You have cancer.

It is three of the most harrowing words a person will ever hear in their lifetime.

Those three terrifying, disgusting words truly change a person. Suddenly, a life soaring by in the blink of an eye slows down. Time begins to stand still. The words echo in your head as you begin to contemplate your own mortality.

Suddenly, the false comfort of seemingly being in control is ripped from you. It is almost like being in a wreck. Everything is in your hands up to a certain point. Then, without warning, life is suddenly thrown into chaos. You are no longer in control.

“Wrecks, you know that they can happen anytime. And cancer can happen to anyone at any time too. Either way, you’re definitely not in charge anymore when it happens,” said Larry Dixon, a three-time NHRA World Champion and resident expert on spectacular accidents. “You have to have faith in your maker, and you have to have faith in the team that’s going to take care of you through your treatment, that there’s going to be a happy ending to the story.

“So, if you’re wanting to compare cancer to being in a wreck, that is it. There are so many great success stories in racing and in the world around us. In both, you just have to have faith that you’re going to come out of it and carry on.”

Of course, a cancer diagnosis isn’t the end. Far from it, actually. Having cancer is not a death sentence. It is a challenge. And like any challenge, it is a positive attitude and a will to fight that makes all the difference.

Just ask Dixon.

For a multi-time world champion, there was little that scared Dixon. Sure, the thought echoed in the back of his mind that strapping into a 300 mile-per-hour, nitro-powered rail can result in some potentially less-than-stellar outcomes, but for the most part, Dixon put all of the noise behind him and continued forward.

But then, one fall day in 2014, time finally caught up the 49-year-old. Those three terrible words that no one wants to hear were spoken to him. Dixon had cancer.

“When my dad was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, the thing that I tried to express to him is that when you get diagnosed, you either choose to live or you choose not to fight. He fought it and now he is 11-years cancer free,” Dixon said. “So when I was diagnosed, it is funny, but I came upon the words that I shared with him – ‘you either choose to live or you choose not to fight.’ What other choices do you have? You put the gloves on and get in the ring.”

Dixon first realized something was wrong early in 2014 when a persistent sore throat simply would not go away. After months of ignoring the pain, Dixon returned to his doctor in the fall where an examination revealed his tonsils were inflamed.

But when a specialist looked closer, he realized that his tonsils weren’t merely inflamed: Dixon had throat cancer. Further testing revealed that the cancer had also spread to his lymph nodes. Still, as alarming as the diagnosis was, it wasn’t all bad news for the father of three.

“Your doctor tells you that you have cancer, but a very curable type of cancer. That you have a 98 percent chance of treating it and living the rest of your life. I don’t have those kinds of odds when I pull up to the starting line,” Dixon said. “Of course, if left untreated, it’s a very aggressive and fast spreading type of cancer. One where you wouldn’t be here in two and a half years. My two and a half years would be in October of this year.

“So what are you going to do? Am I afraid of dying? No, but I’m not done living yet. I’ve got a few more things that I want to check off the list. The first, of course, is taking care of my family. I’ve got to fight to make sure I am around to take care of them.”

And fight he did. After more than 30 radiation treatments, Dixon found himself cancer-free just three months later.

“I had 33 treatments of radiation. I had six weeks of chemotherapy. And the only way through it was to take them one at a time. One dose of radiation down, 32 to go. One week of chemo down, five to go,” Dixon said. “I would just keep everything in the form of accomplishments. Like a race, you know at the end of the season - or in this case the end of your treatment - if everything goes well, you’ll be able to put that number one on the side of your car.”

Dixon's first interview during that first PBIR test created speculation all was not well for the multi-time champion, yet he
soldiered on.

 

And so he did. After several long, physically draining weeks, Dixon found himself on the other end of the fight - cancer-free with his whole life ahead of him. Or, in this case, a new NHRA season just ahead.

Fresh out of his final treatments, it wasn’t long before Dixon was back behind the wheel preparing for a new season. And that was when he realized that, even with his sickness behind him, the fight was far from over.

“That first test session, Mike (Guger) and the team had the car setup just perfect. The car ran as quick and fast as I’d ever been in testing. But while the testing part of it went great, my physical being was not. It might have been the hardest thing, even more than the treatments” Dixon said. “I guess coming off of the chemo and radiation, it had some negative effects. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. And if I’d try to eat, I couldn’t keep anything down. That was a really, really hard week.

“Thankfully, there were a couple of racers that were coming up to me asking if I was OK. Antron (Brown) came up to me and said ‘brother, you alright?’ and I said ‘I’m gonna be.’ So he knew. And Steve Torrence, from his own personal experience, he said ‘you don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but I can tell you that I know what you going through, so if you need somebody to talk to, I’m here.’

“I did talk to Steve before it all came out. I thanked him and appreciated him for having somebody to bounce things off of. Someone who’s walked in my shoes. It was nice, many of the guys were really good about it.

“Honestly, I needed that test session to be put off by about two weeks, but the race season doesn’t stop for anybody. If you’re not in the car and you’re not racing, then they are going to put somebody else in the car and race without you. Even though I wasn’t at my best at that particular time, I knew I would get there.”

While this story would certainly be one where you could wrap a big ribbon around the test session and subsequent first race of the season and call it a story about overcoming all odds to return to racing, as fate would have it, life was not done with Dixon just yet.

In May of 2015, Dixon’s feel-good story took another dramatic turn when his BVR-backed Top Fuel dragster came apart in spectacular fashion during a run at the Gatornationals, sending Dixon on the ride of his life. The dragster launched into the air where it proceeded to buckle and break apart before landing hard and slamming into the outside retaining wall.

The crash left him with a fractured T-4 and 5 vertebrae in his upper back and a contusion in his left knee. Still, despite the injuries, Dixon proceeded to not miss a single race and went on to finish fourth in the Top Fuel standings - his highest finish since 2010, where he won his most recent championship driving for Al-Anabi Racing.

“At that moment, you are just along for the ride. You have so much time to think while you’re up in the air. You are wanting to come down on the track as opposed to going over the wall and getting in the dirt and barrel-rolling. But then, when it hit the ground, it just hit so hard I was wishing that it had hit the dirt instead,” Dixon said. 

Certainly, after two major racing accidents during his career, a battle with cancer and several years of struggling to find a new home in the sport, it would deter someone and encourage them to hang up their helmet and gloves for good.

Maybe some people. Just not Dixon.

“To steal a line from John Force, ‘because that’s what we do.’ Ever since I was born, the thought never even crossed my mind to not get back in that car, especially after going through something like that,” Dixon said. “I’ve been asked before, but you don’t get in an accident and then be scared after. I have the utmost confidence in my equipment and how my car is prepared. That I can go through something like that and be alright is almost comforting.

“I never like testing it out quite like that, but when something like that happens and it passes the test, it gives you confidence. You think, ‘let’s build another car and get back out there.’”

So why now? After years of discomfort when the subject was brought up, why now is Dixon comfortable opening up about one of the scariest, and most vulnerable, times in his life?

Because he wants to show others that, no matter the obstacles they may face in life, it is never the end if you are willing to fight.

“So why now? I think then I didn’t want any distractions with the treatment. I didn’t want my kids to get opinions from other people. I wanted to go in there, take care of business, and once I know we’ve got a happy ending to this story, then I’d be thrilled to share the story,” Dixon said. “I think of two things why I want to talk about it now. First, it doesn’t have to be the end. If you’ve got something that is bothering you, get it checked out by a professional. Let somebody that’s got paperwork tell you it’s no big deal, because it might be a big deal.

“Second, you don’t have to let it stop you from doing anything that you want to do. I thought about Dave Schultz. He was doing chemo and radiation during the season and was getting on his motorcycle and racing and winning. He fought and fought and showed that it’s only going to slow you down if you let it.”

While Dixon is once again on the sideline after losing his ride with Bob Vandergriff Racing at the beginning of the season, if there is one thing that can be said about this former champion, it is this - he is certainly not giving up. Not by a long shot.

After all, when you have been through all that he has been through, what is a few more rounds in the fight.

“I’ve been living this for the last five years, but I’m not giving up. I would love the opportunity to get back in that car and race,” Dixon said. “There’s great racing going on right now, great side-by-side racing, but the cost is at an all-time high. When you’ve got a two-car team with Bob Vandergriff and another two-car team with Alan Johnson all sitting, those are great cars, great equipment that you could win championships with. It costs a lot of money to run these cars and finding that company to align yourself with is definitely a challenge. Otherwise there would be more teams out there racing right now.”

While he is confident that the time will come when he can once again strap in the seat of a Top Fuel dragster, until then, Dixon will continue his quest to educate people about getting screened and supporting those who have come to hear those three terrifying words.

“I hope one day everyone will be cured of cancer. I hope it gets to the point that we can recognize that gene in you to know what you’re susceptible to and be able to treat it ahead of time,” Dixon said. “Hopefully, one day it’s like taking a Polio shot and then there is no more Polio. I hope that’s the world that my kids live in.”