Aaron Stanfield received his introduction to Thunder Mountain July 8.

The versatile race car driver was making test laps in Factory Stock Showdown 2020 COPO Camaros at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., just outside of Denver.

“I thought things went pretty good,” said Stanfield, 26. “I drove my car, Stephen Bell’s car and David Janac’s car. I made seven runs I think total. I drove all three cars so we could test them out and get them dialed in and get a feel for what they like up here. I have never raced here. I came here (to Bandimere Speedway) many years ago in Pro Stock with my dad, but I have never raced here. This will be my first time.”

Greg, Aaron’s father, was an NHRA Pro Stock driver back in the day, winning three national events and finishing a career-best second in the point standings in 2010. 

Aaron is third in Pro Stock points standings in NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series driving a Camaro for Richard Freeman’s Elite Motorsports team. He has one win in Epping, N.H., and a runner-up finish in Las Vegas.

However, Aaron will only be competing at Bandimere Speedway in the Factory Stock Showdown class at the Mile-High Nationals, July 16-18. 

After years of Pro Stock cars competing at the Mile-High Nationals, the decision was made by NHRA in 2019 that the Pro Stock class would not be competing at the 2020 Mile-High Nationals. That decision was carried over into 2021 after the Mile-High Nationals were canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is a beautiful track and the Bandimere family really takes care of the track and takes pride in it,” Aaron said. “It is different and tricky just being up in this kind of elevation and these conditions.”

The altitude of Bandimere Speedway is 5,800 feet, easily the highest elevation of any track on NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series. 

“The good thing about these COPO Camaros is that we are having to pull out so much power out at the beginning of the run we can make up for it at the beginning, but after about 300 feet you can definitely tell that it is down on power for sure. You could tell a big difference. I felt like it wasn’t going anywhere. I was thinking do I have all eight spark plugs in. It was definitely different, but we felt like we did pretty good out here. We have to get everybody in the same sandbox and same times and see how we shake out.”  

Stanfield is the reigning Factory Stock Showdown world champion, and he leads the Factory Showdown points standings with 267 points. David Barton (226 points), Jesse Alexandra (178) and Janac (175) round out the top four. Bell is 14th in the standings.

“The goal is to win another Factory Stock Showdown championship,” Stanfield said. “My dad has had many years of experience of running out here at Bandimere Speedway, so we have a good data bank to pick his brain. That is a helpful thing. Everything about the tune-up here is totally different.”

A year ago, Stanfield won the Factory Stock Showdown championship with five wins in six races in the Janac Brothers COPO Camaro. This season he won the season-opening race in Gainesville, Fla., was runner-up at the next stop in Houston. He lost in the second round in the last event in Norwalk, Ohio, June 27.