Larry Dixon (drag racer)

Larry Dixon, Jr. (born October 23, 1966) is an American professional drag racer in the NHRA. Larry is the son of Larry Dixon, Sr., who won Top Fuel Eliminator at the 1970 NHRA Winternationals.

Dixon's NHRA career began when he was a worker for a team owned by Larry Minor that had Gary Beck as driver. Dixon began his long friendship with Don "The Snake" Prudhomme in 1988 while working on Snake's Funny Car. In 1994 he earned his Top Fuel license with 4.76-second pass at Gatornationals at Gainesville, Florida. In 1995 his rookie season he earned Rookie of the Year honors. That season became third rookie to win $100,000 Budweiser Shootout, the first Top Fuel rookie to win at Indianapolis since Gary Beck in 1972 and set NHRA's elapsed time record at Englishtown.

In 1997 Dixon was the runner-up in Budweiser Shootout from the No. 8 qualifying spot. Then in 1998 won Pomona 1, joining his father on the Top Fuel winner’s list at the event. He qualified the first at Indianapolis. In 1999 he became the first Top Fueler to go under 4.5 secs.

In 2000 Dixon won six events in nine final round appearances, including the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals for the second time in his career. The victories propelled him to finish in the top 10 of the POWERade point standings for his seventh consecutive season. He also won the $100,000 Budweiser Shootout bonus event.

Dixon earned first NHRA POWERade championship in 2002 after leading the points standings all season. He tied the single-season Top Fuel record for victories with nine, and was named Driver of the Year for the second quarter.

Dixon became fifth Top Fuel driver to win consecutive NHRA POWERade Top Fuel championships in 2003. He was only the fourth driver in NHRA history to sweep the Western Swing. That year he moved to fourth on Top Fuel all-time win list and in the process recording his career-best speed (332.75 mph) which stood as national record for 15 events. He won the rain delayed 2002 Budweiser Shootout, which was completed at '03 season-opener

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