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Three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon Jr. revealed for the first time this week the cancer diagnosis and treatment that he endured more than a year ago, while still competing in the quickest and fastest race cars on the planet.
Dixon, one of the most prolific drivers of the modern era, shares that his story began in May of 2014, when he developed what he thought was simply a normal sore throat — one that persisted for weeks. But he says he “Honestly forgot about it,” but later visited his primary care doctor, which revealed tonsil inflammation. But a subsequent visit to an ENT doctor revealed that what was thought to be inflammation was in fact throat cancer; or more specifically, stage III oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
Marion Couch, an oncologist at IU Health in Indianapolis, near Dixon’s home in Brownsburg, led his treatment, which included six weeks of radiation and 33 rounds of chemotherapy. Through it all, Dixon continued to pilot the Bob Vandergriff-owned dragster, closing out the 2014 season while undergoing the grueling and physically demanding treatment.
His final chemotherapy and radiation treatment was completed in January of 2015, and four months later, well into the NHRA season and after enduring one of the most frightening crashes in recent memory in Gainesville — all while 15 pounds lighter and admittedly both weak and tired — scans showed no signs of cancer.
“Larry did remarkably well in treatment, and I knew he wanted to return to work right away,” says Dr. Couch. For Dixon, returning to work so quickly just felt right. “I look at my cancer as a speed bump in life,” Dixon says. “You get through it, and then you have to live the rest of your life.”
“I wouldn’t wish my experience on anyone, but if you have go through it, these are the people you want taking care of you,” Dixon said in an IU Health interview. “This experience has made me more aware of my body and what it’s telling me,” he says. “Just because a symptom seems minor doesn’t mean it is.”
