WHAT: The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo

WHEN: Thursday through Dec. 9. The starting times are 6:45 p.m. Nov. 30, Dec. 1, Dec. 4, Dec. 5, Dec. 6, Dec. 7 and Dec. 8, and at 5:45 p.m. Dec. 2, Dec. 3 and Dec. 9.

WHERE: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas

WHY: To decide championships in the various divisions -- bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing, and bull riding.

LEADERS: Going into the National Finals Rodeo opener Thursday, the event leaders are:

Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas, All-Around Standings, $266,096;

Will Lowe, Canyon, Texas, bareback riding, $151,924;

Dean Gorusch, Gering, Neb., steer wrestling, $111,059;

Matt Sherwood (roping with Walt Woodard), team roping header, $93,075; Woodard, (roping with Matt Sherwood), team roping heeler, $96,669. Sherwood is from Queen Creek, Ariz.; Woodard is from Stockton, Calif.;

Cody DeMoss, Heflin, La., saddle bronc riding, $145,544;

Cody Ohl, Hico, Texas, tie-down roping, $165,460;

Brittany Pozzi, Victoria, Texas, barrel racing, $129,392;

Matt Austin, Wills Point, Texas, bull riding, $155,132.

CHALLENGERS: Trevor Brazile (with $123,836 of his earnings coming in tie-down roping) has such a significant lead in the all-around standings, that title race is all but officially over. Joe Beaver, Huntsville, Texas, ($131,626) and Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, Ga. ($126,272) combined have less earnings than Brazile.

Andy Martinez, Pavilion, Wyo., is second in bareback riding with $124,018, with Wes Sullivan, Kaufman, Texas, a distant third with $96,139 ... Shawn Greenfield, Lakeview, Ore., is second in steer wrestling with $88,281; third at $87,991 is Ronnie Fields, Oklahoma City ... In team roping, Texans David Key and Kory Koontz are second with $85,139 and $85,623, respectively.

Chad Ferley, Oelrichs, S.D., with $145,013, is only $531 down in the saddle bronc standings ... Third with $126,132 is Dan Mortensen, Billings, Mont. ... Behind Ohl and Brazile in tie-down roping is Blair Burk, Durant, Okla., with $107,332.

Mary Burger, Pauls Valley, Okla., has $110,655 and Tana Poppino, Big Cabin, Okla, has $74,172 in barrel racing ... Sonny Murphy, Herriman, Utah, is second in bull riding with $129,169, while Wesley Silcox, Payson, Utah, has $109,015.

NEVADANS IN CONTENTION: Paul Jones of Elko is sixth in bareback riding with $74,903 ... Jay Adams, paired with Randon Adams in team roping and hailing from Logandale, has $56,128, ranking the duo 10th.

MISCELLANEOUS: Attendance at the 2005 NFR was 175,513 for 10 performances; the record -- 176,575 -- was established in 2004 ... More than 170,000 have attended every rodeo since 1990, with the exception of 1997 (169,285) and 1995 (169,399) ... The prize money in 2005 was $5,104,424, a NFR record ... It was $4,901,946 in 2004 and $4,809,272 in 2003.

RECORDS: J.D. Yates (15 years, four months old), was the youngest qualifier (1975) ... Everett Shaw was 57 when he qualified in 1965 ... Guy Allen qualified for events in 29 consecutive years (1977-2005) ... Tee Woolman qualified for 41 events from 1985 through 2001 ... Will Lowe, on Big Stone's Chester Dippin Bandit, had a 91-point bareback ride in 2002 ... Jason Jeter totaled 839 points on 10 rides in 2002, a record matched by Cody Jessee in 2003 ... Cody Hancock scored 96 points aboard Diamond G. Rodeo's Mister USA in 2001 bull riding ... The fastest times: 6.5 seconds, tie-down roping, Cody Ohl, 2003 ... 3.0 seconds, steer wrestling, Steve Duhon, 1986, and Bryan Fields, 2001 ... 3.5 seconds, team roping, Clay Tryan/Patrick Smith, 1005 ... 8.4 seconds, steer roping, Scott Snedecor, 2004 ... Earnings by event: Lan LaJeunesse, bareback riding, $99,487 (1999) ... Lee Graves, steer wrestling, $126,412 (2005) ... Clay Tryan/Michael Jones, team roping, $95,101 each (2004) ... Billy Etbauer, saddle bronc, $120,775 (2005) ... Brent Lewis, tie-down roping, $103,585 (2000) ... Blue Stone, bull riding, $112,322 (2001) ... Guy Allen, steer roping, $26,852 (2004).

PAST NFR LOCATIONS: For saddle broncs, bareback, bull riding, tie-down roping and steer wrestling, the sites were Dallas (State Fairgrounds) 1959-1961 ... Los Angeles (Coliseum) 1962-1964 ... Oklahoma City (Norick Arena) 1979-1984 ... Oklahoma City (Myriad Arena) 1979-1984 ... Las Vegas (Thomas & Mack Center) 1985 to present.

Team roping has been held at the same sites as above from 1962 through the present ... Previous locales were Clayton, N.M. (1959), Scottsdale, Ariz. (1960) and Santa Maria, Calif. (1961) ... Steer roping was held at Clayton (1959-1960); Laramie, Wyo, (1961 and 1973-1983); Douglas, Wyo. (1962), Pawhuska, Okla. (1963-1964 and 1971-1972); Vinita, Okla. (1965-1966), McAlester, Okla. (1967-1968); Pecos, Texas (1969-70), and Guthrie, Okla. (1984-2000).