Raised in Warren, Ohio, Dickson came up through the ranks of midget and sprint car racing, disciplines that formed the traditional pathway to American championship car competition. His natural speed in the shorter-format, high-power machines translated into a career defined more by sprint car dominance than by Indy car glory, though he remained a consistent presence at the Indianapolis 500 across multiple decades.
Dickson competed in 105 USAC and CART Championship Car starts spanning the 1965 through 1981 seasons. He qualified for the Indianapolis 500 in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1978, 1979, and 1981. His best result on the championship car trail came at the non-500 oval circuit: a second-place finish in 1968 at Springfield. Across his Indy car career he finished in the top ten 44 times, a figure that speaks to consistent pace even if race victories at the highest level eluded him.
He also briefly ventured into NASCAR competition, driving Richie Giachetti's Ford Torino in the Daytona 500, where he ran in the top ten before the engine failed.
Sprint cars were Dickson's true domain. He captured the USAC Sprint Car Series championship in 1968, 1970, and 1975, making him one of only a handful of drivers to win the title three or more times. He accumulated 43 USAC sprint car feature victories, which stood as the all-time record in the division until Tom Bigelow eventually surpassed the mark.
During the period from 1968 to 1971, Dickson and Gary Bettenhausen engaged in an intense and celebrated rivalry that drew widespread attention throughout American open-wheel racing. Promoted by the press as "The Larry and Gary Show" — with Bettenhausen dubbed "Thunder" and Dickson "Lightning" — the two traded the USAC Sprint Car championship back and forth in those years, giving the series some of its most memorable competition.
Dickson closed out his racing career driving USAC Silver Crown cars owned by his brother Tommy and by Max Brittain. After retiring from competition he settled in Indianapolis, where he focused on real estate investments.
In 1990, Dickson was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class, a recognition that placed him among the founding honorees of the sport's most prestigious hall of fame. The induction acknowledged both his three sprint car championships and his status as the all-time USAC sprint car wins leader at the time of his retirement.
Larry Dickson's career represents a particular strain of American racing excellence — a driver whose greatest achievements came at the intense, short-track end of open-wheel competition rather than on the grand stage of the Indianapolis 500. His rivalry with Gary Bettenhausen and his record sprint car victory total cemented his place as one of the defining figures of USAC racing in the late 1960s and 1970s.