Bandimere eyes new speedway as Morrison land fetches $50M

The former Bandimere Speedway property has sold to automobile auction firm Copart.

California-based Copart purchased the approximately 150-acre site northwest of C-470 and Morrison Road on Tuesday for $51 million, according to public records.

The site, which included both the track and huge parking lots, has been fully within the limits of Morrison since August, when the town board voted 4-3 to annex about 125 acres that had been outside it.

Copart plans to turn the site into a storage facility for cars awaiting resale. As part of the annexation deal, Copart agreed to transfer 16 acres by the C-470/Morrison Road interchange to the town, to allow for future retail development there, according to local newspaper Canyon Courier.

The Bandimere family opened the speedway in 1958. It hosted the last races there in July 2023.

“We have a lot of mixed emotions — I’ll put it that way,” John Bandimere Jr. said of the sale on Wednesday.

The track plans to relocate, and has zeroed in on the area around Hudson, a town in Weld County along Interstate 76.

“We’re looking at some property in the Hudson area,” Bandimere said.

Hudson has about 1,600 residents and is 35 miles from downtown Denver. Its main attraction up to this point has been a wild animal refuge whose inhabitants include tigers once kept by “Tiger King” Joseph Maldonado.

Bandimere previously told The Denver Post that the family was targeting about 1,100 acres — far more than it had in Morrison.

“Everybody thinks that we’re being pushed out by houses,” Bandimere told the Post in July 2023. “Of course, there’s no question, they’re building a lot of houses around us. But that’s not why we’re leaving. We really feel comfortable with why we’re leaving: We need more space.

“Most (racing) facilities need about 350 acres. Consequently, we haven’t had any room for parking. We’ve been renting our neighbors’ lots for parking, and they’re under contract to sell also, because there’s so much development happening in the valley.”