National Hot Rod Association

The victory continued Dixon’s perfect streak of eight-for-eight in final rounds this season and extended his series points lead to 211 points with two races remaining before the start of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Dixon can clinch the top spot in the countdown by simply advancing to the second round at next weekend’s Mile-High Nationals in Denver.

Dixon began the weekend by earning his fifth number one qualifying position of the season. He has won each of the five times he’s taken the top spot in qualifying in 2010. He then defeated Steve Chrisman, Steve Torrence and Cory McClenathan before dispatching Schumacher in the final.

Dixon has now won seven of the last 11 NHRA events, where he’s compiled a 33-4 record in elimination rounds during that span. For the season, he has reached the semi-finals or finals in 11 of 15 races to date.

Things didn’t go as well for the rest of the Toyota-sponsored Top Fuel contingent as Antron Brown, who was the number two qualifier, Morgan Lucas and Shawn Langdon all were eliminated in the first round.

Cruz Pedregon led Toyota in Funny Car action as he advanced to the second round before being eliminated. Pedregon’s Toyota Camry Solara had qualified fourth on the weekend. Del Worsham, who had qualified sixth on Saturday, went out in the first round..

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series concludes its three-race western swing next weekend with a trip to Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colo., for the Mile-High Nationals, July 23-25.

Toyota Drivers, Results – Fram Autolite Nationals - Qual./Finish

Top Fuel
Larry Dixon - Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster - 1/Winner
Antron Brown - Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster - 2/First-round
Morgan Lucas - GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster - 7/First-round
Shawn Langdon - Lucas Oil/Speedco Top Fuel Dragster - 10/First-round

Funny Car
Cruz Pedregon - Snap-On Tools Toyota Camry Solara - 4/Second-round
Del Worsham - Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Camry Solara Funny Car - 10/First-round

NOTES:

• Larry Dixon’s victory is the 56th of his Top Fuel career, the second-highest total in series history. With the triumph, he closes to within eight of the all-time high of 64.


• In reaching the final today, Larry Dixon made the 100th final appearance of his Top Fuel career today.


• Larry Dixon has now won each of the five times he’s been the number one qualifier this season and in all eight of his final appearances in 2010.


• Larry Dixon now features a series-best 40-7 record in elimination rounds this season.

2010 Wins (8) - Larry Dixon, Pomona, Houston, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Englishtown, Norwalk, Sonoma
2010 Poles (9) - Antron Brown: Gainesville, Las Vegas, Topeka, Bristol;
Larry Dixon: Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Norwalk, Sonoma

Quotes:

Larry Dixon, Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: The car was flawless. It was just an unbelievable job by everybody on the Al-Anabi team. They weren’t leaving anything in their back pocket, that’s for sure. You just know when you’re racing Tony (Schumacher), he’s obviously won a lot of races and the last six championships, that he’s going to keep you honest. That team doesn’t stumble very often, so you’ve got to go up there and fire your best shot and hope it’s enough. I enjoy racing him because when you win you know you’ve earned it. It makes it that much more gratifying.”

Morgan Lucas, GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: “We are our own worst enemy right now. It goes back to poor judgment making and not solving problems as they need to be solved. God gave us a chance when we dropped a hole in Q4 and he gave us an opportunity to fix it before the first round and we didn’t. We got some really good advice from someone out here and we obviously didn’t take it to heart. We just need to quit making excuses and start doing what we need to do to fix the problem."