The 49th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, set to kick off next weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park, continues a prestigious tradition that drag racing fans from around the world have been looking forward to with unmatched enthusiasm year after year. The event's nickname, "The Big Go," is hardly an exaggeration. As six-time POWERade Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson has said, "You could almost go without winning a championship and still have a complete racing resume if you've got a U.S. Nationals victory on it."

Each year, prior to the event, numerous teams make an early entrance at IRP for two days of testing, and this past Tuesday and Wednesday, literally every marquee team in the NHRA's four professional categories hit the race track. For some, the results were encouraging. For others, the results were disheartening.

On the upside, 1999 Top Fuel champion and defending Indy winner Tony Schumacher posted the quickest run of the two-day trials on Tuesday with his 4.519/324.20 pass. Kenny Bernstein, a three-time U.S. Nationals champ, had the second-best run of the day with his 4.622/319.37.

On Wednesday, reigning Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon -- another two-time U.S. Nationals winner -- topped the charts with his run of 4.603/307.86 while Bernstein was almost as quick and much faster with his pass of 4.604/322.73.

Quickest in Funny Car over the two days of testing was Del Worsham, who scored a 4.783/316.45 on Tuesday with Gary Densham, the winner in Brainerd, Minn., last weekend, winding up second-quickest overall with his 4.807/320.43 shot on Wednesday.

Pro Stock testing was highlighted by current points leader and Brainerd winner Greg Anderson's 6.817/202.64 on Wednesday -- a run which, had it been official, would have set both ends of the IRP track record.

Rookie Sean Conner was quickest overall in Pro Stock Bike with his Tuesday run of 7.251/181.84.

Richie "The Kid" Stevens ended the good news on Tuesday when he crashed and rolled over while making a test run in the Chevy Cavalier owned by Mike Thomas. Stevens was not injured but was extremely disappointed that Thomas' car had been seriously damaged in the mishap.

"It's bad enough to wreck a car but it's even more disturbing when it's someone else's," said Stevens. "His guys say it's repairable and I hope they're right." Stevens had planned to test for Thomas for this weekend's race and possibly drive a second team car for Mark Pawuk.

In other testing news, K.C. "Hollywood" Spurlock, a former national event winner in Funny Car in the 1990s, successfully completed his Top Fuel licensing runs at Indy in the "Carrier Boyz" top fueler with four consecutive runs which met NHRA's performance requirements: 4.715, 4.740, 4.798 and 4.854.

With pre-race testing complete, the teams will now make final preparations for qualifying, hoping to charge their way into the 16-vehicle fields and go on to challenge for the most coveted prize in the sport: a U.S. Nationals trophy.

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN and ESPN.com.