John Bandimere spent more than 60 years helping build one of the most recognizable drag strips in America.
Now he’s preparing to build something that, in his mind, isn’t really a drag strip at all. That’s the part many people don’t understand.The next Bandimere Speedway will have a quarter-mile. It will have grandstands. It will have race cars, race fans and many of the features people associate with one of drag racing’s most respected facilities.
What it won’t be is Thunder Mountain.
“We’ll never be able to replace it,” Bandimere said. “We can do a lot of things that’ll make it to where the new place will have a good feel, but you never can replace it.”
For years, racers and fans gathered at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado, where the facility’s location against the foothills created a backdrop unlike any other venue in drag racing. Bandimere knows that part of the experience is gone forever.
“The feel that there is on the mountain was the fact that you had vision,” Bandimere said. “There was more to see than just the racetrack. You could sit in the grandstands and you could look out, and I don’t know how many times sat there and saw complete rainbows start to finish because of the location.”
The eastern plains outside Hudson won’t offer those same views. What Hudson offers instead is something Bandimere spent years wishing he had. Room.
The proposed development encompasses more than 1,100 acres, a dramatic contrast to the roughly 100 usable acres available at the former facility. That amount of land changes nearly every aspect of planning and allows Bandimere to think beyond simply replacing a drag strip.
“The answer to that question is a little over 1100 acres,” Bandimere said. “Those acres are basically ours. Everything’s under contract and several of the acres have been paid for and already we have the title on.”
The project has already cleared one of the biggest hurdles.
“Zoning and annexation from Weld County into the town of Hudson and all of the zoning has been approved,” Bandimere said. “And that’s a huge, huge step.”
Just as important, local officials have welcomed the development.
“We happen to have a little town called Hudson, Colorado, that has a mayor, a town manager, a planning director that love us and want us to be there,” Bandimere said. “And so consequently, that’s a real plus.”
While much of the attention naturally focuses on the drag strip, Bandimere sees the racing facility as only one piece of a much larger vision. The racetrack itself is expected to resemble Las Vegas in several respects, including its north-south orientation and the layout of the staging lanes. A larger Top Eliminator Club is planned, along with grandstands designed around comfort and sightlines.
“I don’t want a new facility to have a new facility has to have every seat has to have a back,” Bandimere said. “You will not find a seat at this new facility that doesn’t have a back where you can sit comfortably.”
The similarities largely end there.
Bandimere wants the new property to solve challenges racers and spectators experienced for years in Morrison, particularly traffic flow and accessibility. Located near Interstate 76 and Highway 52, the Hudson site allows planners to separate racers from spectators and create multiple access routes throughout the property.
“The one thing that we will have, and this is the other thing that’s going to be what we’re really working on, and that is access and egress,” Bandimere said.
Parking alone provides a glimpse of the scale.
“When you go from 100 usable acres and you’re going to have 1100 acres,” Bandimere said. “We’re looking right now at a parking lot that’s about 80 acres.”
That parking lot nearly matches the usable footprint of the former facility. The additional acreage also creates opportunities Bandimere never had before. Plans include enthusiast garages, commercial development, retail businesses, motorhome accommodations, karting, quarter midgets and drifting facilities.
“There’ll be retail and commercial businesses on this property without any question,” Bandimere said.
The goal is to create a destination rather than a facility that comes alive only on race weekends.
Bandimere envisions a place where automotive enthusiasts can gather year-round, whether they’re racing, attending a car show, storing a vehicle or simply spending time with other enthusiasts.
“This facility will have enough space without any question that if the Corvette Association or the Pontiac Association or the Ferrari, whatever, wants to come and have a weekend at our place, we’ll have it,” Bandimere said.
The youth component remains equally important. Bandimere wants the property to provide opportunities for quarter midgets, karting and other entry-level motorsports programs that introduce younger generations to racing.
“We’re also looking at junior facilities for quarter midgets,” Bandimere said. “That’s an industry that has had kind of a bad situation. They just haven’t had a place to do it.”
Those plans reflect a philosophy that has guided the Bandimere family for decades. For all the discussion about drag strips, garages, hotels and commercial development, Bandimere insists the project isn’t really about any of those things. It’s about purpose.
“We just want to see another racetrack be built so that we can continue the platform of sharing Jesus Christ with the racing world,” Bandimere said. “That’s our whole goal.”
The family has spent generations using motorsports as a ministry platform. In Bandimere’s view, Hudson represents an opportunity to continue that mission while also creating a place where racers and fans can gather for years to come. That’s why the conversation eventually moves away from race cars. It always does.
For all the attention the drag strip will receive, Bandimere believes one structure will ultimately define the project more than any other.
“The most important building on the property will be a chapel,” Bandimere said. “That chapel will be available for weddings and funerals and Racers For Christ, whatever it might be.”
The drag strip will draw attention.
Bandimere hopes the chapel explains why it was built.
