Dixon Dominates Again to Get Third NHRA Win

Larry Dixon continued to set a dominating pace in NHRA Top Fuel competition, scoring his third victory of the season Sunday in the SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas.

Dixon was consistently quick in his dragster and outran Cory McClenathan in the final round to claim his 19th career victory and first at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Dixon covered the quarter-mile in 4.639 seconds at 319.29 mph to cross the finish line in front of McClenathan, who posted a 4.728 at 313.88 in his first final-round appearance since the 2000 season.

“What a great day,” Dixon said. “I’m really happy. We had a few problems early but we figured them out and got it done. This team is awesome and we are really clicking right now.”

He increased his series points lead to 147 over defending champion Kenny Bernstein.

Gary Densham earned his third career Funny Car victory in a photo-finish win over Tommy Johnson Jr. Densham drove his car to a 5.409 at 205.13 to edge Johnson, who clocked a 5.447 at 272.61.

Densham’s victory gave some solace to team owner John Force, who was denied again in his bid to earn his 100th career Funny Car victory. Force was upset in the second round by Del Worsham.

A daylong rain forced postponement of the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

NASCAR officials made the call about two hours after the scheduled start. The 500-mile race will start today at 9 a.m. PDT.

The last Winston Cup race delayed by weather was last October, when the event in Martinsville, Va., was run on a Monday.

Boxing

Police are reviewing claims by an exotic dancer and her boyfriend that Mike Tyson assaulted them during an early morning confrontation at a strip club in Phoenix on Sunday.

Tyson’s lawyer, Darrell Soll, said the former boxing champion was at the club early Sunday, but left before there was any confrontation.

A brief police statement said there were “no visible injuries to either victim” and that Tyson had left the Hiliter Club by the time officers arrived shortly before 1 a.m.

Pro Football

Former Miami Dolphin receiver O.J. McDuffie says the team lied to him about the severity of a toe injury that has hobbled him the last three seasons.

McDuffie, released by the Dolphins partly for salary cap reasons in February after nine years with the team, contends the injury worsened when he continued to play with it in 1999.

Said Dolphin spokesman Harvey Greene: “We would never do anything that would jeopardize the health of any of our players.”

College Basketball

Washington’s leading scorer Doug Wrenn said he will remain at the school for his junior season rather than make himself available for the NBA draft.

Wrenn, 22, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward, averaged 19.5 points per game and was named the Pacific 10 Conference newcomer of the year.

“I’m definitely returning to Washington next season,” Wrenn said. “A lot of people have been telling me to consider going into the draft, but I really want to develop next year and help our team win games.”

New Mexico Coach Ritchie McKay dismissed starters Patrick Dennehy and Marlon Parmer.

McKay, who succeeded Fran Fraschilla as coach last week, was on a recruiting trip Sunday and not available for comment.

A news release by New Mexico said McKay would hold a news conference today to discuss details of the dismissals.

More than 1,200 fans showed up at a Bloomington, Ind., bookstore for a book signing by former Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight.

Fans began gathering for the signing nearly 12 hours before Knight’s arrival, all in an effort to get the coach’s signature on “Knight: My Story,” co-written with Bob Hammel, a former sports editor at The Herald-Times in Bloomington.

“I’ve been a Bob Knight fan from Day 1,” said Janice Furnish, wearing a Knight T-shirt, button and even a pair of earrings made of photographs of Knight’s face.

“He’s just a great man. I can’t find any fault with him whatsoever.”

Former Clipper Jim Les, a star on Bradley’s winningest basketball team, was picked as the school’s men’s coach. Les, 38, had been an assistant coach with the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA.

Pro Hockey

Kory Mullin scored two goals as the visiting Fresno Falcons defeated the Long Beach Ice Dogs, 3-2, in the West Coast Hockey League regular-season finale.

The teams will meet in a best-of-five playoff series beginning Friday in Fresno.

The Tacoma Sabercats, struggling with low attendance and financial losses, are suspending operations and quitting the WCHL.