The many visiting Mopar officials for that company’s premier annual drag racing event attraction (28th Mopar Mile-High Nationals) were left grinning ear-to-ear following a spectacular event version that included some dramatic wins by marquee team drivers.

The Tennessee-based father and son equation of Roy and Allen Johnson enjoyed their finest hour yet in NHRA drag racing when they scored in Pro Stock eliminator with their factory backed and Mopar-sponsored Dodge Stratus. “AJ” turned back a rather sensational bid from Valvoline-sponsored Chevy Colbalt driver Ron Krisher in the final round. Johnson left first with a .018 RT and when Krisher’s Chevy went into tireshake – the celebration was on.

Johnson skipped to a winning time of 7.132 secs at 192.47 mph to earn his 5th career NHRA national event title. Johnson’s win came from the pole when he and his Mopar-racing teammate Richie Stevens qualified 1-2 with runs of 7.032 (low ET) and 7.035 secs respectively.

Allen Johnson’s victory also included round wins Greg Stanfield, Greg Anderson and Warren Johnson.

Dodge Charger Funny Car driver Jack Beckman added to the Mopar brand excitement at the event as he rolled to a very convincing win driving his Don Schumacher-owned and Mail Terminal Services machine. Beckman defeated overall NHRA POWERade points leader Ron Capps in the all Mopar final round. Both drivers left as one however Beckman’s Todd Okuhara-tuned car took over at half track to win the 4.932 secs 312.86 mph to 5.001 secs 307.86 mph affair.

For Beckman – the victory was the 2nd of his career and it solidified his current 7th place standing in the ferocious 2007 NHRA POWERade points chase.

Beckman, who qualified 2nd at 4.862 secs beat Tommy Johnson Jr., and Jeff Arend in rounds one and two before benefiting from a surprising red-light foul start by John Force in the semi final round.

Capps’ R/UP placing included round wins over Del Worsham, Jerry Toliver and Scott Kalitta.

FC qualifying included some wildness when in separate and very similar incidents both Tony Bartone and Jerry Toliver ended up in the top end sand trap and on their sides. Both teams made repairs to return for Sunday’s final eliminations.

FC class racing featured a special one-time appearance for a spectacularly gold and black painted Dodge Charger in tribute to Gary Scelzi who announced he will be leaving the class come season’s end. Scelzi qualified the great-looking machine 11th, but lost out to a resurgent John Force in round one.

Top Fuel racing featured a truly exciting victory by points leader Rod Fuller who won for the 2nd time this season driving the David Powers-owned and Wagner CAT-sponsored dragster. Fuller defeated his teammate Whit Bazemore in the final winning a come-from-behind 4.683 secs 312.93 mph to 4.770 secs 308.35 decision. Reportedly, the two team members exchanged some words at the top end following the race.

The win was just the latest installment for Fuller’s crew chief, Canadian Rob Flynn who choreographed the victory. Using “Canadian Power” Flynn/Fuller charged by Morgan Lucas, Hillary Will and Larry Dixon with progressively quicker runs on the very difficult and heated Bandimere Speedway racing surface.

TF racing at Denver featured a pretty quick field with a bump spot of 4.886 secs. Local native Melanie Troxel paced the field with a near track record run of 4.610 secs (low ET) but that stout effort was snuffed out in round one by Utah’s Mike Strasburg who beat her in a tire-smoking duel.

Matt Smith increased his overall placing in POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle points when he won for the 2nd time this season aboard the Torco/Skull Gear S&S Buell.

Smith turned back the U.S. Army-sponsored Suzuki driven by Angelle Sampey in the final when Angelle went -.047 red. Smith rolled to a winning 7.400 secs at 177.81 mph. His victory came from the pole after he paced the PSM program with a run of 7.347 secs.

Sportsman drag racing was highlighted by yet another major victory for the Mopar brand when Nebraska’s David Bogner scored an impressive win in Super Stock over a star-studded field. Bogner drove his SS/CS ’92 Dodge Daytona past the awesome SS/AM Chevy Colbalt of Ryan McClanahan in the final round.

McClanahan also placed runner-up in Stock eliminator driving a 2002 Firebird, losing out to Gary Stinnett in that final.

Competition eliminator racing produced the event’s most harrowing moment when local driver Rick Schadle lost control and crashed his fan favorite A/A ’53 Studebaker during qualifying. Schadle’s car burst into flames after making a hard impact. Thankfully Rick emerged relatively unscathed however his unique and popular machine was severely damaged.

The Mopar Mile-High Nationals event was kicked off again by another great social affair downtown nearby Golden CO on the Thursday. That Mopar-sponsored Block Party, which has evolved into the most anticipated social affairs in the season, included this year a “worst swimsuit” contest and the “Mopar Rumble on the Rapids” race down a nearby stream for marquee team driver Gary Scelzi, Jack Beckman, Richie Stevens and Allen Johnson. Images from that successful and probably one-time affair can be viewed (at your own risk!) within DragRaceCanada’s event photo gallery.