NHRA News: Dixon and T-Ped plotting different courses in 2004 (7/11/2004)

Dixon and T-Ped plotting different courses in 2004

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
7/11/2004

"Once you win a championship all you want is more."
– Larry Dixon

Reigning nitro champions Larry Dixon and Tony Pedregon have had solid, if not spectacular starts to the 2004 season. Dixon, the back-to-back Top Fuel titleholder, has surged from ninth place to a tie for fourth since Chicago, while Pedregon has settled into ninth place in the crowded Funny Car class he once ruled.

Each man is a long way from where they were one year ago, yet both seem content with the progress they've made thus far. Dixon explains that his team changed "everything but the chassis and the driver" in the off-season, resulting in a fresh start for the Miller Lite gang. Pedregon is still feeling his way along after leaving John Force Racing and starting his new Quaker State-backed team from the ground up.

The massive changes, they say, were necessary for each group, although the reasons behind the changes came from opposite ends of the spectrum.

Starting over

Dixon has been sneaking
up on the frontrunners.
Racers Edge Photography

"We kind of saw the writing on the wall towards the end of last season," Dixon said. "The performance of the Kalitta cars and [Tony] Schumacher's car showed us that many of the components on our car were getting out of date. We made the decision to make some big changes. It wasn't like our stuff was junk, we just knew we needed to reach a new level and we had kind of maxed out with the stuff we had.

"I always said that we were riding an incredible wave, and we rode that baby all the way to the shore. That wave lasted for almost three years. Now, in a sense, we're out there in the water waiting for the next big wave to come along."

After eight years of racing in Force's shadow, Pedregon finally broke through for his first title in 2003 and promptly announced he was leaving the powerful JFR camp to team up with his brother Cruz Pedregon, thereby fulfilling a lifelong family dream. It's Tony's first foray into team ownership, but he's attacked the challenge with gusto.

"I feel I beat the odds to win the title when I wasn't really supposed to," Pedregon said of his '03 crown. "It was certainly the pinnacle of my career for the position I was in over there. What more was there for me to do?

"I really thought out the whole thing and I consulted with so many friends and other people I respect who were in similar situations to mine in the past. I think I was as prepared as I could have been for the transition. Still, I question if I can do this. I truly believe I have all the proper components. I want to prove to myself and to Dickie [Venables, crew chief] and Quaker State that we can get it done. The only way to do that is to win. Once we do, the sky's the limit for us."

Night and day

With three No. 1 qualifying efforts and a car that runs 4.71s at 331 mph, Pedregon hasn't slowed at all.
Racers Edge Photography

Dixon was in full control of the Top Fuel class at last year's summer break. His biggest threat, Brandon Bernstein, was out for the season after an untimely wreck in Englishtown, which put Dixon more than 200 points ahead of second-place points earner Doug Kalitta, a sizable advantage. He had won five races in eight final-round showings through the first 12 races and showed no signs of slowing down.

With just one victory this year, Dixon has a very clear goal to reach in order for him to feel this campaign was worth the effort.

"If we get to a point where we roll through the gates of a racetrack with a car we know is capable of winning races, then I'll consider this year a success," said Dixon, who is currently 245 points behind Kalitta. "That's all I want. To have that feeling, the feeling that you can beat everyone at the track, it's what I live for.

"Once you win a championship all you want is more. Why not? What else is there? I never set out to break any records or anything like that. We're focused on making our car a bad-ass hot rod week in and week out. A championship is just the end result of having a bad-ass car all year long."

Prior to the Denver race in 2003, Pedregon was a perfect 6-0 in final rounds but only 143 points up on rival Whit Bazemore. Three first-round losses on the Western Swing brought him back down to earth and he actually gave up the points lead to Bazemore late in the year in Memphis. But the combined efforts of JFR allowed him to win two big events down the stretch and he managed to clinch his title in a dramatic final-round showdown with Bazemore in Las Vegas.

This year Pedregon assumed he probably wouldn't be a player for the title, yet he has had some success in his new Monte Carlo, including running the what was then the quickest and fastest Funny Car pass of all-time – 4.716 at 331.28 mph – in Chicago.

The last three races has seen Dixon and the
Miller Lite team gaining serious ground.
Racers Edge Photography

"You can't compare last year's car to this year's car or the entire situation for that matter," said Pedregon, who has three poles and a runner-up finish this season. "It's 180 degrees from where I was a year ago. Still, under the circumstances, we're right where we want to be. It'd be nice to have a win but we're right there. I still come to the track with the same expectations.

"I have a certain vision for this team this year. One thing was to get in the top 10 and stay there all year. I need to win a couple of races to in order for me to feel like this year was a total success. I want to finish strong and maybe reach a little further than I thought we could because that will set a great platform for next year. The expectations will be a lot higher next year and we want to meet those expectations.

"If we can get this group to the point where we were last year, it would be huge. If I can take this team we created from nothing and reach that same level then hopefully people will finally see that nothing was handed to me."

The party's never long enough
Although they've reached this point in their careers by two very different paths, Dixon and Pedregon do agree that the time they had to celebrate their accomplishments of 2003 were far too short.

"It was a little subdued when we clinched because it happened during eliminations in Dallas and we had work to do because we had [Kenny] Bernstein in the next round," Dixon said. "There wasn't a big parade or anything. It was just like, 'Okay, you won. Now get back to work.'

"We celebrated within the team. We had a great time sharing our title with 'Snake' and with the folks at Miller Brewing. They were all thrilled. The team took an enormous amount of pride out of the second championship. It's one thing to win it all; it's totally different to repeat. It's not easy."

Working alone seems to suit Pedregon.
Racers Edge Photography

No one knows how difficult it is to repeat better than Dixon, who is the latest Professional-level driver to pull off the feat. At the same time, when your once-dominant team is struggling, it's sometimes hard to put on a happy face, so excuse Dixon if he's not his usually jovial self at the racetrack.

"It's hard to be bubbly and happy when you're ninth in the points," Dixon said. "I'm here working on my craft, trying anything I can to make us better. I hope fans understand that. I know winning championships puts you in greater demand. That's part of the deal. But my mind is still working the same way, constantly trying to figure out ways to get better."

It was more of a Cinderella ending for Pedregon, who finally slipped on the glass slipper with a huge, pedaling win over Bazemore under the lights of The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The celebration in the Castrol Syntec camp was enormous, but short-lived, as three weeks later Pedregon and Venables made the decision to leave.

"It has been a little bittersweet," Pedregon admitted. "There really was no time to celebrate. I guess the biggest thing I miss is that I really never had time to sit and reminisce with John. I hope we can do that one day."

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