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.”