Larry Dixon qualified No. 1, at least provisionally at the 50th anniversary of the NHRA Winternationals, and this was a special moment for him.

Dixon, a second-generation Top Fuel driver, who along with his father Larry Sr., has won this event. As long as he’s been alive, he’s been at the Pomona season-opener in one capacity or another.

“I’m 43, and I can honestly say that every year of my life … I’ve been at the Winternationals,” Dixon revealed. “That’s cool. There’s years that I haven’t been home to the Valley, but every year I’ve been to the Winternationals in some capacity, sitting in the stands, helping my dad or working for Larry Minor. I was here and it was a part of my life. To compete at the 50th and know I have a chance to win, is an honor.”

Larry Dixon qualified No. 1, at least provisionally at the 50th anniversary of the NHRA Winternationals, and this was a special moment for him.

Dixon, a second-generation Top Fuel driver, who along with his father Larry Sr., has won this event. As long as he’s been alive, he’s been at the Pomona season-opener in one capacity or another.

“I’m 43, and I can honestly say that every year of my life … I’ve been at the Winternationals,” Dixon revealed. “That’s cool. There’s years that I haven’t been home to the Valley, but every year I’ve been to the Winternationals in some capacity, sitting in the stands, helping my dad or working for Larry Minor. I was here and it was a part of my life. To compete at the 50th and know I have a chance to win, is an honor.”

Dixon knows we live in the age of immediate information, but there’s a part of him that longs for the days when the event provided quite a few new revelations.

“I miss those days of showing up at the event, and finding out ‘wow, this guy’s got this sponsor’ or Bernstein, when he brought out that Buick [Reatta, Funny Car in 1988] … and saying, what the heck is that? How did he even pass tech? Garlits with his rear-engine car. It’s things like that you didn’t know about until you got to this race. You’d see all the wild paint schemes and have to see it for yourself. It wasn’t on the Internet as soon as it came out. I’m nostalgic for that stuff. The races that have been on the tour for 50 years mean a lot to me.”

Dixon is a three-time Winternationals finalist with two victories to his credit. He leads the field after two sessions of qualifying with a 3.795 elapsed time at 317.79 miles per hour.

“As a kid growing up, my dad won this race [1970], and everybody who was somebody came to compete,” Dixon concluded.