Just three weeks ago, 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel champion Del Worsham announced his departure from the Alan Johnson-led Al-Anabi Racing team and his retirement from driving, and now, it appears that former teammate Larry Dixon, the 2002-03 and 2010 series champ, may be following his lead.

Several sources and media outlets, including ESPN ace reporter Terry Blount, are reporting that Dixon, a sixteen year veteran of the Top Fuel ranks, will not return to the Al-Anabi team in 2012. With the departure of Worsham and Dixon, both championship caliber drivers, it leaves team owner Alan Johnson searching for a pair of pilots to replace their prized seats aboard the dragster that have garnered the last two Top Fuel titles and hold the current national elapsed time record.

“What I can tell you is Al-Anabi Racing will continue to be a two-car operation in 2012 with the two Top Fuel dragsters,” team spokesman Rob Goodman told ESPN.com. “We hope to have all our plans announced very soon.”

Said Johnson on the Al-Anabi Racing website, “We are still finalizing our plans for the 2012 season.  Moving into next season with our two car team, we will continue to bring awareness of our great sport onto the international scene, continue to build championship teams, and give our fans an amazing show.

Dixon, 45, took his first job in drag racing working for Top Fuel team owner Larry Minor and driver Gary Beck. He spent two decades with Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, first as a crew member and later as a driver, where he won the first two of his three Top Fuel championships in 2002 and 2003, becoming just the fifth Top Fuel driver to win consecutive championships. He moved to Johnson’s Al-Anabi team in 2009, and won a record 12 races in 12 finals on his way to the 2010 crown. In all, he has 61 career Top Fuel victories on his resume.