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| Snake Racing News Item |
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DIXON DRIVES MILLER LITE RAIL TO QUARTERFINAL FINISH AT LAS VEGAS
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LAS VEGAS (April 9, 2006) – Two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon drove his Don “the Snake” Prudhomme-owned Miller Lite dragster to a quarterfinal finish on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After qualifying in the No. 2 position for the third time this season, the 38-time NHRA winner defeated No. 15 qualifier Mike Strasburg in the first round of eliminations. Dixon used the best reaction time of the opening round (.059 of-a-second) to score the wire-to-wire victory over the Utah-based driver. The Don Bender-tuned Miller Lite dragster turned in a performance of 4.537 seconds at 330.23 mph, while Strasburg’s rail lost traction early. It was Dixon’s second quickest pass of the weekend. He is now 4-0 in his career versus Strasburg. Dixon has advanced past the first round at all five events this season.
“I think that Donnie (Bender) was concerned with the car getting down (the track) on only one run in qualifying,” Dixon said. “He made the proper adjustments and the car ran great. I hadn’t been thrilled with my lights lately and I had my own stuff I was working on. I’m not worried about the race car. It’s in capable hands. We both did good and got passed first round.”
In the second round, the 1995 NHRA Rookie of the Year was pitted against Australian driver David Grubnic. Dixon again used the best reaction time of the round (.052 of-a-second) to jump to the early lead, but the Miller Lite dragster lost traction early and slowed to a run of 5.274 seconds, while Grubnic’s dragster carded a time of 4.988 to earn the round win. Dixon currently sits third in the POWERade Top Fuel standings.
“The temperature of the track took the grip away more than we anticipated and we didn’t adjust enough for it,” Dixon said. “I worked on my reaction times with the help of the team and it showed today.
“I still think we have a really good car. We’re going to run on Monday during the day and night. We’ll work on both our race day setup and our Friday night setup to have a better total package when we get to Bristol (Tenn.).”
The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the sixth annual O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals, April 28-30, at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn. Dixon won the Bristol event in 2002. It is one of 19 tracks on the circuit in which Dixon has earned at least one victory.
R1 DIXON (4.537 E.T., 330.23 mph) def. Strasburg (10.210 E.T., 100.28 mph)
R2 Grubnic (4.988 E.T., 320.28 mph) def. DIXON (5.274 E.T., 282.42 mph)
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