Dixon Has Put Some Pop Into This Day

Drag racer Don Garlits was known as “Big Daddy,” but when it comes to Father’s Day, Larry Dixon rules.

Dixon, 39, drives a top-fuel dragster for Don “the Snake” Prudhomme in the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series, and since the birth of son Donovan on Nov. 29, 2000, Dixon has not lost a race on Father’s Day.

That’s five consecutive titles and 20 consecutive qualifying wins over two tracks, including Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J., site of today’s K&N; Filters SuperNationals.

“If I had known I was going to start winning on Father’s Day,” Dixon said, “I’d have started having kids a lot sooner.”

Trivia time: After the 1968-69 NBA season, the team getting the top draft pick was determined by a coin flip between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, both expansion teams. Which team won the toss and whom did that team take?

Dad on duty: Kurt Warner and wife Brenda have seven children, but are any of them likely to bring him breakfast in bed on Father’s Day? Hardly.

“Usually, I’m the first one up,” the Cardinals quarterback told the Arizona Republic. “Maybe I can cook the breakfast and they can bring it to me if I lay back down.”

Mom’s still best: Pat Williams, senior vice president of the Orlando Magic, has 18 children, many of them adopted. He told Fox Sports radio, “I’ve learned over the years that Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day, except the gifts are cheaper.”

A recent National Retail Federation survey proves him right, claiming that the average gift buyer spends $88.88 on Dad and $122.16 on Mom. It also says that 30% of dads surveyed agree that a tie is the worst Father’s Day gift.

Better days: Playing host to the World Cup and the early success of the home team appears to have unleashed a long-dormant sense of pride among Germans. Said Berlin resident Jean Tiettje to Miami Herald columnist Linda Robertson:

“When I lived overseas, I never told anyone I was German. I was kind of ashamed. But these days, I can say we are a great country. Our history isn’t just Nazism. We are the country of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, philosophers, poets and architects.”

Lovable Lefty: Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel can’t make sense of the enormous popularity Phil Mickelson has had among the gallery at the U.S Open at Winged Foot.

“Why have insufferable, obnoxious, horn-honking, middle-finger-waving New Yorkers fallen in puppy love with this laid-back West Coast wimp?” the columnist asks.

Mickelson’s answer: “I haven’t analyzed the reason yet, but I sure have enjoyed it.”

Trivia answer: The Suns called heads, but the coin turned up tails and the Bucks chose Lew Alcindor, who later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

And finally: Shaquille O’Neal, articulating to NBA reporters that they’ll never get under his skin: “Nothing that a person writes is not going to, you know, make me cry or go drink rat poison or nothing. I’m more harder on myself than any one of you could ever be on me.”