Cruz Pedregon (photo) and Al Hofmann both debuted new paint and cars at the test session, although neither one was able to get a full lap in. Perhaps they were struggling with the new Goodyear "spec tires."

TOP FUEL

As far as absolute performance went, the stars of the test session had to be Larry Dixon, whose Dick LaHaie-tuned dragster turned in a 4.526/305, Kenny Bernstein, who ran a 4.553/320.89, and Tony Schumacher, who ran a 4.542/324.75 on Tuesday -- which by the way was good for top speed of the meet.

Conspicuous by their absence was the New York Yankees team, which will have Australian Andrew Cowin in the seat instead of Mike Dunn, and Ken Veney who will no longer be twirling the tools. Also not on the premises was any Top Fuel car for the Alan Johnson team. There were, however, plenty of "newbies" in the Firebird pits.

Early candidate for rookie-of-the-year was Japanese driver Yuichi Oyama (above), who over the winter bought the entire contents of Robert Reehl's trailer. Oyama ran the Rick Cassell/Robert Reehl-tuned dragster to a 4.802/295 on Saturday and a 4.807/302.28 on Sunday which might make him the quickest and fastest Japanese driver in drag racing history. Oyama competed in a couple of IHRA events and had raced in Japan.

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