After Dallas, Scott Palmer figured his season was pretty much over. Drag racing's popular blue-collar nitro racer had just failed to qualify at the Texas NHRA FallNationals, a shortcoming he blames on himself, and after the way his 2023 season ended with a horrific crash and started in 2024, headed home to regroup was not the worst proposition he could face. 

Saturday night after the painful DNQ, Palmer was standing around in his pits with the hard rock tunes blaring and a cocktail in his right hand when a gentleman who didn't mind the music and certainly wasn't bothered by the adult beverage. The two stared at one another and smiled. 

Twenty minutes later, at Brogdon's urging, Palmer was planning to race the final two events on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. He is now entered for the NHRA Nevada Nationals in Las Vegas and the NHRA Finals in Pomona, Ca.

Loud music and cocktails, that's how Palmer and Brogdon, the former Pro Stock racer turned Competition Eliminator Pied Piper, built a friendship. 

"It's probably been five years ago now, and we ended up, we were at Houston pitted back door to back door and we had our music up loud and we were having a few cocktails late at night," Palmer recalled. "I walked over there to apologize to him 'cause our music was up, and we were still up. I saw him sitting out there, and that's when I realized we could possibly be brothers because he did not have a problem with it. We ended up moving over there and having a few cocktails with him. That's exactly how I met him, which was awesome."

Who knew Brogdon, a dyed-in-the-wool doorslammer drag racer, was such a Top Fuel fan?

"I'm a Scott Palmer fan," Brogdon clarified. I like Comp Eliminator better, but I just happen to like Scott Palmer. "When I see Scott Palmer, I see a man out there doing everything humanly impossible, trying to live his dream, and that means a lot to me. The effort that man puts out with such limited resources is very impressive. Most people, let's put it that way, wouldn't even think about it without having the big time budgets like everybody else. But the guy loves it so much; it's his passion, and I really admire him for that. I'm glad to be a part of it even though it's just a couple of races."

Palmer's primary sponsor is the Professional Bull Riders Association [PBR], but for the next two races, RoofTec, Brogdon's successful roofing enterprise, will share top billing. 

"Because of my crash [August 2023], I got such a late start," Palmer explained. "There was just not a lot of need to go to those races; it's not like you're going to do anything for points or whatever. I was just trying to get back out there and get the swing of it. My driving, I had a few issues at Dallas driving just from not being in the car for a while."

Palmer said it was Brogdon who called him during his recuperation from injuries suffered while racing his unique nitro-burning Studebaker at Mid-America Raceway. 

Drag Racing Association of Women [DRAW] was the glue that brought the two even closer together, as it was the charitable organization that helps injured racers, that also reached out to Palmer during his incident. Brogdon is a significant contributor to DRAW and as fate would have it, he was returning to his pits at the Texas Motorplex after the group's popular auction, when he stopped by Palmer's pits. 

The meeting in Dallas was the first time the two had seen one another since Palmer's crash. 

As much as Brogdon is a fan of Palmer, the mutual admiration train runs both ways. 

"Rodger is probably the most unselfish guy who's worked his whole life to get what he's got, and look at what he's done for Comp Eliminator," Palmer explained. "Nobody would've done that. Comp Eliminator is a sport now that the average fan follows, and I truly believe that's because of Rodger and what he's done. I love Pro Stock. I'm a big Pro Stock fan, from Bob Glidden to Rickie Smith. When Rodger ran pro stock, I always was a fan. I had no idea who he was. I didn't even know him, but he always spoke his mind, and you always knew where you stood with him. He put it out there what he thought. That's the kind of people I like."

Palmer said he would love to run a Comp car one day, describing himself as a drag racing dork. Even more so, he'd love to give Brogdon the chance to drive a fuel car, much like he did with Rickie Smith. 

"I've always thought about driving one, so I'll just hang out with Palmer a little bit," Brogdon admitted. "I really like the guy and his team over there and their effort to try to compete at such a high level without the money like all the big boys. So I just thought I'd help them out a little bit and see where it goes from there."