Adam Dorey: The Positive Side of Drag Strip Closures
I grew up on the west side of Denver. For my whole life I was within 15 minutes of one of the most iconic tracks that has or ever will ever exist, Bandimere Speedway.
It was my haven, and I went there a lot once I got my license and a car to drive. But it wasn’t until a buddy of mine convinced me to take my then big tire 1970 Firebird to Douglas Motorsports Park in Wyoming that I got hooked on running at all sorts of different tracks, circa 2008.
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DMP was amazing, with a whole different vibe than I was used to. They were SUPER competitive, as in the actual racing was great, but the feel of the track was much different. The people were nicer and the smaller car counts meant much less of a “hurry hurry hurry” feel to what I was used to. They also shut down for lunch every day so everyone (including track staff) could eat! They didn’t have a concession stand mind you, so all the food came from a small BBQ food truck or the Taco Johns in town.
It wasn’t better or worse, but it was different. After years of racing the same people over and over on the same track in the same cars, I could see racing in a new way. I even ended up getting invited to their ET finals team in Topeka, Kansas.
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My horizons were open to travelling to see new, different, exciting, and competitive tracks all around the place and seeing what different parts of the country offered to their own racing community. It was fun showing up out of nowhere and racing with strangers. I didn’t know who their “ringer” was and they didn’t know if I was showing up from out of town to take all the prize money (I wasn’t, I was typically a first or second round duck and eventual spectator), but I was having the time of my life seeing new stuff, even if it was from the stands.
Since then, unfortunately, Bandimere has ceased operations, leaving a vacuum for those racers, and since the race season waits for nobody, the Bandimere faithful are getting to experience what I did those many years ago. Racers who never left the city limits are now posting pictures from Western Colorado Motorsports in Grand Junction, a four-hour drive over the mountains, or from Julesburg Dragstrip in itty bitty Julesburg, Colorado, about a three-hour drive up I-76 almost to Nebraska. These racers are finding out that these small tracks have much to offer, and the tracks themselves are showing the racers that a track crew a fraction of the size of what they’re used to are fully capable of running a safe, quick, and overall FUN race for all of the folks that show up to push the skinny pedal to the floor. Even some of the smaller town regular photographers and vendors are showing up and demonstrating that there’s talent far away from the big city in all corners of this great nation and hitting racers with goods and services they’ve never seen before!
Many of these racers, faced with the thought of travelling to race or sell their program, have figured out the schedule, figured out the budget, and thankfully didn’t sell their program, and now they’re reaping the benefits. These people are getting to see what drag-and-drive people take for granted, that every track has its own soul, and each of the crews at these tracks have at least as much heart, soul, and passion in their program as a national event track does, and sometimes even a little bit more.
So even if you’re not a drag-and-drive enthusiast yourself, but a racer of any capacity, do yourself a favor and travel a little bit to race. You’ll meet new people instantly, and you already have hobbies in common, so take a chance! Instead of going to your local track to see the same people every weekend, take one or two weekends this year and go a few hours out of your comfort zone and see what the racers from Bandimere are seeing now, that this community, no matter what plot of land it’s on, is the best the nation has to offer. They can’t wait to prove it to you!
— Adam Dorey
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