A
drought ended in the Arizona desert and not one drop of rain fell. The
drought we speak of was the one that has plagued Larry Dixon for 13
years at Firebird International Raceway.

“There are places that I've been racing longer and still haven't gotten
a win,” admitted Dixon. “I always enjoy coming here - especially with
Charlie Allen running the track.”

The mere mention of Allen’s name is enough to carry Dixon on a journey
down memory lane to his childhood when he accompanied his father, Larry
Dixon, Sr., a former Top Fuel driver to the racetrack.

There’s no better elixir for an ill drag racer than winning. Battling
the effects of the flu bug, Jack Beckman, driver of the Mail Terminal
Services/Valvoline Dodge Charger drove his way to the winner’s circle
by stopping a tire-smoking Robert Hight.

One
of the largest sources of pride for Jack Beckman in this victory is his
crew who were first joined together in the pre-season.

“Every round win is huge, especially when you have the flu and you’re
staging next to Mike Neff,” said Beckman. “This whole crew has never
worked together before this season. They stood up to the challenge and
this is going to pay dividends at the end of the season.”

The Phoenix triumph marked the fourth national event victory for Beckman in
six final round appearances. The dream continues to expand for Beckman,
a cancer survivor who won a sportsman world championship and then
gained the drivers seat of a Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing.

On a day when Mopars reigned supreme, not even “Big Daddy” Don Garlits
could have beat Vieri a.k.a. V. Gaines and his Kendall-sponsored Dodge
Stratus.

With the NHRA CSK Nationals victory, Gaines upped his career national
event victory total to three out of eight final rounds. He entered the
event tied for ninth place in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock points.

”It’s been a long dry spell,” said Gaines, whose last victory came in
2001. “When I beat Greg Anderson today, it marked the first time I’d
beat him since 2001 also. When you do those kinds of things, it makes
victory bittersweet.

DIXON PICKS UP FIRST WIN OF 2008
AT SITE OF FIRST CAREER WIN; BECKMAN, GAINES ALSO WINNERS AT CHECKER SCHUCK’S
KRAGEN NHRA NATIONALS

Roger Richards Photos

Larry Dixon drove his way to within one point of the Top Fuel points lead.

Returning to the site of
his first career victory, Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon raced to his first win of
the season during Sunday’s finals at the Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals
at Firebird International Raceway.

Jack Beckman and V Gaines
also were winners at the second NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event of the
2008 season.

Dixon drove his U.S. Smokeless
Tobacco dragster to a 4.532 second, 327.19 mph victory over runner-up Dave
Grubnic, to pick up his first win of the season, second at Firebird, and 42nd of
his career. The win ties him with Tony Schumacher for 9th on the NHRA all time
wins list and second overall in Top Fuel.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories
following the 24th annual Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals
presented by  Castrol at Firebird International Raceway, the second of
24 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

Final round-by-round results from the 24th annual Checker Schuck's
Kragen NHRA Nationals presented by  Castrol at Firebird International
Raceway, the second of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series:

Mike Edwards lost in the semi-finals during the NHRA CSK Nationals but
he couldn't stop smiling. Today marked the finest hour for his
fledgling in-house engine program.

"I tell you what, it's a blessing to come out here and
(make it to the semis) this early in the season," Edwards said. "We've got a lot
of new things going on and a lot of things we don't exactly know what to do
with, but we just keep working on them and see if we can pick it up. We're not
where we want to be by any means, but it's a good day and hopefully we can build
on this and get better.

Funny Car points leader and media favorite for the championship Robert Hight
reached his third consecutive final round driving the Auto Club Ford Mustang at
the 24th annual CSK NHRA Nationals. Hight once again dominated from
the bottom of the field winning three rounds of racing after qualifying No. 9.

“I have a good feeling about the way
this year has started especially with as few runs as we have made. We didn’t get
full qualifying here so we only got two shots. The amount of runs we have had
versus what we should have had is we are probably down twenty runs,” said
Hight.

Four-time world champion Gary Scelzi moved into a solo spot in fifth
place in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings
after finishing in the quarterfinals at the NHRA Nationals at Firebird
Raceway, the second event of the year.

After qualifying in the top half of the field, in No. 7, the driver of
the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T defeated reigning Funny Car champion
Tony Pedregon with a 4.874-second pass at 317.72 mph to Pedregon's
5.052/260.11 in the opening stanza, then met up with his Don Schumacher
Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the second round. Both had identical
lap times in their opening-round victories, with lane choice going to
Beckman because of speed.

They launched with nearly identical reaction times (.094 for Scelzi,
.085 for Beckman - .000 is perfect), but Scelzi began experiencing tire
shake, which pulled the front end into the air, and, despite quick
pedaling action, Scelzi lost to Beckman with a 7.021/124.24 run to
Beckman's winning 4.884/320.20.

Tony Schumacher dropped a semifinal round encounter to Larry Dixon
Sunday in the Checker Schuck’s Kragen Nationals at Firebird
International Raceway.

Bidding for his second straight victory of the season, Schumacher
posted a better elapsed time than Dixon in round three (4.529-seconds
to 4.534-seconds), but the former departed the starting line a little
later and was nipped at the finish line.

“That’s a tough one to swallow,” said Schumacher, a five-time world
champion. “I thought I left pretty good, but he was clearly a lot
better (Schumacher had a .098-second reaction time to Dixon’s
.056-second reaction time). You have to tip your hat to him. That’s why
he’s considered one of the better drivers out here.

“For sure, today’s race was exhausting, but just like our Army Strong Soldiers, we carried on and gave a great effort.”