Larry Dixon drove his Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a 3.882-second pass at 301.74 mph to become the provisional top qualifier in Top Fuel. If it stands it would be Dixon’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season, 34th of his career and a first at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Courtesy: NHRA Media Relations

NORWALK, Ohio – Larry Dixon raced to the provisional No. 1 qualifier Friday at the third annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Mike Neff, Allen Johnson and Matt Guidera also took the provisional top spots in their respective categories at the 12th of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Dixon drove his Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a 3.882-second pass at 301.74 mph to become the provisional top qualifier in Top Fuel. If it stands it would be Dixon’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season, 34th of his career and a first at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

“The first run we went down the track and ran decent,” said Dixon. “You’re just trying to gauge it off of the track temperature; that’s the biggest thing everybody looks at. They were going to try to run a high 3.90 and it did, and for the second session, it was just a matter of how much the track temp would come around.”

Current points leader Antron Brown sits fifth after the first day of qualifying.

In Funny Car, Neff drove his Ford Drive One Mustang to a 4.190 at 297.73 to take the provisional No. 1 spot. If it stands, it would be Neff’s first No. 1 qualifier of the season and third of his career.

“The track was tricky today, especially in the first session," said Neff, who is looking for his first No. 1 spot of the year. "The improvement that we had in the afternoon came from a combination of more rubber on the surface and cooler track temperatures.”

Current points leader Tony Pedregon is sitting in the third spot as the defending event winner.

Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson took the provisional top spot in his category. Johnson drove his Mopar Dodge Stratus to a 6.649 at 206.99 and looks to collect his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and seventh of his career.

“The [newly-paved] track felt very good, and it will get better as the fuel cars make more runs and lay more rubber on the track.”

Current points leader Jeg Coughlin is sitting in the sixth spot after the first day of qualifying.

Pro Stock Motorcycle driver Matt Guidera took the provisional top spot in his category. Guidera rode his Mohegan Sun Rocklin Motorsports Buell to a 7.001 at 187.11 and looks to collect his second No. 1 qualifier of his career.

“That was an awesome run for the team,” said Guidera. “We worked on the setup a little bit and were able to get a little bit better hold of the starting line, and that just put me through the first eighth-mile a little quicker.”

Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at noon and 2 p.m. Sunday’s eliminations begin at 11 a.m.

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