NHRA testing in Phoenix

The annual test session in the desert outside of Phoenix at Charlie Allen's Firebird Raceway is usually where the NHRA nitro teams wrap up their pre-season testing prior to the opening race of the NHRA season. Traditionally there are 30-40 nitro teams testing, but this year there were about a dozen each Top Fuel and Funny Cars testing and training new drivers, crews, tuners and crew chiefs.

A lot of drivers and teams changed over the winter. Don Schumacher virtually changed everything on his teams except the paint on the U.S. Army Top Fuel car. Don Prudomme has new driver as Del Worsham no longer drives his own car, Larry Dixon has a new team and Alan Johnson has a new car, driver, and sponsor and is now a team owner.

As is traditional with Firebird Raceway's annual event, there were some spectacular performances including a stellar 3.77 lap by Antron Brown courtesy of his new co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald. That's the second quickest 1,000-foot timing in history. Not to be outdone the new wrenches on Brandon Bernstein’s Bud King, Rob Flynn and Mike Guger (they tuned the Rod Fuller Top Fueler last year), gave Brandon Bernstein the power to record the fastest 1,000-foot speed ever, a jaw dropping 323+!

DRO sent four of our very talented photographers to the test and they will tell the story in photos. Those photographers included our Senior Photographer, Ron Lewis, and staffers James Drew, Mark Rebilas, and Brian Losness. The photography they sent us was nothing short of remarkable and really takes you inside the ropes and behind the guard wall.