You only get one chance to make a first impression, and for Monty Bogan, Jr., a former IHRA world champion, his first NHRA Division 4 event will always be a memorable one.

Bogan, who made the trek from Jonesville, SC, headlined the final day of the NHRA Southwest division season opener with a double-up victory at No Problem Raceway, taking home both Competition Eliminator and Super Stock titles.

"We had a great weekend down here," Bogan said. "We came down here with the intention of competing for the Rooftec Competition Eliminator Bonus. We ended up winning that. We ended up winning Super Stock."

No sooner had Bogan got the words out of his mouth did he pause and, as his eyes welled with tears, paid tribute to his father, who passed away almost a year ago.

"I'm pretty sure I had somebody looking down today," Bogan said. "He'd been sitting right here with a big smile."

Bogan's Competition Eliminator triumph came in a battle of sportsman drag racing titans.

Bogan, knowing opponent Jeff Taylor would need to tiptoe around the B/Altered Automatic index, grabbed a tenth out of the gate and never looked back, grabbing the win with an 8.919 elapsed time at 151.51. Taylor was right there with a 7.082. The victory puts Bogan in the early lead of the Rooftec Competition Eliminator Bonus fund points. 

"When you got Jeff Taylor, it doesn't get much bigger than that," Bogan said.

Like in Competition Eliminator, Bogan had the better reaction time in Super Stock final, but at the stripe, Harvey Emmons was .001 of a second too quick. Bogan was .019 on the right side of the dial.

"In my mind, Super Stock is one of the toughest classes out here, and Comp's just right there with it," Bogan said. "I'm just overwhelmed and excited."

Parker Devore made the most of his ten-and-a-half hour drive from Blanchard, Oklahoma, worthwhile as he picked up his sixth career NHRA divisional victory by beating David Latino in the final round.

"We had a long offseason trying to improve this thing, and I think it really helped," Devore said. "My dad [Mike Devore] worked his butt off on it, and the car was pretty nasty today."

Jim Thorp picked up the Top Sportsman title while Dave Billis was the king of the dragsters in Top Dragster. Texan Mark Powers won Super Comp; John Salter claimed Super Gas, and Lamar Stevenson rounded out the winners by taking home the Super Street title.