The NHRA Full Throttle tour takes an uphill tack to Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado for the 32nd Mopar Mile-High Nationals. The drag strip west of Denver features side-by-side 1000 foot and quarter-mile racing at mountain altitude of 5860 feet. Qualifying can be viewed at 7:00 p.m. on July 23 and eliminations at 7:00 p.m on July 24 on ESPN2.
The mile-high effect will be significant during the race weekend. As altitude increases the air gets thinner or less dense. With a lower density engines won't make as much horsepower as air at sea level. Downforce is also lacking at this altitude and that aerodynamic reality creates further headaches for crew members preparing their racing machines.
Engines aren’t alone to the effects of altitude.
The human body according to Wikipedia functions best at sea level also and must adapt to higher elevations. With time the human body acclimates to high altitudes, but at extreme altitudes above 18,000 feet the lack of oxygen can cause mountain sickness.
The mile-high Bandimere track is not extreme elevation, the type of thin air that opposes human function, but teams can be expected to be challenged by lacking horsepower and weaken downforce.
As for stiff competition, the good part is--it’s the same air for all.
Points leaders Del Worsham in Top Fuel (5 wins), Mike Neff in Funny Car (4wins), Jason Line in Pro Stock Car (3 wins) and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle (2 wins) bring their championship campaigns to the high country. Worham, Neff, Line commented on Bandimere. Karen Stoffer trails Krawiec by only six points in PSM and shared her thoughts as well.
Del Worsham (Top Fuel Dragster)
“Bandimere Speedway is a great place to race,” Worsham said. “I love going there, and I love the night qualifying session there. The fans there are very loyal, and the Bandimere family does such a great job. I think we all really like going there, and what always makes it interesting is that anything can happen at Bandimere Speedway.
Mike Neff (Funny Car)
“It comes down to preparation by the team,” Neff said. “All the guys that are changing parts, building motors, they are doing everything exactly the same (every time). There are no variables. That is a key thing for a tuner. They are so precise in what they do.”
Jason Line (Pro Stock Car)
“Our Summit Racing Pontiac will require a ton of changes to run fast in Denver, starting with the motor, where we’ll lose about 30% of our horsepower in the thin air,” Line said. “Ideally, you’d build one specifically for those conditions, but considering we only race there once a year, it really isn’t cost-effective, so we’ll be concentrating on making changes to the tune-up, adapting to the conditions as best as possible.”
Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle)
"Denver's a great track," Stoffer said. "We've had our ups and downs there. It's getting closer to the West Coast, so we'll have a lot of West Coast people out there. It's going to be fun. It's always a great treat to go to Mile High Stadium.
"Conditions in Denver can be hot and humid and sticky like it was in Chicago. Plus, you have the altitude that compounds the issues. That's one of the reasons why we run a different motor there. Either way, we're ready."
FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained from official release materials provided by NHRA.
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