NHRA Winternationals at Pomona, Part 1

By Susan Wade. Photos by Jeff Burk

One could hardly stop smiling.

One could barely keep from crying.

One could scarcely find words to express himself.

The three pro-class winners at the Feb. 7-10 NHRA K&N Filters Winternationals showed a range of emotions as wild as the competition at Pomona Raceway. Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), John Force (Funny Car) and George Marnell (Pro Stock) ushered in the POWERade era with victories in the 2002 season opener.

DIXON DELIGHTS

Larry Dixon -- sandwiched between his father Larry, who won the event in 1970, and 15-month-old son Donovan, who commandeered the winner's statue because "he digs them gold men almost as much as me" -- basked in his second Winternationals Top Fuel victory in five years.

Dixon used a shallow-staged .449 light and 4.535-second elapsed time at 324.75 miles an hour in the Miller Lite Dragster to beat Kenny Bernstein, the man who denied him his first series championship with a Finals triumph on this same track. Bernstein ran a 4.612 at 324.67 in the Budweiser King Dragster.

Dixon's victory blemished Bernstein's kickoff of his "Forever Red: A Run To Remember" farewell tour. But Dixon said he regarded it as the proper christening for team owner Don Prudhomme's 40th Anniversary Season.

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