The next time you see Jason Scruggs at an ADRL event he’ll have a new car.

Yesterday at Houston Raceway Park, the former two-time Pro Extreme world champ crashed his ’68 Camaro in third-round qualifying for today’s inaugural ADRL Texas Drags. Scruggs was uninjured in the accident, but the car now needs some front chassis and suspension work, a new right, front wheel and a new carbon-fiber body.

“Other than that, it’s really not that bad,” he says of the car that for a full year held sway as the ADRL’s quickest and fastest entry and was a race winner as recently as three months ago in Georgia. The damage is severe enough, however, that Scruggs plans to debut a brand-new, Garret Race Cars-built ’63 Corvette, draped in that familiar Scruggs red, at the ADRL’s next outing in just two weeks (Aug. 6-7), at Gateway International Raceway, near St. Louis.

Something somewhat unexpected happened at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals today – cooler temperatures resulted in a surprisingly good racing surface.

This is what drag racing’s all about – the fans. Cory McClenathan hangs with the Stainbrook kids from Gillette, Wyoming.

Had it been as warm as it was Friday and Saturday it’s likely that the mostly full grandstands would have been showered with smoke and rubber particles, but most of the fuel cars made good, straight, smoke-free runs.  That had the fans cheering for more, and with good reason.  The professional racers on the Full Throttle Series tour are all about the fans, believe it or not, and while they want to win, putting on a good show remains paramount in their minds.  And they absolutely put on a good show here.

On July 14, the NHRA mandated that rear carbon fiber brake rotors and pads will be mandatory for Top Fuel Dragsters, Funny Cars, Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars effective July 21, 2010 and front carbon fiber brakes will be mandatory for Funny Cars and Top Alcohol Funny Cars by Aug. 11.

The amendments to the NHRA rulebook come on the heels of the death of Mark Niver, a Top Alcohol Dragster driver, July 11 during eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash. Light confirmed Niver was using steel brakes in his dragster during his fatal run.

Last year, first round ignition problems probably would have sidelined Robert Hight and company. This is not last year.

This year, Hight and the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang crew proved their mettle as they bounced back from ignition problems to win the 31st annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway just outside of Denver, Co.

Victory was only a tad bittersweet, as Hight recorded his 18th career win, this  one over car owner and father-in-law John Force, tying him on the all-time list with Ed “the Ace” McCulloch and Mark Oswald. While Hight celebrated, Force flip flopped between satisfaction and disappointment.

Winning NHRA national events is nothing new to Doug Kalitta.

However, he did admit his 32nd career Top Fuel win Sunday at the Mile-High Nationals was more significant than most of his victories.

Kalitta clocked a 3.963-second time at 308.35 mph to defeat Brandon Bernstein in the finals. Bernstein came in at 4.003-seconds at 297.35 mph.

When Jeff Arend came to the Mile-High Nationals this weekend, he had hopes of moving up in the Funny Car point standings.

That didn’t happen.

Arend lost in the first round to Cruz Pedregon and he remains in 11th place in the point standings with one race left – the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Aug. 12-15 in Brainerd, Minn. – before the Countdown to 1 begins.

Tony Pedregon, who is 10th place in the points, also lost in the first round to Ron Capps.

With the death of Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver July 11 during eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash., the effectiveness of sand traps and run-off areas has been scrutinized by NHRA owners, drivers and crew chiefs.

On Sunday, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Redell Harris went into the gravel trap after his first-round loss to Michael Phillips. Phillips clocked a 7.310 seconds and Harris had a 7.536-second effort at 175.78 seconds.

Harris was uninjured, but had plenty of excitement at the end of his ride.

“I had no rear brakes,” Harris said. “We loosened the rear brakes up to try and get more wheel speed. That’s why we loosened the brakes up, and by the time I realized the brakes were real loose, I was so close to the end, I shut my motor off, so we wouldn’t hurt the motor and get rocks in the motor. I went about five feet into the sand (traps), and the bike just sunk down. I’m glad the trap was there and we have an uphill climb here, so that slows you down a lot. I probably was going 60 mph when I went into the traps. Had I seen I didn’t have brakes and touched my brakes a little earlier, I probably could have dragged the motor out and get it stopped. But, I didn’t realized I had no rear brakes.”

If Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Andrew Hines has a home-field advantage at any NHRA track, it’s at Bandimere Speedway.

Hines spent 10 years in Trinidad, Colo., about three hours south of Morrison, where the track is located. Byron Hines, Andrew’s dad, ran the Freedom Motorsports Pro Stock Motorcycle shop in Trinidad, before the family moved to Brownsburg, Ind., several years ago.

Sunday, Hines concluded his weekend in the winner’s circle by defeating Karen Stoffer in the finals at the Mile-High Nationals.

Hines clocked a 7.342-second run at 178.02 mph to get past Karen Stoffer’s 7.402-second effort.

For the second week in a row, Michael Phillips beat Matt Smith in the second round.

Phillips clocked a 7.289-second run on his Racers Edge Suzuki, to beat Smith’s 7.344-second run during the second round of the NHRA Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co. The race was not aired in the ESPN2 coverage on Sunday.

Alan Johnson has literally been knock, knock, knocking on the door of victory in the NHRA Pro Stock division over the past few months. For whatever reason, the door just wouldn't open.

It's open now.

Johnson bored his way through a stout Pro Stock field going from the number one qualifying spot to the winner's circle after beating Jeg Coughlin in the final round of the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

Coughlin had issues during the final round run, but Johnson was confident he had Coughlin covered all the way as he powered down the track to his first win of year.