AutoSportRadio.com 2023 Show for September 12th – Guests: Larry Dixon and Andy O’Gara
The Autosportradio.com 2023 Show war recorded in front of a live audience at the Green Street Pub and Eatery in Brownsburg, Indiana.
Host Don Kay sat down with Guests…
-Larry Dixon, Larry Dixon consider himself a very fortunate young man. He has a beautiful wife, a great family and he is doing what he loves to do for a living. And what he does is drive a Top Fuel dragster, the quickest accelerating vehicle in the world.
Over the course of his career as a driver, which goes back to 1995, Larry has amassed a record that any driver would be proud to have on their resume. Top Fuel dragsters are the premier class in NHRA drag racing, one of the most popular sports in the country, and Larry is in the top four in every statistical category in the class. That includes his 62 wins, 51 top qualifying spots, 46 low elapsed time runs and 33 top speed passes. It was those kind of performances that have enabled Larry to win 3 NHRA Full Throttle World Championships so far.
Larry knew at an early age what he wanted to do for a living. Having grown up in Southern California, the hot bed of drag racing in the formative years of the sport, Larry grew up watching his father race. The senior Dixon was one of the pioneers in the sport and Larry got to see, first hand, what it took to build a winning team. After working as a crew member on several teams in the 1980’s, Larry finally got the opportunity to drive in the Top Alcohol Dragster category in 1993, and while it wasn’t a Top Fuel car, it still went over 200 miles per hour and Larry knew right away that, while working on a car was fun, driving was a real thrill.
Maybe the biggest shock of all in his career came in 2021, on the eve of a new year that hinted at hope over a pandemic and at brighter circumstances for him and his family. Larry Dixon learned he had been selected for induction to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
“You are now a member of what is probably the most elite and distinguished group ever assembled in American motorsports history,” Motorsports Hall of Fame of America president George Levy said in a congratulatory letter to Dixon.
-Andy O’Gara, In recent trips to Whiteland Raceway Park, where Andy O’Gara grew up racing go-karts from the age of 12, he couldn’t help but notice the road course was in disrepair.
This isn’t just any old track, it opened in 1958 south of Indianapolis and is regarded as the oldest of its kind in the nation. It’s where such legends as Tony Stewart and John Andretti raced in their youth. The nine-turn layout with an oval and the only high-banked turn on a karting course in Indiana is where O’Gara and his wife, Sarah Fisher, enjoy bringing their two children.
Whiteland Raceway ParkO’Gara couldn’t stand by and see the track lost in a tax sale, possibly leveled and turned into a parking lot. He convinced Fisher and Wink Hartman, with whom they have partnered on Verizon IndyCar Series teams, to save the place.
“There are a lot more people that loved it than Sarah and me,” O’Gara said.
That was most evident on Saturday night two weeks ago, when the new owners hosted their first races in a grand reopening. Cars flooded the neighboring fields and parking lots.
“We had 165 entries and more than 500 people through the gates,” O’Gara said. “We parked up and down the street. A neighbor who has 300 acres let us use their field. And Kelsay Farms, thank goodness they had just cut their bean fields, so people parked there. There was a county bus garage across the street and we got permission to park there as well. There were people everywhere.
“It was awesome. We had a great night and great racing. It reminded me of growing up all over again.”
O’Gara and Fisher come from devout racing families. They met in 2002 when Sarah drove in the Verizon IndyCar Series for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Andy worked on the pit crew and Andy’s father, John, was the team manager. Andy and Sarah were married in 2007 and formed Sarah Fisher Racing the following year.
Ed Carpenter won the team’s first race in 2011 at Kentucky Speedway. Hartman joined as a co-owner in 2012 before the team merged with Carpenter’s team to form CFH Racing in 2015, when rising star Josef Newgarden won two races.
Following that season, O’Gara and Fisher exited team ownership to focus on what was then the new Speedway Indoor Karting (SIK) facility and restaurant they built and maintain within earshot of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Now, they’re turning attention as well to resurrecting Whiteland Raceway Park to the lofty status it once held.
O’Gara and Fisher commended family and friends for their hard work on the “11th-hour deal” to take over at Whiteland. Although this means more work for the couple, they are convinced it’s worth it.
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