Greg Carrillo, a Top Fuel owner/driver, is ready to roll into the 2023 season.

Carrillo will make his 2023 debut at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals on July 14-16 at Bandimere Speedway in his Top Fuel dragster, sponsored by Santiago’s Mexican Restaurant, a franchise based in Colorado.

“It’s really been a great thing to have their name on our car, because the people really jump up for the Santiago’s car,” Carrillo said. 

Santiago’s Green Chile is sold at King Soopers, Safeway, and Walmart across Colorado. Carrillo’s team is based in Fort Morgan, Colo., 90 minutes from Bandimere Speedway, which has an elevation of 5,800 feet.

The debut will be bittersweet for Carrillo since the longtime racer at Bandimere Speedway – like all the racers – will be competing at the final race at the Morrison, Colo., facility outside of Denver.

“It was going to be our first one (this season) even though it was going to be the last one here,” Carrillo said. “So, we wanted to load up; you know what I mean? Think about it’s the most beautiful track on earth. I don’t care what kind of racing you race. It’s the most beautiful track there is and if you’re a tuner, it’s the most challenging track there is. I’m going to miss all those challenges, but I really don’t look at it like... I look at it as being fortunate to race there in my career. I mean, there’s going to be people who never raced at that track in their life now.”

On April 21, NHRA and the Bandimere family announced that the 2023 Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals on at Bandimere Speedway would be the last NHRA national event at the historic track.
First opened in 1958, the Bandimere family has agreed to sell the current property and land, with the 2023 racing season marking the end of drag racing at the facility.

Although Carrillo competes on a very limited schedule, he has had some highlights at the Mile-High Nationals.

“Last year we qualified second on Friday night,” Carrillo said. “Saturday night we ended up fifth, but we dropped two holes at 700 feet, or we could have been right there at the top. We lost first round. I had lane choice over (Shawn) Langdon. I just smoked the tires because we missed a day run and we were the first pair out.”

At the 2021 Mile-High Nationals, Carrillo qualified No. 6 and then upset three-time world champion Antron Brown, clocking a 3.860-second time to upend Brown’s 4.046-second effort.

Carrillo advanced to face Mike Salinas, where he had a solid 3.907-second run, just losing to Salinas’ 3.866-second performance.

“We had a little hiccup in the pits; I beat Antron Brown first round, and then I was racing Salinas, and we had a little problem in the pit area and couldn’t warm the car up,” Carrillo said. “So, we dropped the hole at the hit, and I almost held him off.”

Carrillo will have veteran Glenn Mikres tuning his dragster, and the team will also receive guidance from Aaron Brooks.

In the offseason, Brooks and Todd Okuhara were hired as co-crew chiefs for Bob Tasca III’s nitro Funny Car.

“Glenn is a veteran guy, and Aaron has been helping us the last few years, and he sets up the direction we go,” Carrillo said.

 

​​Carrillo has had plenty of success over the years at Bandimere Speedway. He won the Mile-High Nationals, a divisional race, and the Night of Fire and Thunder at the facility while driving Super Comp and Super Gas cars. Carrillo was the 1990 Mile-High Nationals champ in Super Comp. 

“The thing is, those guys (at Bandimere Speedway) have worked so hard over the years,” Carrillo said. “Oh, you’re just trying to keep things going on, and it’s tough, and you get tired. The thing is, the city is encroaching on them, and then to build a new track, oh, my God, everything costs ten times more money.

“What needs to happen is if the NHRA could secure more money, you know like F1 does.”

Carrillo’s focus is capturing a victory at the final Mile-High Nationals.

“I want to win one in Top Fuel there, and I can say I basically did it all,” he said. “But the thing is, there’s some tough competition. These guys run Super Comp numbers every time. Everybody’s on the tree, and everybody’s running strong. For us, as an independent team that doesn’t run very often, I think we run pretty good.

“We’re never going to roll that car out unless we can go full throttle. It’s a Colorado car. We could win for everybody in Colorado, and for Santiago’s, that would be the ultimate.”

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