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Larry began his racing career in 1954, with the jalopies but soon switched to supermodifieds. Over the next ten years he won more than 120 races in and around his Marietta, Ohio, home base. In 1964 he jumped onto the national radar by copping the Williams Grove Open.
United Racing Club (URC) car owner, George Nesler, hired Dickson in 1965 and they breezed to the URC title that year, winning at West Lebanon, New York, Harmony, New Jersey, Harrington, Delaware, Bedford, Pennsylvania and Stoney Creek, Ontario. In 1966, Larry headed to USAC and made steady progress, winning five races in his first two years of competition with the club.
In 1968, Dickson took the sprint car circuit by storm, winning 12 races and the USAC national championship. His biggest rival was Gary Bettenhausen and together they proceeded to totally dominate the USAC sprint stage for the next four years, finishing first and second each year through 1971. Bettenhausen won two USAC titles, in 1969 and 1971, while Dickson scored his second in 1970. Dickson’s star seemed to be in decline in the mid-1970s, until he joined up with Ernie Ensign and won the ASA sanctioned Little 500 at Anderson, Indiana in 1974. The next season Larry won his third USAC title in the Ensign Chevy. He finished his career with USAC as the top winner in the history of the national sprint series with 45 victories. This number has since only been eclipsed by Tom Bigelow’s 52 wins. |