Mark eight-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher as a driver who is sad to see the end of Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., outside of Denver.

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 location.

Schumacher will be competing at Bandimere Speedway for the last time during the Mile-High Nationals, July 14-16.

“(This) is probably one of the saddest tracks in the world to see close,” Schumacher said. “For several reasons, the track was built in the mountains like that and is absolutely stunning, jam-packed crowds, great people, great town. Loved going there. Go fly-fishing there. There’s nothing about that town I dislike. I love the Bandimere family. Bandimere family is racing. That being said, it gives me the hope that they’ll find another place to put it.”

Schumacher also understands the thinking of the Bandimere family, which has always run the Speedway,

“There are two sides of the coin. They’re not selling out so they can retire. You know what I mean? It’s just not what they’re doing,” Schumacher said. “They’re doing it because I and everyone in the world could understand that that spot in the mountain was priceless. At some point, someone’s going to make an offer. There are very few amounts or offers that would make me retire from racing, but there’s definitely a number. Somebody could give a number and say, ‘If I give you this much, will you never race again?’ I bet they could find a number that would do it. So, I understand completely what they’re going through. I understand that having this on the family is probably immense, too, because people recognize the Bandimere family is a great racing group. I’ve been out there as a Top Fuel racer; I’ve been out at their banquet for the kids.

“So many of the kids love racing there, and it’s sad (to see Bandimere Speedway close). I’m looking forward to coming up there. I’m looking forward to racing there. I’m looking forward to trying to win that last time. I hope they’ll find another place. There’s a lot of land out there. It may be further out, but man, Colorado’s a big state, so we’ll find something because I love coming there, and if there’s never another race there again, it doesn’t mean I don’t get to go there and go fly-fishing. There’s lakes and rivers everywhere.”

Schumacher is tied for second all-time for most Top Fuel wins at the Mile-High Nationals with three. He collected his wins in 2005, 2008, and 2016.
Joe Amato tops the Mile-High Nationals Top Fuel victory list with six. The late Scott Kalitta, Antron Brown, and Steve Torrence have three wins each at the facility, like Schumacher.

However, Schumacher acknowledged there’s no secret to his success at Bandimere Speedway.

“I look at it like Indy (a race he has won a record ten times), not at the altitude and not the same kind of atmosphere or conditions, but the difficulty of it,” he said. And our team’s always been good. All our teams. Back with Dan Olson and Alan Johnson, Mike Green, and Mike Neff, all of us. When we show up at a race that we know is more difficult, we seem to do better.

“You got to make power. You got to sit up in the seat; you got to drive that car; you got to be a machine in that car. And it’s one of the special places you enjoy. Also, it’s a start of a Western Swing. There are very few people that have done that. You can’t win all three if you don’t win that one, so it’s just a high-pressure deal. Love that atmosphere. I love the energy that goes around the pressure that comes with it. So, I look forward to getting there and doing it again.”

Schumacher is one of only five Top Fuel drivers to sweep the Western Swing when he claimed victories in Denver, Seattle, and Sonoma in 2008.
Top Fuel drivers — Joe Amato (1991), Cory McClenathan (1997), Larry Dixon (2003), and Antron Brown (2009) — are in the Western Swing Sweep Club with Schumacher.

Schumacher will arrive in Denver 11th in the points standings, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Epping, N.H., race in his JCM Racing SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster.

“Oh, for sure,” said Schumacher about his team turning the corner. “And the thing is, we don’t want to be equal in that one. We want to be where we used to be. In 2018, at the end of the year, we were running low ET at Thunder Mountain. We didn’t bring Zippy (Mike Neff) and John Schaffer, and Phil Shuler on the team to be a decent team. We brought them back because I think they have the capability of winning a championship.

“We struggled for way longer. For Mike, it was uncomfortable. He literally said, ‘I’m in an unfamiliar area. I’ve never been in this position.’ But we found the issue. Once you find it... My dad (Don Schumacher) always said, ‘It’s usually a big two-by-four that just hits you in the back of the head. You go, ‘Oh, that was quite obvious.’ That’s exactly what it was. You went, ‘Oh, I didn’t know. Couldn’t have known it. Couldn’t have seen it.’ But once you figure it out, you sure don’t talk about it because the other teams were probably struggling with it too. I think we’re much closer. They tested last week in Indy. I actually went on a family vacation that was unchangeable, and I had a couple of good drivers test for me, and the car ran excellent. It was out there running (3)72s, 73s at only 320 (mph).”
Schumacher believes with a few more tweaks; his dragster will be where he wants it to be.

“If you can get it to go quick early and you can keep the candles lit, which we’re struggling with, you can get it,” he said. “But we were also a team at the beginning of the year that would run a (3)78 at 329 mph. So down track, it was fine. We have really smart people. Three of the best engineers that tune that car, they will figure out how to keep it lit down there. They just need it to get there. That’s what they handled last week.
“I’m looking forward to getting there and having three (wins) in a row (with) the big pressure (of the Western Swing). Great trip around the road for three weeks straight. The young guys that are doing this, they’ve never been on the road this long, so it’s going to be a little harder for them.”

As for the present plight of NHRA’s Top Fuel class, Schumacher likes where things are going.

“I’m excited to be in the position I’m in with a great sponsor for a long time,” Schumacher said. “I’m excited for the sport. There are some great young drivers. Look at Justin Ashley; those guys are just doing such a hell of a job. It’s good for everybody. There are times when you get...we went out and won six championships in a row. People started hating on me. They liked me, they were my fans, but then they just lose interest because you don’t need to pay the money to come to a race you know who’s going to win.

“It’s really exciting right now, man. It’s fun to be the driver and fun to be the team owner. It’s fun to be the guys tuning the car. It’s a great sport, I think. We’re doing it at a good time when NASCAR’s struggling a little bit.”