TOP FUEL DRIVER GREG CARRILLO EXCITED ABOUT LONG-AWAITED RETURN TO MILE-HIGH NATIONALS
Greg Carrillo has raced countless events at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., over the years. It is his home track, just 90 minutes from his race shop headquarters in Fort Morgan, Colo.
However, Carrillo didn’t get to compete at Thunder Mountain, as it is known, in 2020 because the race was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mile-High Nationals are back this year – July 16-18 – and Carrillo is thrilled to be competing there in his Top Fuel dragster.
“We are excited to be back at Bandimere Speedway,” said Carrillo, who will be competing in his second race of the season. “We’re hoping the altitude will work to our advantage, especially since they only race there once a year. We don’t want to go to races unless we can improve every time out. We want to go there and improve and keep putting down good laps and then be a headache for racers. Plus, if we leave parts at the shop, we can send somebody after them.”
The altitude of Bandimere Speedway is 5,800 feet, easily the highest on NHRA’s Camping World Series.
At the Mile-High Nationals, Carrillo said his dragster once again will be sponsored by Santiago's Mexican Restaurants, which has more than two dozen restaurants in the Denver Metro area. Factory Motor Parts and Gates will be associate sponsors on the dragster.
“The cool thing is we have Santiago’s sponsoring us,” Carrillo said.
Veteran tuner Aaron Brooks will head up Carrillo’s crew.
In the past, Carrillo has had success at Bandimere Speedway, just outside of Denver.
Carrillo won the Mile-High Nationals in Super Comp and he also won races at the track in Super Gas and several NHRA Division V races.
“Bandimere Speedway is not only our hometown track, but it also is the most beautiful track on the tour,” Carrillo said. “Racing on the mountain is hard to do.”
Carrillo made his 2021 season debut at the Denso Spark Plugs Four Wide Nationals in Las Vegas, April 16-18. He qualified a career-best 10th with a 3.827-second lap at 317.49 mph.
“We had not raced in about two years, and we came off the trailer with the 3.827-second run,” Carrillo said. “We almost skipped over the 80s and went in the 70s in Vegas. We want to keep the trend up. All we have done since Vegas is switched over some parts and pieces as we try to improve every day.”
Carrillo lost in his four-competitor quad at The Strip in Vegas, finishing third with a 4.107-second pass behind Steve Torrence and Leah Pruett.
In 2020, Carrillo didn’t compete in any races because of COVID-19, and in 2019, Carrillo competed in the one national event at Bandimere Speedway.
Carrillo qualified No. 11 with a 4.125-second run and lost in round one to Antron Brown of Don Schumacher Racing. Brown clocked a 3.867-second time at 321.27 mph to edge Carrillo’s 3.920-second lap at 275.62 mph on July 21.
Carrillo said he also plans to compete at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis (Sept. 1-5).
“After Indy, then we will play it by ear towards the end of the year,” Carrillo said.