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.

Allen Johnson raced to his first Pro Stock victory of the season and his third win in the last four years at Bandimere Speedway to finish off a successful weekend for his team Sunday at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.

Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event near Denver.

Johnson took his eighth career Pro Stock win from the No. 1 qualifying position when he outran Jeg Coughlin in the final round. Johnson powered his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger to a 6.974 second run at 198.26 mph to finish in front of Coughlin, whose JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt slowed at mid-track and posted a 7.858 at 135.09.

It's time to head west for the Super Chevy Show.

The national touring series will conclude its 30th anniversary season with two of its final four races out west, the first scheduled for Friday, Aug. 20-Sunday, Aug. 22 at Bandimere Speedway near Denver, Colo. Then, following events in Houston and Bristol, Tenn. the season concludes at Firebird International Raceway near Phoenix on Friday, Oct. 22-Sunday, Oct. 24.

"We've been involved with Super Chevy Show for years," said racing personality Lucky Hudson, who will be at both events as a racer and sponsor, representing Currie Enterprises, with manufactures high-performance rearends. "There's a lot of excitement for the series with the new owners. We're a West-based company, so these two events are very important to us and our customers."

Extreme was the word for the weekend at the ADRL Texas Drags: Extreme racing, extreme conditions, and, for John Montecalvo and team, extremely good outcomes. Montecalvo went two for two in the Texas double-header, and after winning the last completed ADRL event in Martin, Mich. Montecalvo is on a three race winning streak. Such success has now given him the points lead in Extreme Pro Stock.

In the first race of the weekend, Monte qualified third with a 4.074 at 178.50. From there he consistently stole his way through the rounds. Richard Penland was a no-show in round one. Then Monte took out Cale Aronson and heavy hitter Brian Gahm to line up against Elijah Morton for the final. Elijah took a stab at the tree and turned on the red light, giving Montecalvo the easy win, although Monte’s .008 light and 4.132 (low ET of eliminations) made him nearly unstoppable anyway.