Words compiled from team press releases by Kay Burk
Photos by Ron Lewis

High track temperatures made for tricky track conditions at the NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park. Some different races rose to the top of the competition, meaning that so far this year, no team has been able to dominate. Even the seemingly unstoppable Mike Edwards was beaten in Pro Stock.

TOP FUEL

Larry Dixon outlasted Antron Brown in a thrilling pedal-fest in the Top Fuel final for his second win this season and the 50th in his career.

The win in the Al-Anabi dragster – a 4.541-second pass at 222.36 mph to Brown’s 4.638 at 173.32 – moved Dixon into eighth place on the all-time NHRA Full Throttle Series wins list, breaking a tie with former owner and NHRA legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme (49 career wins).

“That’s more than I thought I’d ever do in my lifetime … and I’m not done living yet,” said Dixon, who proceeded to dedicate the win to his three-year old son Darien who was hospitalized earlier in the week with a bacterial infection. “He’s a tough, tough kid. He wanted us to win this race for him and we did. We’re going to bring this trophy home to him.”

Dixon moved into second place and he’s within 28 points of Cory McClenathan, whom he defeated in the semifinals.

Antron Brown drove his Don Schumacher-owned Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster to a runner-up finish as the 24-time NHRA winner moved to fourth in the NHRA Top Fuel standings. Brown advanced to his third straight final round. A day after qualifying the Matco Tools/U.S. Army rail in the No. 2 position with a career-best elapsed time at 3.777-seconds, Brown bested 2009 NHRA Rookie of the Year Spencer Massey, starting-line ace Shawn Langdon, and three-time Top Fuel winner Morgan Lucas, before losing a tire-smoking final to two-time series champion Larry Dixon.