Larry Dixon can now check something else off his drag racing bucket list.

Dixon, a three-time Top Fuel world champion (2002-2003, 2010) and winner of 62 national events, now is a licensed Top Alcohol Funny Car driver.

Dixon made the necessary runs in the Tony Bartone-owned Top Alcohol Funny Car May 1 at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C., to receive his license.

“I ended up making six runs in the car,” Dixon said. “You have to make a half-track pass and a couple of moderate runs to get a license in it, so that’s kind of what we did.”

Dixon’s quickest pass through the lights at the quarter-mile was 5.59 seconds in Bartone’s Funny Car.

“Oh gosh, I don’t know,” said Dixon when asked if this would lead to future endeavors in a Top Alcohol Funny Car. “I had not driven a pedal-clutch car in 25 years and I had never driven a Funny Car before, it has always been dragsters. Bartone and (Steve) Boggs (the team’s crew chief) were gracious enough to allow me to drive their car and get licensed in it. They couldn’t have been nicer about it. The whole team, everybody was just really cool about it. It was a great experience. That (5.59 seconds) was the quickest I’ve been in a quarter-mile in the United States in a long time.”

Despite all his time in a driver’s seat, Dixon acknowledged there were some tense moments when he was behind the wheel of the Funny Car.

“That was the first time I had the engine running, and the body set down,” Dixon said. “There were a little bit of nerves because I respect their equipment and I know they are not easy cars to drive. I was kind of getting thrown to the lions, and it had been a long time since I had got thrown to the lions.”

With his TAFC license in hand, Dixon isn’t sure what’s next.

“I have no idea,” he said. “It was just kind of one of those deals that I talked to Bartone about it and he said if the weather is good they would stay over at Charlotte and see if I couldn’t get my license and go from there. I can’t thank them enough for getting this chance. They have a great running car and I feel really lucky to have been able to drive it.”

Dixon is the owner of his own Top Fuel team. With him driving, the team made its debut at the Gatornationals in March in Gainesville, Fla.

“We’re still looking for money,” Dixon said. “We have everything back together from Gainesville and we’re just doing the same thing every other team is doing that isn’t on track. We are trying to get that right marketing partner to be able to go out there and run either an event, or events or all of them. That’s what we are working on there.”