It’s Race of Inches for Dixon

The rivalry over the last two seasons between Larry Dixon and Kenny Bernstein in the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series picked up where it left off Saturday with $100,000 on the line.

Dixon, the driver of the Miller Lite-sponsored top-fuel dragster, and Bernstein’s son, Brandon, driver of his dad’s Budweiser dragster, squared off in the final round of the 18th Budweiser Shootout, three months after it was originally scheduled.

In the first meeting between the second-generation drivers, Dixon clocked 4.558 at 324.59 mph on the quarter-mile at Pomona Raceway in front of about 32,000 fans. He finished 23 inches ahead of Bernstein, who clocked 4.564 seconds at 323.89 mph. Bernstein’s reaction time was three-thousandths of a second faster, but he finished three-thousandths behind the car owned by Don “The Snake” Prudhomme.

It was Dixon’s second consecutive victory in the Budweiser Shootout, his third overall.

“Nobody deserved to lose that race,” he said.

Dixon, the defending series champion, said he felt enormous pressure. “You have the two beer companies going against each other and there’s a lot of pride,” he said. “You have no idea how important those rounds are to the two companies.”

And those companies write some very big checks to finance the teams that have finished 1-2 the last two years.

It was young Bernstein’s first day of legitimate competition in the class, and he looked like a worthy successor to his father. He raced a top-alcohol dragster in 2001 but sat out last season to learn about the team. He was in the shootout because his father qualified for it in his final year of competition. The event was postponed when rain fell on the season-ending race at Pomona.

“It was 10 times better [than I expected], to tell you the truth,” Bernstein said. “I don’t know how to put words to it. Today was amazing, we were just a little short on the last one.”

Bernstein caught a break in the second round. He ran 4.590 seconds but trailed when Tony Schumacher broke a blower belt at the end of his run and finished 4.624.

Doug Kalitta will be top qualifier for today’s top-fuel finals after setting track records with a 4.48 pass at 332.18 mph. It was the third-quickest time in NHRA history and tied the national speed record. Kenny Bernstein holds both records, 4.477 and 332.18.

Clay Millican is second, Dixon third and Bernstein fourth on the ladder. Tim Wilkerson’s first-round qualifying time, 4.759 seconds at 318.32 mph, was good enough to retain the No. 1 position. Whit Bazemore moved to second on the ladder with a 4.766 at 325.69 mph, followed by Tony Pedregon at 4.766 at 324.75, and Gary Densham at 4.774 at 323.12.

Defending event and series champion John Force qualified seventh and faces Tommy Johnson Jr. today in the first round.

In Pro Stock, Greg Stanfield set a track record for elapsed time with a 6.772-second pass in the third round, and Warren Johnson moved into second with a pass of 6.775 seconds at a track-record 204.54 mph. It is Stanfield’s first time as No. 1 qualifier.

The 16-car field is the quickest in NHRA history, as Stanfield’s first-round opponent, Brad Jeter, drove his Pontiac Grand Am to a 6.811 at 202.48 mph.