Why Bandimere Speedway Closing Makes NHRA Great John Force So Emotional

• Track-owner Bandimere family is selling the land but planning new, larger facility after just one-year hiatus from NHRA schedule.
• The 155-time winner isn’t keen on trading memories for a sparkling new venue.
• Force says he has grown with the Bandimeres from the days he was ‘a joke’ to becoming an eight-time winner there, 16-time champion.

John Force has eight NHRA Funny Car victories at Denver’s Bandimere Speedway, something he might never have imagined would happen when he first started racing there.

And now that this venue is closing after this 43rd edition of this weekend’s Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals, Force let his emotions spill over Friday night following his provisional No. 2 qualifying performance.

“I was so poor,” he said, sharing that the late John Bandimere Sr. opened him home and allowed him to sleep there because he couldn’t afford a hotel room. “I was a joke.”

Motioning to the grandstands, Force said, “I sat up there with my dad and Bandimere Senior in ’79. They’re gone now . . . but this place is important to us. I’m always excited to come race on the mountain. I’ve been coming to Bandimere Speedway a long time. I have a lot of history here. I’ve accomplished a lot, grown with the Bandimere family. It’s going to be an emotional weekend, saying goodbye to this place.”

The Bandimere family has operated the dragstrip on Thunder Mountain—nestled into the mountain in the Denver suburb of Morrison, Colo.—since 1958. They’re selling the property but plan to build a new, expansive dragstrip nearby. The aim is to welcome the NHRA back to the Denver market as early as 2025. John Bandimere Jr. said Wednesday that the current racetrack won’t become the site of a housing development but rather some sort of automotive-related endeavor.

That didn’t bring Force much solace. The PEAK Chevy Camaro owner-driver said, “I know the world’s changing and everybody needs room and they’re building houses. But this thing is something special. I’m mad about it—not mad at the Bandimere family. I know they love it.

“It’s Mount Rushmore. They built this in the side of a mountain. How do you do that?” Force said. “This is God’s gift. This is mythical shit. I love racing, and I love this hill – and I want ’em all to know it.”

Force’s victories have come at Bandimere Speedway in 1994, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2016, and 2018. Heading into Sunday’s eliminations, his Denver record is 74-31.

NHRA great Bob Glidden races at Bandimere in 1979.

Looking Back: Magic on Thunder Mountain

Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals Milestones at Bandimere Speedway

• 2022: Leah Pruett drives Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel dragster to victory for TSR team’s first Top Fuel NHRA national win
• 2021: After a quest of more than a decade, Matt Hagan finally hoists Wally trophy in Denver, steering his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Funny Car to victory
• 2021: Factory Stock Showdown class makes its first appearance at the Mile-High Nationals
• 2019: Tommy Johnson earns his first-ever Denver win in a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
• 2018: Leah Pruett helps Dodge unveil new Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320, races Top Fuel dragster with “Angry Bee” 1320-themed livery to her first Top Fuel win at Denver
  

  Leah Pruett scores her first win for Tony Stewart Racing at Bandimere Speedway in 2022.

• 2018: Mile-High Nationals marks 30th year with a Stellantis brand as title race sponsor, Dodge brand assumes race title sponsorship
• 2016: Leah Pruett makes her debut as a Dodge/Mopar Top Fuel driver at Denver
• 2016: Allen Johnson wheels NHRA Pro Stock Dodge Dart to seventh career win at Bandimere Speedway in his 10th consecutive final round at “Thunder Mountain”
• 2016: Mopar Mile-High Nationals is first NHRA event telecast live to a national audience on FOX
• 2015: Dodge/Mopar driver Jack Beckman captures third career Funny Car win at Denver in Dodge Charger R/T
• 2015: Next Generation Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak makes first exhibition runs, with Bandimere Speedway General Manager/drag racer “Sporty” Bandimere piloting one of the Drag Pak race cars
• 2014: Dodge/Mopar Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson rules Thunder Mountain, seizes third-straight win and sixth in eight Years at Bandimere
• 2009: Ron Capps scores his first Mile-High Nationals win in Dodge Funny Car
• 2008: “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Judy “Miss Mighty Mopar” Lilly help reveal the new Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak with side-by-side runs down Bandimere Speedway
  

  Allen Johnson’s crew celebrates Johnson’s 2016 Pro Stock win at Bandimere.

• 2007: Allen Johnson takes Dodge Stratus Pro Stock car to first victory at Bandimere Speedway, Jack Beckman scores Funny Car win in all-Dodge Charger final round
• 2006: Gary Scelzi drives his Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to his first Denver event win
• 1994: Darrell Alderman takes Mopar Dodge Daytona Pro Stock to win
• 1991: Mike Dunn drives Dodge Daytona Funny Car to Mile-High Nationals victory
• 1991: Lori Johns breaks five-second barrier with a 4.991 run at Bandimere
• 1989: Mopar and Dodge brands begin primary sponsorship of Mopar Mile-High Nationals
• 1983: Frank Hawley wins Mile-High Nationals in “Chitown Hustler” Dodge Charger
• 1979: Randy Humphrey wins Mile-High Nationals in Pro Stock with Plymouth Volare
• 1979: Bob Glidden drives his Plymouth Arrow at the Mile-High Nationals for the first time
• 1978: First Mile-High Nationals, then the Sportsnationals held at Bandimere Speedway
• 1958: Bandimere Speedway opens

Contributing Editor

Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle.  She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.