Other sportsman entries included a new white gel-coated Mustang body for veteran Jay Payne tuning up for the Pomona Winternationals.

Brian Thiel from Pleasant Grove, Calif., brought out his cool looking ’02 Camaro-bodied Alcohol Funny Car before heading to Pomona, running a best of 5.820 at 245.76 MPH.  Thiel and his team have been busy over the winter and will also debut a Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car at the upcoming March Meet.

Teammates Chuck Moore and Steve Woods will be swapping positions this season as Moore will be driving the slick, event winning ’63 Corvette AA/Gas Supercharged with veteran driver Woods moving into the tuning position.  Moore ran 7.0’s in testing here at Vegas.

Las Vegas native and Division 7 charger Duane Shields was testing his Short Line Express A/Fuel Dragster getting ready for the Winternationals.

Interesting to note, according to LVMS Track Manager Chris Blair, his telephone has been ringing off the hook since NHRA’s Tom Compton announced in his Open Letter last week that, NHRA will “Continue to enforce testing restrictions during the 2009 season.” It seems that a number of professional teams will now be testing on the Monday and Tuesday prior to Pomona, right up to the Wednesday parking and tech inspection for the ’09 Winternationals.  

There’s still plenty of action for the Pro Stock contingent when they gather back at the Strip at Las Vegas for the yearly Pro Stock Showdown and Pacific Divisional National Open on January 30 to February 1.