Pomona: Larry Dixon Saturday summary

DIXON QUALIFIES SIXTH AT POMONA 1

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2006) - Two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon qualified his Miller Lite dragster in the No. 6 qualifying position Saturday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona with a qualifying-best pass of 4.521 seconds.

After blasting the Miller Lite rail to a run of 4.533 seconds on Friday afternoon, Dixon used a Don Bender tune-up to better his Friday number when the 38-time NHRA winner's dragster stopped the Pomona Raceway timers in 4.530 seconds at 321.35 mph on Saturday's first qualifying attempt. Dixon posted his best mark of the weekend when the Southern California native recorded a 4.521, 324.20 pass on his final qualifying attempt to finish sixth in the 16-car order.

"Dicko (Dick LaHaie) once said 'it's amazing how well things work when they work like they're supposed to," Dixon said. "We had to throw out Thursday's run and for Donnie (Bender) to make the adjustments with the car and get us qualified yesterday was great. We're sixth, but we're in the top three or four of every session. I think that's awesome for his first go at it. We've done a great job so far, but we're not satisfied. We're going to try and do well tomorrow."

The three-time Winternationals (1998, 2002-03) winner will battle veteran Top Fuel pilot Cory McClenathan in the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations at 11 a.m. (PT) on Sunday at the historic Southern California drag strip. Dixon has a 27-15 mark versus McClenathan. It will be Dixon's 600th career elimination round. He has a 399-200 career round record.

-www.snakeracing.com