Emotions were running high for the Bandimere family as it said goodbye to the final Mile-High Nationals Sunday at the speedway that has borne its name for 65 years.
Back on April 21, NHRA and the Bandimere family jointly announced the 2023 Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway would be the last NHRA national event at the historic track.
First opened in 1958, the Bandimere family has agreed to sell the current property and land, with the 2023 racing season marking the end of drag racing at the facility.
“It’s bittersweet,” said John Bandimere Jr., the track president. “At chapel (Sunday morning), it was really emotional. The thing is, I keep thinking to myself, if you could just take this place and pick it up where it is and put around 300 or 400 acres around it for parking would be awesome, but you can’t do that. It is now a matter of just asking the Lord to find us another location if that is what he wants us to do, and that’s what we are working on.”
In 1958, John Bandimere Sr. purchased a parcel of land on the west side of Denver nestled up against the Hogback leading up to the Rocky Mountains.
He and his family began constructing a small but efficient drag strip to be used to augment their auto parts business. It also fulfilled John Sr.’s dream to provide a safe environment for young people to learn about cars and race them off the streets.
Now, 65 years later, the only thing at Bandimere Speedway that has not changed is the facility’s location.
“It is really hard to say goodbye,” John Jr. said. “This is where is I hurt my back trying to make races happen. It has memories. It is where our kids were all with this and my great-grandkids, and to see them all come out here is just awesome.”
Sporty Bandimere echoed his father.
“This is very emotional, very emotional,” Sporty said, fighting back tears. “I didn’t think it would be as hard as it is, but it is. I remember coming out here as a little kid the first time and crawling up into an old, dusty, dirty tower. It seemed like we had to drive for hours to get here, then growing up as a kid and cutting weeds and painting and picking up trash, you know all those things you do when you have a family business, and you’re growing, and gosh that seems like that was just yesterday.
“I remember working alongside my grandpa (John Sr.). My grandpa was always out here, and he always wore blue Dickies shirts and pants, and funny story, he always wore wing-tipped shoes. He would be driving his tractor, and we would be out there working. I think back of how he taught me work ethic. He worked so hard, and you just miss that.”
Tami Bandimere, Sporty’s sister, was trying to control her emotions.
“For our family, we have kind of been preparing ourselves for this,” she said. “Today is emotional, and October will be emotional, but we are so busy right now making sure that our guests are having a remarkable time and having fun and getting through the 65th anniversary.
“I do find when someone talks about my grandparents, that is hard for me because I think to myself, they would be really proud of us, really proud of us. For me, we just carried on the legacy they started.”
Since 1958, Bandimere Speedway has had the following:
500,000-plus racers and fans on average per year
1,700-plus registered racers.
100-plus events from April to October
25-plus different racing categories
35th-year partnership with Dodge
43rd running of the Mile-High Nationals
$15,000,00 economic impact from the national event
The way Bandimere Speedway looks now is a far cry from what it looked like back in the mid-1980s.
“After my father went to heaven in 1986, that’s when NHRA told us we needed to do something with it or else. We said, ‘Fine, come in and show us what you want done.’ They did, and we started working on it and changed a lot of stuff and spent a lot of money. But you know what? It takes money to make money. I think the one problem in this racing business is that so many times, people try to limp by. You can’t do that if you want fans. If you want people to come, you have to make sure you spend a little bit of money and make sure you have the right stuff. This place has all the right equipment.”
The most significant improvement to Bandimere Speedway was a $4 million renovation in 1988, and that year the Mile-High Nationals were not held.
“I think the memory of what it took to put it all together,” John Jr. said. “There were a lot of financial issues that we had to go through. You think back on those things, and you are just thankful to Lord that he brought us through all that. Sometimes it is the fruit of your labor. You have not sometimes because you ask not. I’m just so thankful for that.”
Sporty pointed out why he believes Bandimere Speedway is so special.
“The reason this track is special is that is not ours,” Sporty said. “We have always said this is God’s business, property, and track, and he has just allowed us to be able to be fortunate enough to be able to run it, play with it, and be a part of it. At the end of the day, God gives us things, and God takes things away. Ultimately, we are just thankful we had the opportunity.
“It is such a unique facility. This was not the original location that this track was supposed to be built in. It was supposed to be built farther up north, in the Arvada area, but because when he started moving stuff in, the farmers were kind of complaining, not profusely, so the commissioners helped him find this piece of property. That’s why we are just praying, ‘Lord, just open the doors for whatever that new chapter is.”
John Jr. said his family isn’t. ready to walk away from the racing business.
“My family, we have a team of seven of us who are the executive team, and they feel it is important to keep the sport alive here in Colorado,” John Jr. said. “So, we have been very proactive looking for a new location, but we just have to make sure this sale is done. Nothing is done until it is done. Once we are done with this and get through the year, we have some pretty good possibilities, and then we will look at them at that point in time.
“We are really probably not going to own it. I think probably someone else will own it, and we will run it. That makes a lot of sense financially. We would definitely want to build it with the right stuff in it, and we would have no problem at all with somebody else owning it.”
The Bandimere family’s passion for the sport is why they are exploring options to continue in drag racing.
“This whole deal is a family,” John Jr. said. “The whole racing community is really tight. They are a tight-knit group, and to keep the family deal going, it is just not my family; it is the whole racing family. I think that I shouldn’t say we owe it to them, but we feel that way. We owe it to that group to try and make sure there’s a place for them to enjoy the sport because this sport is fun. It is fun to do.”
Sporty concurred what his father said about the family’s racing future.
“We’re still in the mix,” he said. “We have been looking at lots of property, and we have been talking to different jurisdictions, whether it is counties or cities and that type of thing. Really find out what’s available and who would want us to do that type of thing. Ultimately, whether we own it or just run it, it really doesn’t matter; we just want a place for the Colorado racers and fans to be able to have a place to go. This is such a huge family thing, and we want to keep that together.”
Tami also is optimistic about her family’s racing endeavors moving forward.
“This is the end for us here, but it is not the end; we will still continue,” she said.
