John C. Bandimere Jr. On Facilities, Family, & Faith West Central ...

News from the Christian Motorsports International, Inc. Family of Ministries Vol. 2011, Issue #2

John C. Bandimere Jr. On Facilities, Family, & Faith Team RFC® President Larry Smiley recently visited with John Bandimere Jr., President of Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO Larry - What are you earliest memories of a racetrack? John - We lived about five blocks from an oval track called Lakeside Speedway. As a boy I would lie in bed and listen to the cars down at Lakeside when they would run on Sunday night. In those days it was the ’32 and ‘34 Fords, stock cars they called them. I loved hearing that. I would open my window and just listen to it. My dad was very involved in midget auto racing. Any time there was a race you could find my dad there working on a Ford V8 or Offenhauser engine of that time. He was a very talented mechanic. Larry - The background from your father is significant because of what he did that we’re still enjoying today. John - Absolutely. There’s no question whatsoever that my father had a vision for kids to get off of the streets and have fun with their cars, and he had two sons that fit right in there. My father had a garage behind our house and it was a multi­faceted garage. It was a garage with a chassis-dynamometer. He was the first guy to supercharge almost anything. He built all of his own aluminum castings in a foundry that was part of the garage. There was always something that dad was build­ing. He raced up Pike’s Peak. He was involved in midgets. Drag racing was not really something that you would go to

the drag strips for as much as finding a good stretch of road some place where you could blast it off. I remember going out with him and a bunch of guys on a Sunday morning. The state patrol had closed off a road in Golden. He was going to race against Kenz & Leslie’s roadster. My dad had a high speed Ford with a supercharged Cadillac engine in it. He called it a Fordil­lac. That particular morning it was unbelievable how much faster my dad’s car was than the roadster from Kenz & Leslie. My recollection of speed as a kid was when they came up Alameda Avenue. It is quite a hill coming from the lower part to the top. The guys would take off late at night at the bottom and if you could reach 100 mph by the time you were close to the top, you had a really good running car. Larry - (laughs) John - My father and mother started an auto parts business in

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West Central Region Transition Ken Webb (right) has served as Team RFC’s West Central Region Di­rector for the past seven years. Ken is stepping down as the director at the end of summer to return to seminary full time while remain­ing as a track chaplain at Bandimere Speedway. Ken and the executive staff discussed and prayed about this transi­tion, unanimously approaching West Central Chaplain Stan Roche (left). After careful and prayerful consideration, Stan has accepted the position starting September 1st. Ken and Stan are pictured with Team RFC® President and NHRA National Event Chaplain Larry Smiley (center) at the recent NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

John Bandimere Jr. cont. from pg 1

downtown Denver in an old two-story home. There was room upstairs where we would mix paint and kept all the exhaust parts and that type of stuff. There was also a room there that I made my bedroom. I actually lived at the top of that parts store for awhile. I had desires on being a cattleman. Growing up, my grand­mother and grandfather lived on a farm in Golden. In the summer it was a real treat to go to grandma and grandpa’s house and herd the cattle, work in the fields, and go with my grandfather down to Five Points where he sold fresh vegetables out of his truck. My grandfather was a full-blooded German. He came from Germany to the United States as a kid with his family. He was a very learned man. He was an accountant by trade. He was actually one of the first tax assessors in Jef­ferson County where we lived. I guess what I’m trying to share with you is that we were pretty grounded in the Den­ver area and are still grounded today. It is important to remember our history because that’s where we came from. Think of how things change. The first vehicle that went up Lookout Mountain was a 20 horsepower Stanley Steamer. Today we have 8-15 year olds that drive junior dragsters with single-cylinder engines that put out 82 horsepow­er. And then there are the top fuel cars that make 8,000 horsepower! Larry - Was your father the founder and builder of the drag strip? John - Yes. The drag strip is not in the location where he originally wanted to build it. He had received approval from Jefferson County to build it in Nevada, Colorado; a little bit to the north. My uncle, a dairy farmer, owned the property. When they started moving dirt, people asked what they were doing and they said they were building a drag strip. That was my first experience with people being really upset. The way my dad handled it was to call a meeting with all of the neighbors. He said that he wasn’t doing this to cause them grief. He said he was doing it because he loved kids. It was called the Safety Proving Grounds of America or SPGA. SPGA was his vision as a way to educate young men and women about the automobile, to give them a safe place to play with the automobile, and to teach them things about the automo­bile. In those days people were buying headers from his parts store to put on their car. Headers don’t do anything for your car. If you don’t raise the compression and change the cam, and do a few other things, headers will make your car slower. But how many people would go out and spend $100 for a set of headers and put them on their car just so that they looked cool?

Those were the things that drove my father crazy. He under­stood how important it was that there was more that needed to be done to the engine if they really wanted more horsepow­er. He wanted to be able to train them in that. The county commissioners were at that meeting and they said they would see if they could find a location for us because they had already approved it. They found the property where we are now. I can tell you that I remember the exact amount of money my dad paid for it. He paid $13,500. Larry - For that piece of property? Oh my. That’s amazing. John - It’s 180 acres. By the way, he didn’t have $13,500. He had to borrow that from his father. His dad made him pay interest. This comes back to the accounting background. It was an arm’s length transaction. This property was owned by 3 different individuals. One part

of the parcels was owned by Margaret Morrison. That’s the family that Morrison, Colorado was named after. That’s a little history. My dad had to have a lot of dirt moved. He wanted a track where you could come into the staging lanes and not have to push your car. He had gone to Continental Divide Raceway in Castle Rock. The staging lanes were real long and you had to keep starting and stopping your car or push it. He wanted it where you could get to the top of the hill and then roll down to the starting line. He wanted the track to be flat and then to go uphill so that you could stop easier, and that’s the way he built it.

To have a contractor come in and move the dirt was really expensive, so he went to an auction and bought tractors and scrappers. Most of them were worn out, so he took them home and re-built the engines and superchargers. My dad and a couple of his workers did everything that needed to be done. Then he traded out tune-ups and mechanical work with guys down at public service for surplus lights, poles, and wires be­cause they didn’t have any place to store them. That’s how he built this as a labor of love. My dad passed away in April 1986. In 1987, when the highway was going through, we decided to rebuild everything and put in underground wiring. Larry - Look at what Bandimere Speedway is today. The found­ing of the facility, your dad’s vision, and then you implementing the massive renovations; what a wonderful facility it is. It’s fun to hear how God prepared your dad in advance to work on a D9 Cat and to be able to re-build them so he could do the work and put in the dragstrip. John - I never envisioned that the race track would make a living. My father started so many things. I was the guy who completed them because he was not a finisher. You could call

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For the Viscardi family of Louisiana, racing is a family affair. Keith Viscardi is team owner and his 22 year old son, Alex, is the driver. Team RFC® Southeast Region Chaplain Reggie

Burnette received this Winner’s Circle photo from the NMCA/NMRA Nitto Tire All-Star Nationals at Atlanta Dragway from Keith. The car, a 1967 Shelby Mustang Pro Mod, also competes on the ADRL circuit and select NHRA Pro Mod events.

Arie Villasol readies “Killer B” (1968 MGB) for a run for the trophy in F Street Prepared at the 2011 SCCA Solo Tour at San Diego’s Qualcom Stadium. Arie’s a member of the “Flying Fish” a loosely formed group of autocrossing believers. The front air dam carries this message, “God’s will: Nothing More. Nothing Less. Nothing Else.”

Geoff Hutton, of Albuquerque, NM, competes in ABA (American Bicycle Association) BMX racing virtually every weekend of the year somewhere across the continent under the ban­

ner of 505 Racing, New Mexico’s oldest BMX team. Geoff is shown (right) competing at the Southwest Nationals in the Tucson Convention Center in a class with 56 racers, proudly

riding with the Team RFC® logo on his jersey. Geoff sports the #4 number plate, fourth ranked in his age group in New Mexico, in only his fourth year of competition. While there are more successful “factory teams,” 505 Racing is among the best respected and won the

second place “Trophy Team” award in 2010.

Heeding the Call Team RFC® often receives requests for staff to cover local tracks, races, and car shows. Sometimes we don’t have staff available to meet these requests. If you, or someone you know, would like to explore a possible call to be volunteer field staff for Team RFC®, please contact a regional director, or call Jim Jack at work, 480-507-5323, or cell, 602-524-4691, or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

One of the joys as a chaplain with Team RFC® is praying with the many great people we meet in racing. South Central Region Diretor (and SDBA Series Chaplain) Craig Garland prays with Jimmy Parsons (2010 SDBA Pro Mod Champion) before a run at the Marble Falls (TX) Lake Fest. Joining in prayer are Jimmy’s wife, Amber, and his father, Jim.

Surf RFC Have you seen Team RFC’s website recently? There are more pictures and more regional news available, as well as contact information for RFC staff across the country. Come take a look at TeamRFC.org.

On the web site there is a link for devotionals. Each week one of the RFC staff authors a thought for your reflection. Check them out weekly and look through some that have been archived as well.

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John Bandimere Jr. cont. from pg 2

me a facilitator. I looked at the race track the way he did, as a hobby. If it weren’t for the fact that I have a son and son-in-law that really, really wanted to carry on, it would have remained that way. Larry - Let’s talk about your faith. When we walk onto your facility it feels different. We know that God is present and that prayer has been lifted up. God is at work at Bandimere Speed­way. Give me some background on your faith. John - Well, I want to backup a bit because it’s really hard to

loaned me the rest. It was the only way I could get the thing to work. That is not normal. That is God. Larry - Yes, that is God. He had his hand on that. John - When the bank told me they would take second posi­tion, I wept. When the day came that we had all the money and the people all came to clear up our debt with them, I was sitting there with my attorney. Each of my creditors came one by one and we would agree on what I would pay them. They signed that they would release the lien. That was the most amazing 2 ½ hours. When we got down to the last person, I

was $100K short and another banker get through things when you say that. gave me the money within fifteen min-We pray that it will be like that. But the utes of meeting with him. race track, I never envisioned it to be a Larry - Again, God knew that needed to big money making proposition because happen.we just ran Friday and Saturday. I finally

said that we have to make this thing John - That’s the whole point. So here work. We need to be busy all the time. we are, I have just a little bit of money Now we run on Wednesday, Friday, Sat- in my pocket. I went out and bought urday and Sunday. We typically have flowers for my wife. I have the credi­something going on Monday, Tuesday, tors taken care of, we have a brand new or Thursday with a corporate outing or place, now we have to go make this something through the hospitality department. About my faith, after my dad had gone to be with the Lord and I started on the ’87 – ’89 rebuilding project, we got into finan­cial difficulties. This is just what my dad said would happen. We were in the middle of the worst economic times; the years 1987-89 were horrible. We couldn’t borrow any money. We lost our permanent loan. I had 34 liens put on me. I didn’t know how I was going to get out of it. And yet the Lord is so faithful. I needed to borrow money. My bank was willing to loan me an amount right up to their legal limit which was a little short of what I needed to make it all happen. My bank took second position to a junior bank who

happen. The Lord allowed me to sell what I needed in sponsor­ship. The rest is history. Here’s what I learned: it wasn’t about me, it was about Him. Even today, I can tell you that this is not my business. It is His. I know that there are many, many people who don’t understand that. They say it’s my house, my car, my motorhome, etc. That’s how we talk, but it’s not ours.Larry - No, not at all. John - When we can come to the place to understand that, then we can’t even give it away fast enough. That’s the way He

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The Christian MotorsportsInternational, Inc. Family

of MinistriesTeam RFC®

Racers For Christ® • Rodders For Christ® • Restorers For Christ® • Pullers For Christ Rockcrawlers For Christ • RFC Garage • RFC kids • Iowa Speedway Ministries

P. O. Box 1208, Gilbert, AZ, 85299-1208480-507-5323 • 480-507-5393 (Fax) • www.TeamRFC.org

Dan Allen..........................ChairmanPaul Neighbors...............Executive Director Larry Smiley.....................President Jim Jack .............................Field Ministries DirectorLinda Jack.........................Office ManagerJulie Thompson..............Business ManagerShelley Boyer...................Projects CoordinatorDan Laterza......................Northeast Region Director................717-870-0227Tom Ratliff ........................Southeast Region Director................352-267-1795Glenn Kreider ..................North Central Region Director.........618-292-6048Craig Garland..................South Central Region Director ........972-849-2032Ken Webb .........................West Central Region Director ..........303-638-3438Scott Soper ......................Northwest Region Director ..............360-485-8703Steve Hanson ..................Southwest Region Director ..............949-705-7873

Gifts-In-Kind Update Team RFC® continues to be the recipient of Gifts-In-Kind from many wonderful supporters. Gifts-in-kind can include vehicles, computers, office equipment, frequent flier miles and buddy passes, and prizes for raffles and drawings. More examples are printing, securities, real estate, antiques, and collectibles. Recent gift-in-kind donors are:

BFGoodrich Greg Whedbee Aletha Haynes Lucas Oil

Canyon Speedway Park Jody Wolf USA Raceway Jim GolbaSpeedco Truck Lube & Tires

Essential Direct Gerald Aldridge

RACERS FOR CHRIST ®VISION STATEMENT

“To see the world of motorsports impacted for Jesus Christ by individuals entering into a personal relation-

ship with Him and growing in those relationships.”

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President’sPerspectiveby Larry Smiley

Prayer Power I am excited with the way Team RFC® has grown since I became President in 2005.

We have seen many milestones come our way and I give God the glory for all that He has done through His ministry.

One of the blessings is our Team RFC® e-mail prayer chain ad­ministered by Dale Tuley, an RFC Chaplain since 1994. He works selflessly to distribute prayer requests from chaplains, former staff, and other ministries (Godspeed Ministries and Christian Motorcyclists to name a couple). Dale began the prayer re­quest email under the direction of North Central Director Glenn Kreider. With Jim Jack’s encouragement, Dale took the prayer chain ministry-wide in January 2003. Thousands of requests go out each year and God has been faithful in each one.

I am pleased and amazed at the speed and accuracy with which the prayer requests get posted. During the 2011 Summit Rac­ing Equipment NHRA Nationals from Commerce, GA there were several serious accidents and Dale had postings listed within minutes.

Linda and I read the requests daily and send up prayers imme­diately. We, and many others, have been requesting prayers for our dear friend Lynn Nickerson. Lynn is battling cancer for the third time and he is fighting the good fight.

Lynn was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2004. He was diagnosed in Texas where he lives, and wasn’t getting the care

he needed. The late Shelly Howard heard of Lynn’s dilemma and immediately set out to get Lynn the best possible care through the help of doctors in Tulsa where she lived and where her husband, Dr. Paul Howard, practiced. Lynn came through the operation to remove the cancer with flying colors. Lynn stayed with Shelly and Paul at their home in Jenks, OK during his recovery.

Lynn bounced back and resumed his role as the NHRA South Central Division announcer. Lynn’s clear, resonant voice is rec­ognized throughout NHRA drag racing. He also announces at NHRA National Events with Bob Frey and Alan Reinhart.

Lynn’s prognosis has not been good lately. He has lost a lot of weight due to his intolerance of the chemotherapy drugs. He was admitted to the hospital and has spent several days in the ICU. Linda and I drove to Ft. Worth to see Lynn. His usual strong voice was small and strained. He gave us each a delicate hug and told of his love for the racers and his appreciation for all of the prayers. [Lynn has since passed peacefully and the family thanks everyone for the prayers].

Please know that prayer requests from the motorsports commu­nities that are shared with a Team RFC® chaplain can be shared by email with chaplains across North America. It is a privilege for us to join in praise and petition for those we serve.

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

John Bandimere Jr. cont. from pg 5 blesses us. That’s why we set up our Bandimere Family Founda­tion. Larry - Your daughter, Tami, is now on our Board of Directors and we are honored to have her. Tell me more about her charity efforts and any other outreach you do through the Bandimere Family Foundation. John - Fifteen years ago, when the junior dragsters came out, all of my grandchildren were in the same grade school. They had a reading program and wanted to do some­thing special, so Tami came up with this idea to take a junior dragster, put a decal on it, place it on display in the library, and launch a “Race-to-Read” program at Rooney Ranch Elementary School. It was overwhelmingly successful. From that point until now we have had 35,000 kids with about 61 grade schools involved. At the beginning, we thought it would be a great way to pro­

mote the track and a good way to teach kids about cars. But here’s what’s come out of it…there’s only one John Force and there’s only one Larry Dixon, but there are thousands of local racers. We have over 250 racers who signed up to go over to the grade schools. Then, when the kids come to the track and see “their” race car, the kids don’t know if it’s John Force or Don Prudhomme...they’re getting “their” driver’s autograph.

The racers clamor to sign up to go to these schools to be able to be a hero for the day. Another plus is that our neighbors, who maybe think we’re a nuisance, if their child goes through our reading program we give them a free child ticket and one adult ticket to the

Night of Fire and Thunder which is a very big event for us, it’s our opening event in May. There are people in their twenties who say they were involved in Race-to-Read and now they still come to the race track because they enjoy it. Plus, junior drag

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into the charitable effort. Team RFC® Insights: For forty years, Team RFC® has been a lean organization; we What’s an NPO? strive mightily to control costs while seeking support. We

by Paul Neighbors, Executive Director are accredited through the Evangelical Council for Financial Team RFC® (Racers For Christ®, et. al.) is Accountability and rely on friends of the ministry to under-an IRS approved Non Profit Organization write our nearly 350 chaplains’ presence at more than 2,300 (legally known as Christian Motorsports ministry events each year. International, Incorporated.) At times the Speaking of fund-raising, the third annual golf tournament

public is confused…must an NPO operate awash in red ink? to benefit Team RFC® will be held on Wednesday, November No, not at all! 9th, at the Mountain Meadows Country Club in Pomona, CA. Being an NPO means: if there is more income than expense For information about playing, hole sponsorship, donat­that it cannot be distributed to anyone in that organiza- ing for the silent auction, or serving as an event volunteer, tion—management, directors, or anyone. There are no please contact Field Ministry Director Jim Jack: revjimjck@ owners or stockholders; that “margin” must be reinvested aol.com or 602-524-4691.

Team RFC® Chaplains minis­tered at the Race and Perfor­mance Expo at the Pheasant Run Conference Center, St. Charles, IL the last weekend of February. From left to right: Dave Potrawski, Steve Golz, Annette Golz, Dale Tuley, and Mack McDonald.

Southwest Region Chaplain Bob Hadidian leads chapel service at the NHRA Heritage Series’ California Hot Rod Reunion at Auto Club Raceway Famoso.

High School student Lauren Benson, of Mans-field, Texas, comes from a racing family. Her dad,

Randy, races a Pro Modified drag boat (Texas Bounty Hunter H2O)and was the SDBA champion in 2008 and 2009. Young brother Ryan competes

in the River Racer category. Lauren races

a Modified Eliminator, 10 second drag boat

called “Dad­dy’s DNA.”

She wanted her senior

class picture “Bullet” Bob Ream Jr. of Glendale, AZ pilots his #8 Parker Store 360 non-winged to represent sprint car in ASCS Canyon Region competition on April 23, 2011. Ream has her racing 57 career main event wins, and holds the record for main event wins with the interests

(notice the Arizona Sprint Car Association. The Team RFC® billboard shows framed by the RFC patch) cage in this shot along the back straight of USA Raceway, Tucson, AZ. and has RFC engraved on her class ring.

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Last March, Team RFC® once again had a booth at the three-day Portland (OR) Roadster Show. Central to the display was the Land Speed Record Holding C/Gas Roadster of Dan and Jody Aleshire.

During the 62nd Annual Bonneville Speedweek, on August 16, 2010, Dan “Dyno” Aleshire set the class record at 231.234 mph. Dan and Jody (left) enjoy having the attention that the car, which carries the Team RFC® logo, brings to their love for the Lord. Also pic­tured are Team RFC® Northwest Region chaplains Al Lyda and Gary DaShiell.

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racing is growing. We’ll probably have 125 junior drag racers running cars this year. Larry - Isn’t that something. John - What I’m trying to say is that the Race-to-Read program has become a big deal, so we run that whole program out of the Bandimere Family Foundation. I’m also involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We support the Red Rocks Community College, Colorado Christian University and Denver Seminary. That’s where Ken Webb and I met, at Denver Semi­nary. He was going through seminary to be a missionary and that’s how he got involved in chaplaincy. Larry - You mentioned Ken Webb [Team RFC’s West Central Region Director]. Let’s talk about Ken’s involvement with your track even beyond being your track chaplain. John - Ken has been closely involved with ministry at Bandi­mere. Ken and I wanted the ministry to be more than just a chapel service. We sat down and talked about an expanded outreach to men; we don’t care if they are Christians or not. Ken and I made a list of sixteen men, we prayed over the list, sent out sixteen invitations, and all sixteen showed up. We told them what we were doing and what the situation was, that it was a Bible study, and we wouldn’t pressure them in any way whatsoever. There have been some powerful results from this group. One of the guys came in around Christmas time and wanted to leave a little gift for Ken…but then he didn’t leave. I asked him if he wanted to talk and he said yes, if I had a couple of minutes. We went into the conference room and he said that he was struggling with some things from the Bible study because he always thought of himself as a Christian, but he said that he wasn’t positive that he was. So I shared the Gospel with him and he bowed his head and accepted Christ as his Savior. It was amazing. After that, he came back to Bible study and shared his testimony. Another man joined the Bible study while we were studying the book The Shack. As we discussed it he said, “How can I know that I’m on my way to Heaven?” I asked him if he really wanted to know the Lord right then and he said he did. So I said, “Great. I’ll help you.” He was at the far end of the room so

I said to the rest of the guys, “You may experience something that you’ve never experienced before in your life unless it’s been in your own life.”We bowed our heads and I led him in the sinner’s prayer and he prayed. He has grown spiritually like a weed. There are several other people who’ve accepted Christ. I’ve kept a little diary of the dates and times for those people. I al­ways tell people that you know when you got married and you know your birthdate, but what was the day you got saved? Now, when we have Bible study here at the track, my daugh­ters put food together because guys like to eat. Then Ken leads them in a study. We’re at the place now where we almost can’t meet in our conference room because it holds about 15-20 comfortably and we’re overflowing. Larry - I know we talked about utilization earlier. It’s one thing to utilize the facility to get the maximum amount of dollar per day, but your track is different in that you utilize God. It is a pri­ority for you and your family. You have godly sons, daughters, in-laws, and grandkids. It just shows the legacy that has come down through the Bandimere family for four generations now. It’s exciting to see that and to feel it. It’s not just seeing it and observing it as you would a sign. It’s feeling it by the power of the Holy Spirit that we come there and we give the opportunity to pray to receive Christ at our chapel services. At your track we have seen dozens of hands go up throughout the years, and the preparation and intention of the facility and the owners and managers, the Bandimere family makes it that way. It’s a joy to know that that’s not just happening the one time we’re there for the Mopar Mile High Nationals, but it’s happening every week of the year. John - Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I really believe that that is the answer. Our world is in a terrible mess. When you know Christ you think about this but it doesn’t turn you upside down because you know the One who is in charge. Larry - What a joy that is now. It’s powerful. John - Isn’t it? It’s just something that we have to rejoice in. Larry - Thank you for your time and the interesting insights. John - You’re welcome; it’s been great talking to you.

John Bandimere Jr. cont. from pg 6

Photo courtesy of Jon LeMoine