Larry Dixon

After seven successful years of amateur boxing, 24-year-old Larry Dixon could not put off a professional career any longer. So Wednesday night at the San Diego Sports Arena, Dixon will get on with his life when he takes on an opponent--to be determined--in a four-round welterweight bout. Although Dixon probably has had the talent to turn pro for some time, he never had the support staff or the confidence until now. "There's a lot of money to be made here," Dixon said.

Larry Dixon lives three miles from the drag strip at Indianapolis Raceway Park, and passes it nearly every time he gets on the freeway. He may not get "psyched out" about the place, but acknowledges he has plenty of time to reflect on the site of the 49th Mac Tools U.S.Nationals, which begin with qualifying today as the National Hot Rod Assn. starts its biggest weekend of the year. On those drives into town, the defending top-fuel champion recalls his youth, when his father, Larry Sr.

Del Worsham and Larry Dixon, two former drag-racing champions and Southern California natives, are back on track in 2013 - literally. After winning the 2011 title in drag racing's fastest class, top fuel, Worsham took last year off to be crew chief for Alexis DeJoria, who was a rookie last year in funny car, the other elite class in the National Hot Rod Assn. Now Worsham, 43, is again driving a funny car himself, which he had done for most of his career, as the NHRA opens its season this weekend with the Winternationals in Pomona.

A first-round eliminations shocker opened the door for John Force to raise his National Hot Rod Assn. record to 15 national championships Sunday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona. And Force, a 61-year-old funny car legend, completed the deal with a thrilling second-round victory over Bob Bode. That gave Force enough points to pass 27-year-old Matt Hagan, who came into the eliminations with a 38-point lead. The stage was set for Force by a bevy of upsets in the first round.

Larry Dixon set the top fuel elapsed time track record at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a 4.509-second run at 323.19 mph in qualifying for the Las Vegas NHRA Nationals. Other top qualifiers were Whit Bazemore in funny cars, Jim Yates in pro stock and Angelle Savoie in pro stock motorcycles.

Persistent rain forced National Hot Rod Assn. officials to cancel Friday's racing at the Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Qualifying will resume Saturday, weather permitting, but more rain and even snow at low altitudes are forecast. Continuous heavy rains in 2009 pushed the final day of the Winternationals from Sunday until Wednesday. Snow interrupting the Winternationals would not be a first. Top fuel national champion Larry Dixon recalled that happening in 1978, when he was 11. "The whole track was covered in snow," Dixon said.

Larry Dixon led top-fuel qualifying in the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals on Friday night with a quarter-mile run of 4.575 seconds at 325.37 mph. Cory McClenathan was second (4.608, 320.89) and Kenny Bernstein was third (4.692, 319.98). John Force and Ron Krisher also led their divisions in the $1.9 million competition at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Force topped the funny-car lineup with a 4.831-second pass at 315.86 mph. Tim Wilkerson was second (4.848, 314.90).

Cristen Powell, 17-year-old high school senior from Portland, Ore., made her National Hot Rod Assn. top-fuel debut Thursday in the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals with an elapsed time of 4.749 seconds at 271.90 mph at the Pomona Raceway. It was the fastest first run in NHRA history and put her third, behind Joe Amato and Larry Dixon. Veteran Warren Johnson set a track record of 198.67 mph in his pro stock Pontiac Firebird and at the same time set a Winternationals record of 6.987 seconds.

On a crisp November weekend in 2006, Jack Beckman of Norco set the official speed record for an NHRA funny car dragster racing down the traditional quarter-mile track: 333.66 mph. The mark still stands and now is among those sports records that might never be surpassed, in Beckman's case because of a major change in drag racing. "I don't see it being broken," Beckman said Saturday between qualifying rounds ahead of Sunday's final eliminations for the Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, where he set the record.

Finland's Mika Hakkinen won the Formula One championship for the second consecutive year Sunday, finishing ahead of previous leader Ernie Irvine with a victory in the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Japan. Hakkinen thought he had won the series title two weeks ago at the Malaysian Grand Prix but a ruling by an appeals committee put his championship on hold. Hakkinen is only the seventh driver to win consecutive season titles. He finished with 76 season points to 74 for Irvine.