Like Father, Like Son at a Quarter-Mile

Twenty-five years ago, Larry Dixon won the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Winternationals top-fuel drag racing championship at the County Fairgrounds in Pomona.

On the victory stand, Dixon held the trophy with one hand and his 3-year-old son, Larry Jr., with the other.

This week, Larry Jr. is making his professional drag racing debut in the same event on the same drag strip, driving for Don (Snake) Prudhomme, a five-time Winternationals winner who retired last year.

But it almost didn’t happen.

While making his final practice runs for his first competition, Dixon crashed Prudhomme’s new dragster last Saturday at Bakersfield Raceway, destroying the $125,000 machine.

Dixon walked away, unhurt.

“It was just one of those things,” he said Thursday as he prepared to run last year’s Prudhomme car in the first round of qualifying for the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals. “The right-side rear tire blew and caught the wing and snapped it off. When that happened, the car had a mind of its own. All I could do was wait for it to stop bouncing around so I could get out.”

The 297-inch dragster flipped on its side, spun around and hit guard rails on both sides of the Famoso strip.

It was only the 18th time he had gone down the track in a top-fuel dragster.

On his 19th run, in the first round Thursday, Dixon ran an impressive 4.959 seconds, second only to four-time champion Joe Amato’s 4.857. Dixon shut off about 100 feet from the finish line, dropping his speed to 266.50.

“It felt a whole lot better than my last run,” Dixon said with a wide grin. “It was a great feeling to get that first (official) run in. To tell the truth, I felt more comfortable in the old car than I did in the new one.”

Of the crash, he said, “The first thing I thought was, ‘Snake’s going to kill me.’ ”

Prudhomme said, “The most important thing, of course, is that Larry was fine. It was scarier from where I was standing than when I crashed like that. It was awful standing there watching it. I was sick about it, but that’s part of racing. He ran great today, just what we expected from him.”

Earlier Saturday, Dixon had raised eyebrows with a quarter-mile pass of 301 m.p.h. in 4.717 seconds, quicker than the national-record 4.718 recorded last October at Pomona by Winternationals champion Shelly Anderson.

“The new car was an identical copy of the one Snake drove last year, so it won’t make any difference,” Dixon said. “The changes (crew chief) Wes Cerny made in the new car were transferred to the old one.”

Dixon got his top-fuel license in the old car last March in Gainesville, Fla., the day after the Gatornationals. NHRA officials watched as he made a half-pass and 1,000-foot pass before going the full 1,320 feet at speed.

His licensing run was 4.76 seconds.

“I was real proud of him,” Prudhomme said. “On the other hand, it kind of buzzed me off. His run was faster than I ran there.”

Prudhomme’s 4.806-second run had been the fastest in qualifying.

Although Dixon will make his first official elimination run in competition Sunday, it is difficult to think of him as a rookie. He has spent most of his 28 years hanging around drag strips, either with his father or Prudhomme.

“As far back as I can remember, Larry was a little bitty squirt hanging around the pits, always with a rag hanging out his back pocket,” Prudhomme said. “I used to see him at all the places we ran--Orange County, Irwindale, Lions (Long Beach), San Fernando. He always seemed to know what he was doing, so I hired him right after he got out of (Van Nuys) high school.”

Dixon worked in Prudhomme’s shop in Granada Hills from 1988 to March, 1993, then left to drive an alcohol dragster for John Mitchell.

“I drove in a few points races, never got over 227 (m.p.h.) and my best time was 6.01,” he said. “As soon as the season was over, I went back to Snake’s to work with Wes in his last year. I had no idea I’d be in this position when I came back. I still don’t hardly believe it.”

Drag racing has changed since the elder Dixon was competing.

“I remember going to Indy for the nationals in a station wagon, pulling the trailer with the dragster on it,” young Dixon recalled. “I slept on the cooler in the back of the wagon.”

For the Winternationals, Dixon’s dragster arrived at the track in a $375,000 truck-trailer--a moving billboard plastered with the team colors.

“Dad was pretty overwhelmed when he heard about the deal I got from Snake,” young Dixon said. “He’s happy for me, but he just shakes his head at all the stuff we have. He’ll be down Saturday to watch me for the first time.”

When the elder Dixon retired from racing, he became a silversmith in Paso Robles.

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Unseasonably warm weather and a slippery racetrack held speeds down Thursday in the first of four qualifying rounds, but nothing fazed Amato.

The Pennsylvania veteran ran 306.53 m.p.h., a career best, to take the No. 1 top-fuel spot at 4.857. No one else came within 15 m.p.h. of Amato. Neither Kenny Bernstein nor Cory McClenathan, finalists in last October’s Winston Select Finals, qualified.

Three funny cars, driven by Winston series champion John Force, Cruz Pedregon and Chuck Etchells, were disqualified for being too light. Al Hofman, in a Pontiac, was the quickest funny car qualifier at 5.291 seconds.