(Photos by the author) – After the majority of the NHRA Mello Yellow Series top fuel and nitro funny car teams concluded their testing on Saturday it was time for the Lucas Oil Series teams to take to the track on Monday. As you will see in this gallery of photos below, there were still a smattering of professional teams trying to get themselves fully sorted before hauling about 6 hours up the road to Pomona, California but by and large it was cars like Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars making the noise at Wildhorse Pass Motorsports Park on Sunday.

Also a neat treat was a gaggle of nitro burning Harley Davison bikes that will be competing at the NHRA Winternationals. The bikes had their struggles to make solid runs but that’s what this session is for. Laying the groundwork for success in the season starts with trying a bunch of new stuff now. The cackling V-twin bikes were a mighty load of fun to observe on the track.

The run of the day came from the Randy Meyer Racing camp and their driver Julie Nataas. The car, which ran an astounding 5.11 during the NHRA Winternationals last year ripped off a 5.14 at only 272mph early in the day on Sunday. The speed is the stunning number here because it illustrates the fact that the car was to under full power when it crossed the finish line stripe! It had dropped a cylinder and was only hauling down the track on seven holes. Wild stuff. Shawn Cowie, the number two car in the world in 2017 was making better runs by the time Sunday drew to a close as were the alky funny cars of Nick Januik and the Tony Bartone owned entry driven by Californian Sean Bellemeur.

We’ll be following the action on Monday and Tuesday as well here in Arizona so stick with us. More fun is on the way!

Click the images to expand our Sunday photos from the NHRA Pre-Season testing

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