A special time of year is coming up for drag racing fans, as the Mopar Mile High Nationals will be roaring down the track July 24-26 at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison. The Mile High Nationals are the 14th stop on the National Hot Rod Association’s 24-race season.

“I wait for this weekend all year long,” Tony Gonzales said. “I love drag racing. I followed the career of “Big Daddy” Don Gartlis when I was growing up. And I even competed in the sportsman classes for a couple years. But now I am resigned to being a spectator, and the Mile High Nationals is the ultimate spectator weekend for drag racing fans.”

The Arapahoe County resident said he has tickets so he and his two grandsons can go to the races all three days.

All week, teams have been arriving at Bandimere Speedway. The National Hot Rod Association professional teams come in the huge tractor-trailer rigs, usually emblazoned with team logos and artwork depicting the car. At the same time, the local and regional racers arrive with smaller outfits, so by the time competition begins July 13, the pit areas will be packed with hundreds of rigs and cars.

The local and regional drivers will be on hand to compete, but the major attraction at the Mile High Nationals is the so-called pro classes — top fuel dragster, top fuel funny car, pro stock and pro stock motorcycle. That means well-known professional drivers like John Force and Tony Schumacher will be taking part in the only national drag racing event held in the local area.

There will also be many drivers who live in the local area or used to live in the local area in the competition. In the pro classes, former Littleton resident Tommy Johnson Jr. will be at the wheel of the Make A Wish Funny Car while Deric Kramer of Parker and V Gaines are scheduled to compete in the pro stock races.

In the sportsman classes, John Abbott Jr., son of 1981 top fuel national champion John Abbott, plans to be at the event. The Elizabeth resident will be competing in the top fuel division. Also, Centennial resident J.J. Herber, currently leading in points in the effort to defend his top sportsman NHRA Division 5 title, is expected to be looking to add points with wins at the Mile High Nationals.

National drag racing events are special because a ticket includes a pit pass that allows fans to watch mechanics prepare the cars for action and even get a chance to talk and get autographs from their favorite drivers. It equates to allowing football fans access to a pro football team’s locker room.

Ashley Powell said she tries to go to the Mile High Nationals every year.

“Our family spent a lot of time at Bandimere because Dad and both my brothers came out to compete almost every week,” the Lakewood-area resident said. “I never drove but I love the sport, so our whole family gets out to a day or two during the Mile High Nationals.”

The Mile High Nationals action and fan interest pick up on the Friday and Saturday of the three-day event, when the pro-class entries complete qualifications runs at 5 and 8 p.m. July 24 and at 3 and 6 p.m. July 25. The eliminations begin at noon July 26, a Sunday and the final day of the event.

Drag racing is all about harnessing horsepower and torque to produce as much speed as quickly as possible from a standing start to the finish line a quarter-mile away. The top fuel dragsters are at the top of the list of achieving those goals. The powerful 8,000-horsepower engine is behind the driver in the long, low-slung dragster. The engine idles at about 2,100 revolutions per minute and gulps fuel at about 1.2 gallons per second to generate the power needed to accelerate the car from the starting line to 100 mph in about one second and complete the quarter-mile run in 4.5 seconds. The car can be traveling more than 320 mph as it crosses the finish line.

For information on tickets or the Mile High Nationals schedule, call Bandimere Speedway at 303-697-6001 or visit the website at www.bandimere.com.