Words by Darr Hawthorne - Photos by Tim Marshall

The 2009 West Coast drag racing season has unofficially begun, with weekend testing at the Strip at Las Vegas, some thirty NHRA sportsman and nostalgia nitro cars entered the Vegas Nitro Warm Up at the strip. Near perfect weather greeted the lightly attended Test-n-Tune that provided the racers with an ideal a no-pressure environment in which to get their act ready for the 2009 drag racing season. 

Nostalgia Funny Car pilot Garrett Bateman gets airborne on this shakedown run in the Plueger & Gyger Mustang at the Las Vegas Nitro Warm Ups. There was plenty of grip on the Vegas track as the team added wheelie bars to the rear for the remainder of Bateman’s licensing, running a best of 6.038 elapsed time. (Sequence by Darr Hawthorne and Tim Marshall)