing at the starting line, wedged directly between two 6,500 horsepower nitromethane machines, Womack was like a child on Christmas morning as he watched Dixon lay down the quickest lap of the day.

"It was awesome, man," said Womack.  "I felt the power and
the juice, I felt it all just like I was driving the car.  It was a
thrill for me.  The pressure and the atmosphere, it's about your
reaction time versus mine.  You know your car can do it, so it's all
about who is behind the car.  It was fun."

Womack, who watched local drag races in his home state of Virginia years ago, was not sure how the day's action would turn out. "I didn't know what to expect," he said. "I used to go and see them from up in the stands, but I didn't know what to expect. But I'll tell you, I felt it. The fun part is we actually put up a good number as far as qualifying, and maybe work toward a championship run on Sunday. I think Larry, Miller Lite and all of the crew did all us on the Diamondbacks really well."

The Game 7 hero who hit the game-tying run in last year's series over the New York Yankees came to the track with a casual knowledge of the sport of drag racing, but left with a much better understanding. "I actually watch it on TV when I can, but now I know a little more. Now when I see it, I can actually pinpoint what's going on. I learned a lot and I thank all these guys for giving me an opportunity to experience this."

The driver of the Miller Lite-Arizona Diamondbacks Dragster was equally as pleased with Friday's results.

"It was real nice having everybody from the Diamondbacks that came out today," said Dixon. "Womack was funny because after the run, we had ran a 4.55, he said to me, 'You know why you ran a 4.55 don't you?' I said 'No' and he whips out this gold and diamond chain with a number five on it. Then I asked him if could get it for the rest of the weekend."

"It a great run," said Dixon. "The car went out there around 200 feet and it snapped the front end up and it carried it past the 330 clocks. It felt light, but I wasn't quite sure on the run because it didn't bring it up much, but I couldn't steer the car. When we got back and looked at it, it carried the front for about a second. Once I did get it down, then I was steering it." Dixon posted a time of 7.125 seconds at 114.06 mph after losing traction on his earlier run of the day to sit 11th after the first session.

Two qualifying sessions remain on Saturday (1:00 & 4:00 PM MT) while Sunday's elimination round is scheduled for an 11 AM MT start.

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