Pomona
(Feb. 8)
Top Fuel
Qualifiers
#1 Brandon Bernstein
#2 Larry Dixon
#3 Doug Kalitta
#4 Tony Schumacher
#5 Cory McClenathan
#6 Andrew Cowin
#7 Doug Herbert
#8 Darrell Russell
Dixon defeats Bernstein to take Bud Shootout title
 Larry Dixon
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The names were different but the results were the same as Dixon bested Bernstein at Pomona Raceway to emerge the champion.
Larry Dixon, the 2002 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel champ, got his title defense off to an impressive start with a victory in the 18th annual Budweiser Shootout at Pomona, defeating rookie Brandon Bernstein, in his first competition outing since replacing his father, Kenny, in the cockpit of the Budweiser dragster.
Although the win earned him no points towards a second Top Fuel season championship, the $100,000 winner payout was the second straight and third overall for the Miller Lite team.
Dixon ran 4.59 in the opening round to defeat Doug Herbert and a stunning 4.54 in the semifinals to erase Doug Kalitta in a rematch of last year's Shootout final.
Bernstein opened his official competition record with an impressive 4.57 to 4.59 first-round victory over Darrell Russell, a win made even more impressive with a .024 reaction time. Bernstein then bested Tony Schumacher, 4.59 to 4.62, to move to the final round.
The final round was decided by just .0039 second as Bernstein moved first off the starting line, .038 to .041, but Dixon powered by to take the win, 4.55, 324.59 to 4.56, 323.89.
"What a thrill, what a drag race," said Dixon. "For $100,000 to be decided by less than four-thousandths of a second is just amazing. Brandon is going to be a helluva competitor; he already is. This is the third time we've won the Shootout, and I have to thank my crew, who gave me a great hot rod, and Bud, for putting up the money.
"There was a lot of pressure, a lot of pride on the line there with the two beer companies battling one another. I cut my best light of the weekend and still got left on."
"I didn't feel any pressure; I was just out there doing my job," said Bernstein. "That was a helluva drag race, and we gave it our best shot. Tim [Richards, crew chief] stepped it up and the right lane held it, but we were just a little short. Larry's team is obviously the team to beat right, but we'll be gunning for them every time. It's the same as it was for my dad - I bleed Budweiser red."
The Shootout originally was scheduled to be contested at the 2002 Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals last November, but inclement weather forced the qualified combatants to wait until the 2003 season to finish the event.
The senior Bernstein's retirement at the end of last season after a tooth-and-nail battle with Dixon moved Brandon into the cockpit, much in the same way that Darrell Russell's first head-to-head racing came in to the 2000 Shootout after he replaced Joe Amato, who retired suddenly at the end of the 1999 season after qualifying for that season's shootout, which also was moved to the next year's Winternationals. Like the younger Bernstein, Russell's storybook attempt came to an end in the final round, where he also lost to the 2000 season's defending champ, Gary Scelzi.
The names were different but the results were the same.