Could Bandimere Speedway be eyeing this property in Hudson?

HUDSON — After 65 years, the family-owned Bandimere Speedway will get a spark of new life, and they’ve targeted Hudson for the next chapter.

John Bandimere Jr. confirmed that the family is working to buy land in Hudson for a new track and events center that will create much more room to operate.

“We’re going to be in Hudson at some place,” he said in a recent interview. “I think the appeal is, we like the people in Hudson and we like Weld County, and not only that, there seems to be a genuine interest in what we do. So, it’s a lot nicer to go where people want you than where people don’t.”

In a Facebook post this week, the Bandimere family stated: “We know how easy it is for rumors to be spread about the future of the speedway, but we are here to tell you that we have secured a piece of property in Hudson, CO and we are in the process of due diligence on the land with the hopes that breaking ground on a racetrack will begin in the coming months.”

The last day at the family’s track on Thunder Mountain was Oct. 18.

Bandimere Jr. told Colorado Community Media this week that he was looking at an 1,100-acre property near Hudson.

There are few options in Hudson that are big enough for the property for a race track, but four contiguous parcels owned by Rocky’s Autos Inc., which operated a car dealership for 40 years in Denver, are the right size. Rocky’s owns 1,068 acres, accessible from Interstate 76, that is a mixture of irrigated agricultural, grazing and pastureland.

Members of Facebook groups focused on Hudson have speculated that Bandimere is eyeing the Rocky’s property. Rocky’s Autos closed in 2022 and its owner Dave Rothrock died in 2023; the property names a Littleton lawyer as a registered agent, and he did not return an email for response to questions. Bandimere would not say on which property he was doing due diligence.

Bandimere Speedway started in 1958. John Jr. spent his lifetime building the quarter-mile track in Morrison, and business has grown, but his site hadn’t.

“Over the years, everything has gotten bigger,” Bandimere said. “It used to be a deal where people would come and drive their car, then they bought an open trailer, and someone decided to get an enclosed trailer, and the next thing those enclosed trailers become 30-feet long, then mama said, ‘if we’re going to race track, we gotta have a motorhome.’ So you add a 40-foot trailer and 40-foot motorhome, and the space just starts to go away.

“Most drag strips across the country are around 350 acres or more, and ours was less than 100; it was very tight, always. Parking was down low so you had to walk quite a ways.”

According to the Denver Post, Bandimere in 2023 said he envisioned the new facility also including a go-kart track, which the current track has, and ample parking. “Plus, possibly a road course for racing car enthusiasts, garages for individual auto storage/work, and industrial buildings on the property’s edges so the track can’t get hemmed in by Denver’s suburban sprawl, as happened with the current track.”

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