'We Are Beaten Down': Bandimere Family Cancels Weekend Speedway Events
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Weekend racing events at Bandimere Speedway were canceled owners announced Friday afternoon. In a news release, the Bandimere family states they spent three days of trying to comply with coronavirus restrictions.
Owners say the Truck Invasion event had already been moved from the weekend because of the expected large crowd it would draw. Other entertainment was scheduled in its place, however those events are now canceled.
"Many of the 120 racers who had started to form a line at the racer entrance gate were visibly stunned with the announcement that was personally made by the Bandimere family as they listened to the explanation on why the weekend's racing events were cancelled," the news release stated.
The Bandimere family states the Environmental Health Services Division Director for Jefferson County, Jim Rada, canceled a meeting to talk about upcoming test nights through the weekend.
The Jefferson County Public Health Department responded to Bandimere's decision to cancel the events:
"The goal of each action taken by JCPH is not to punish any of our area businesses or organizations, but to keep the people within our community safe and healthy. Especially now, as we are seeing cases of COVID-19 sharply rise in Jefferson County and are entering a phase of rapid mitigation in order to maintain the variances and relaxations in regulations that are in place, it's more important than ever that everyone in our community work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19."
Jefferson County requested a temporary restraining order just prior to a July 4 event at the speedway in which an estimated 7,500 people attended. At a hearing on Tuesday, the county's request for an injunction was denied and determined as moot due to a new county health order.
Remaining events at the speedway have not been decided on.
"We are beaten down, but we are not broken," owners said.
Nearly 24 hours after Bandimere's announcement, dozens of cars lined Washington Avenue in Golden on Saturday. Many were supporting the speedway and protested the cancelations.
