Larry Dixon has been racing Top Fuel long enough to know when his tuner goes into the electrical box, and the conditions are good, he’s getting ready to make a huge pass.

He gets no special instruction other than what was ingrained in his mind a long time ago, “Shallow stage, cut a good light and drive straight and get the win light.”

“[Former crewchief] Dick LaHaie used to tell me the same thing, so I had a lot of training,” added Dixon.

Larry Dixon has been racing Top Fuel long enough to know when his tuner goes into the electrical box, and the conditions are good, he’s getting ready to make a huge pass.

He gets no special instruction other than what was ingrained in his mind a long time ago, “Shallow stage, cut a good light and drive straight and get the win light.”

“[Former crewchief] Dick LaHaie used to tell me the same thing, so I had a lot of training,” added Dixon.

Dixon ran within .001 of the current NHRA Top Fuel world record with a 3.772 elapsed time during the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, Tex., to claim his 41st career No. 1 qualifying effort. In the opposite lane, Antron Brown qualified second with a 3.777. Their run represents the quickest side-by-side Top Fuel run in the 1,000-foot era.

“Great job by everyone on the Al-Anabi team, as we sat there … the track tightened up,” Dixon said. “Alan went into his magic box and turned a few knobs, man it stuck and it was pulling before 300 feet. I was hoping it would hold on, and it did. It was a great run by the whole team.”

“The conditions were great. Great track, great conditions … it was just enough to get on the pole.”

Although Johnson has settled into an overseer role, Dixon confirmed Jason McCulloch is still very much the crew chief for the Al Anabi dragster.

“He and Jason work together,” Dixon explained. “Jason is on the clutch. Alan is on the motor and they work together on the timing and clutch mapping. I think Alan just saw something with the track and made a last minute adjustment.”

Having the AJ-McCulloch combination leaves Dixon, a veteran driver himself, brimming with confidence.

“To be honest if the day got washed out, I would be confident running off of Friday’s data,” Dixon admitted. “As a driver, you don’t think about much other than getting the win light. I have all the faith in the world from safety to set ups.”

Dixon believes one more day of qualifying could have led to even more performance than Saturday showcased.

“If we had another day of qualifying, you might see guys run even quicker,” he concluded.