Beer Battle Goes Flat
for Budweiser

by Darr Hawthorne
Photos by Tim Marshall and Zak Hawthorne
2/12/03

Photo by Tim Marshall

2002 NHRA POWERade Top Fuel champ Larry Dixon and crew chief Dick LaHaie wasted no time in establishing their intent to dominate the 2003 season. Dixon was off to a strong start in the rain-delayed Budweiser Shootout at the Pomona Fairplex Drag Strip by taking a narrow win over rookie Brandon Bernstein in the final.

Beer marketing is a ferocious business, but the Budweiser brand opened its ample wallet once again for this special race, hoping another beer-sponsored dragster might not pick their pocket as Dixon did in last year's Bud Shootout.

Photo by Tim Marshall

Some driver shuffling was packed into this year's version as Brandon sat in for his retired father and still retained the #1 position. Andrew Cowin had moved over to the new Carrier Boyz Top Fueler, and Cory McClenathan (above) replaced Cowin in the seat of the Gwynn's Yankee/Berryman entry.

Photo by Zak Hawthorne

Cowin (above), whose dragster had not yet made a solid pass down the quarter-mile, met Doug Kalitta but couldn't get past the burnout. Kalitta made a strong pass in the heat of the day running 4.591 at 315.35. The other first round victims were Cory Mac, Doug Herbert, and Darrell Russell as all the winning dragsters ran 4.53 or better to show the strength of the coming season in Top Fuel.

The semi's brought Brandon running a 4.590 in defeating Tony Shumacher's Army-sponsored dragster. The Sarge mixed up cylinders and dropped a belt on the top end, but they were tied at the eighth-mile as he ran a 4.624. Kenny Bernstein stood just behind the starting line for his son's second TF competition round, watching intensely.

The other side of the semi-finals brought Doug Kalitta and Dixon's Miller Lite dragster together. Doug had a slight lead off the line, but Larry's stunning 4.549 in this round altered any chance of duplicating last year's Shootout final round with Kalitta. In his top end interview, Dixon said he wanted to "ride on the horses again" (referring to the winner's ride on the Budweiser Clydesdale-powered beer wagon) and it looked like he might have that opportunity.

In the final round, Brandon cut a .038 to Dixon's .041, but Dixon powered by to take the win running 4.558 at 324.59 to the Budweiser dragster's 4.564 at 323.89. Dixon won this one by a mere 26 inches! That makes it three in a row for Snake Racing, with Dixon having won the last Budweiser Shootout and Ron Capps winning the Funny Car version at Indy last season.

After the race Dixon remarked, "You have no idea how important those rounds are to those (beer) companies. It really puts a lot of pressure on you to do well. I cut my best light of the weekend and I still got left on."

This was Dixon's third Budweiser check and it must be driving the Busch family in St. Louis nuts with the Miller Lite driver temporarily sitting on the Bud Shootout throne for another year.