Drag racer Dixon leaves Prudhomme Racing

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Less than a month after he won the NHRA’s season finale in Pomona, top-fuel drag racer Larry Dixon bought out the remainder of his contract from Don Prudhomme Racing.

The move reportedly clears the way for Dixon, 42, to drive for a new team being formed around Alan Johnson, the former crew chief for Tony Schumacher, who won his fifth consecutive top-fuel championship this year.

Dixon, a Van Nuys native who finished second in points to Schumacher this season in the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Powerade Series, had driven for Prudhomme’s Vista, Calif.-based team since 1995. Dixon won the series title himself in 2002 and 2003.

Prudhomme said Spencer Massey, initially signed in October to drive a second top-fuel dragster for the team, would take over Dixon’s ride starting with the 2009 season opener – also in Pomona – on Feb. 5-8.

--Jim Peltz