DIXON KEEPING HIS BLINDERS ON

For Al-Anabi Dragster driver Larry Dixon, this Labor Day will not be about a possible third NHRA Top Fuel championship.

It will not be about his rivalry with Tony Schumacher, although the two of them -- the NHRA's two most successful drivers in Top Fuel history -- have dominated the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals for decade. At least one of them has been in the final round since 2000. With a ninth trophy, Schumacher would emerge from Don Garlits' shadow while celebrating his 10th anniversary of U.S. Army sponsorship. With a fourth victory at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, Dixon would end Schumacher's streak here at four.

It won't even be about the threat other drivers -- No. 2 qualifier Cory McClenathan in particular -- pose to his points lead and momentum from a nine-victory season.

For Al-Anabi Dragster driver Larry Dixon, this Labor Day will not be about a possible third NHRA Top Fuel championship.

It won't even be about the threat other drivers -- No. 2 qualifier Cory McClenathan in particular -- pose to his points lead and momentum from a nine-victory season.

It won't be about the big Countdown picture.

"I'm not looking past Bruce Litton, to be honest with you," Dixon said after his 3.776-second elapsed time from Saturday remained quickest through a marathon five qualifying sessions. He'll lead the field for the sixth time this season, the 46th time in his career, and the third time at Indianapolis in the NHRA's marquee event.

Litton, in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist Dragster, was the No. 16 qualifier at a best of 4.194 seconds, which sounds snoozy in comparison to Dixon's track-record E.T. Nevertheless, this is the match-up of the year for Dixon. Why? Because it's the next one.

This faceoff will be intriguing.

It will pit neighbor against neighbor, two hometown favorites against each other. "Literally I can see his backyard from my backyard. That's how close we are. Same subdivision, just one block over," Dixon said of his first-round opponent Monday.

It will be a battle of two champions who respect each other. Said Dixon of IHRA Top Fuel titlist Litton, "He's a great guy. It's a good car. He'll definitely keep you honest. So we're going to go up there and do our thing and hope it's good enough." Said Litton of the U.S. Nationals and the NHRA elite that includes Dixon, "It brings out the best teams and the best cars, and you have to work hard to be competitive. It's so much work, but that's what Indy is."

It will be about two local businessmen. Dixon's Alan Johnson / Al-Anabi Racing shop is along nearby Brownsburg's so-called Nitro Alley for its string of drag-racing headquarters. But Dixon is landlord to several other race teams with his buildings in that industrial park. Litton's trailer/hauler sales business and the adjacent race shop stand right across the street for the ORP main gate along Crawfordsville Road. (In the front of his shop building is the stunning re-creation of the main street of his Oneida, Tenn., boyhood home, complete with service station, car dealership, jail, diner, chapel, and movie theatre -- which he built a second time after a fire gutted it several years ago.)

They both have more than a passing interest in oil. Dixon's car is sponsored by Sheik Khalid Al-Thani, of OPEC member and major oil exporter Qatar. Litton's primary sponsor is global player Lucas Oil. When Dixon drove fro Don Prudhomme's Snake Racing, he, too, carried Lucas Oil sponsorship.

So Dixon has a challenge on his hands when he rolls up to the Christmas Tree Monday morning. And he knows it. He's prepared, despite two qualifying runs Sunday that he probably won't save the E.T. slips from for framing.

"Being qualified solidly [entering the final day of time trials] allows you to go out there and see what the track's doing, see what the motor, clutch, and all that stuff's doing," Dixon said. "Whether it's a good run or a bad run, it's great information. Hopefully that'll apply to tomorrow -- what TO do or what NOT to do."

He said he thought he "ran decent in the first session" Sunday and shrugged off his traction-troubled final pass. "All in all it was a great weekend," Dixon said.

But he knows it isn’t over yet.

"If we were fortunate enough to win the race tomorrow," Dixon said, "that won't decide the championship. The only thing that's going to be decided tomorrow is 'Who's going to win [the U.S. Nationals]?' That's all you can do, so we're going to go out there and try really hard."

He said if he beats Litton, "if we do well in that round, we'd be fortunate to move on. And if you do well enough and you add all that stuff together, then, yeah, you'll get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But that's two and a half months away."

While he might not be thinking too intently about Schumacher and McClenathan and Antron Brown and Brandon Bernstein and Doug Kalitta and all the other dangerous on-track rivals he can count, one of them is taking aim at Dixon, for sure.

He's No. 2 qualifier, No. 2 Countdown-ranked driver Cory McClenathan.

"Obviously, the Countdown and coming to Indy all in one weekend can be overwhelming," McClenathan said Sunday. "But we came out of here with 11 bonus points, which really helps us a lot. We're all greedy, we’d like to have more but, at the same time, I think we did well here. We're qualified No. 2. That's a big deal for us. It puts us on opposite sides of Dixon, and that's big."

McClenathan, who won't be satisfied with a fifth series runner-up performance, knows that he, too, has his challengers. Plenty of them are in the same Don Schumacher racing organization with him.

"Hot Rod Fuller ran good the last session (quickest of the round and No. 9 qualifier), and Tony Schumacher (No. 3) and Antron Brown (No. 5) are going to be right there," he said.

"I see a lot of parity going into this first race of the Countdown."

Some see this race for what it isn't, some for what it is. Either way, it promises to be as dramatic as all previous Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

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DIXON KEEPING HIS BLINDERS ON