Seattle: Larry Dixon preview

Larry Dixon enters the NHRA Northwest Nationals in first place in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings. He leads second-place Tony Schumacher by 176 points. Dixon won at Norwalk, Ohio last month for his seventh win of the season; he is undefeated in 2010 final rounds. Dixon enters the Northwest Nationals having won three of the last four races and seven of the last 10.

Dixon had a perfect weekend at Norwalk last month; he was the No. 1 qualifier, set low elapsed time and top speed of the event on his way to winning the race. It was the second time this year and the eighth time in his career that he has swept a race weekend. In addition, he has won all four of the races in which he was the No. 1 qualifier. He is a perfect 16-0 in eliminations when competing as the No. 1 qualifier this season.

One year ago at Pacific Raceways, Dixon was the No. 1 qualifier. He defeated Joe Hartley before losing to Tony Schumacher in the second round of eliminations. Dixon won at Pacific Raceways in 2003.

Dixon has advanced to at least the semifinals in 10 of the 13 events so far this season. He has seven wins in the season's first 13 races: Pomona, Calif., Baytown, Texas, Las Vegas, Atlanta Dragway, Joliet, Ill., Englishtown, N.J. and Norwalk, Ohio.

Dixon has been an excellent qualifier this season having qualified in the top three at 12 of the 13 races. Dixon's average qualifying position so far this year is 2.62. He has been the No. 1 qualifier four times this season and 44 times in his career.

Dixon has raced Tony Schumacher in eliminations eight times this season; Dixon leads the season series 5-3. In each of their eight meetings this season, the winning driver has gone on to win the event.

Dixon is tied with Joe Amato for second place on the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel final-round appearances list. Tony Schumacher leads with 100 final rounds; Amato and Dixon have 99.

Dixon won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 2002 and '03. He is second on the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel winner's list with 55 victories; Tony Schumacher tops the list with 65 wins. Dixon is seventh on the NHRA's all-time career victories list for all professional categories; Greg Anderson is in sixth place with 61 wins. Dixon is fifth on the NHRA's career round wins list with 572 round wins; fourth-place Bob Glidden has 597. Dixon was the 1995 NHRA Rookie of the Year.

Dixon prior to Pacific Raceways:

"We had a great weekend in Norwalk. On paper, it might have looked smooth, but the amount of work the guys put in after Bristol to being a better race horse in Norwalk really paid off. They made it look smooth, and they did a great job again. It's neat to see the team go out there, look at the conditions, make adjustments and have the car respond the way they want it to. For a racer, that's like the perfect world, and it was really awesome to see the Al-Anabi crew at work.

"For our team, the four-race stretch went great. We've been going rounds and defending our position in the regular season point standings. Six races in seven weeks are grueling, but I won't speak of grueling on me personally. The drivers have it made in a long stretch like this when compared to the crew guys. They don't get enough credit for how hard they work and how focused they are. And if you go rounds, you have more work to do. Our Al-Anabi guys won 13 of a possible 16 rounds in the last four races so they've been hittin' it pretty hard, but they're ready for more.

"The Western Swing is more of a challenge for the teams and crew chiefs than the drivers. It has a lot of different track conditions and elevations. Add to that it's a lot of miles, and they still have to arrive every Wednesday to set up; it's tough. All of the teams try to go into Seattle and win because whoever wins that race is the only guy that can sweep the swing. The big thing for our team is that we really want to go into the playoffs as the number one seed. The 30 extra points that you get over No. 2 would have come in handy last year."

-source: al-anabi racing team