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Larry Dixon earned his fourth top-fuel victory of the season Sunday at the NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, and moved up to second in the points standings.
Dixon used a run of 3.981 seconds at a top speed of 294.05 mph to easily beat Brandon Bernstein. Los Angeles Times
Jack Beckman took the Funny Car title, Jason Line won the Pro Stock and Andrew Hines raced to a win in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Beckman raced to victory against Bob Tasca III with a run of 4.315 seconds and 277.54 mph. The victory helped Beckman rise to fourth in the standings. USA Today
“Four win lights at the end of the day, that’s what counts,” said Dixon. “There were certain rounds that were not pretty, but at the same time, we were the quickest car every pair. I’m just real thankful to be able to get this win. The biggest thing is that [this is] a good team and they’re working on trying to find the personality of all the brand new parts they have, and for me, it’s trying to find my comfort zone within the team. Being underneath one camp for a long period of time and then you switch, it’s different. It’s taken me a little while to adapt and try to fit in and hold up my end of the bargain.
“A couple middle rounds there where it spun the tires you just try to do what you can and get a win light, and hopefully you can get up there and adjust for it and try to make a better run. From the second round on, we kept getting quicker. The track was hotter, it was the hottest all weekend. We almost got it perfect in the final. It spun a little bit down track and we put a hole out and we ran on down there. I kept waiting for that red car to go around me because it’s a strong team over there and we’re just fortunate to get the win.”
The Pro Stock final featured two former Sportsman winners each gunning for his 18th Pro Stock victory and 20th win overall that allowed them to close the gap on points leader Jeg Coughlin. Line, in his first event in teammate Greg Anderson’s 2008 car, won going away, 6.66, 207.30 to 6.74, 203.71.
“This was absolutely the biggest win for me, and it was a great time to do it,” said Line. “We’re tired of watching that yellow car win races, and we needed to get out there too. We just haven’t done a good job lately. But we’re starting to right the ship, and by Indy time, we’re going to be strong. It’s hopefully a sign of things to come for us, and it was a great day. I just can’t thank everybody at Summit enough. Summit Motorsports Park did a great job making the best out of the racetrack, and hats off to them for going to the extra effort.
Line upheld the honor of event and track sponsor Summit Racing Equipment by racing his Pontiac to his 38th Pro Stock final and fourth of the season. Line, who began the year with two wins at the first three races and led the points through the first four events, had fallen to fourth in standings but used wins over Johnny Gray, Warren Johnson, and Ron Krisher to reach the final and move into third place. NHRA
