Another track bites the dust -- should the NHRA (and its loyal fans) be worried?

It was announced Friday that Bandimere Speedway near Denver will shut down later this year after 65 years, yet another sad commentary on the state of drag racing

It's getting to the point where the world of NHRA drag racing may soon be without very many tracks to race upon -- if any at all, that is.

Friday's news that the venerable and legendary Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo. (a Denver suburb), is closing its doors later this year is sad, indeed.

But even worse, it continues a very distressing and disheartening trend in recent years where NHRA drag racing has lost a number of some of its most famous two-lane venues.

Just last month, Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, shut its doors and is in the process of being torn down to make way for ... wait for it ...

Expansion of a frickin' interstate on/off ramp!

In addition to Bandimere and Wild Horse Pass, several other tracks in recent years either lost NHRA national events or simply closed down for good, including Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J. (closed in early 2018); Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga. (about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta, closed after the 2021 season); and Houston Raceway Park in suburban Baytown, Texas (closed in Spring 2022).

And in the last 15 years, NHRA lost two other tracks: National Trail Raceway (30 miles east of Columbus, Ohio, in 2011) and Memphis International Raceway (2009).

And it was just a few years ago that Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas, almost lost the NHRA before a last-minute, Hail Mary saving pass was successful.

There had been rumors that Pacific Raceways in suburban Seattle may be running out of time, but that time has apparently been given a reprieve and the Kent, Wash., facility isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Earlier this year, there were reports that the granddaddy of all tracks -- the legendary dragstrip at L.A. County Fairplex in Pomona, Calif. -- home of the Winternationals and World Finals, was potentially soon to be redeveloped into a commercial and residential entity, but NHRA and Los Angeles County were finally able to reach agreement on a 10-year extension through 2033.

There was also fear that NHRA might permanently lose Route 66 Raceway in suburban Chicago -- to reportedly be torn down for an Amazon super distribution center -- after holding its last race there in 2019. However and thankfully, Amazon has scaled back and NHRA is back at the Joliet, Ill., facility for the first time since '19 in a few weeks.

Getting back to Bandimere Speedway, the family that has owned the track for its six-plus decade existence has been searching for the last two-plus years for an adequate amount of land to build a new track, but several potential opportunities have failed to materialize.

That's not surprising, as finding a large amount of land that can hold a drag strip is hard enough. Then throw in likely zoning opposition from residents in the surrounding area, and politicians who don't want to tick off their constituents by approving a track that brings with it LOTS of noise, traffic and crowds, and you can see why tracks are disappearing more and more ... with no other tracks to be built to replace them.

That's right, when was the last new major drag strip built? I can't think of any recently. Can you?

Many fans of Bandimere likely fear that the longer it takes to find a replacement venue, it may get to the point where the right amount of land for a track, parking, a midway, etc., just may never materialize -- and the Bandimere name will be gone forever into drag racing history.

So what does NHRA do? Or perhaps a better question is what CAN the NHRA do?

It's already owned several of those former tracks, including Atlanta, National Trail and Memphis, all of which ultimately were sold by the sanctioning body's board of directors.

NASCAR owns 11 of the tracks it runs Cup races upon. But with the exception of Indianapolis Raceway Park and Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway, NHRA has all but gotten out of the business of owning drag strips that host major national events, a sad statement in and of itself. For if there's anybody that can keep drag racing going, it's NHRA.

Correction: if there's anybody that MUST keep drag racing going, it's NHRA.

But at the same time, owning a drag strip is a costly proposition, what with maintenance, promotion, marketing, selling tickets, attracting media, etc. And the NHRA has suffered a significant downturn in revenue over the last 10-plus years. During that time, it's laid off a significant amount of personnel, cut the number of races it hosts and sold its beautiful 28,000-square-foot headquarters in Glendora, California.

Would you care to guess where the NHRA has its HQ now? Brace yourself for the answer:

A small building that some call a virtual strip mall in San Dimas, California, about six miles away from Glendora.

That is not an exaggeration.

But to be fair, NHRA has also shifted a substantial amount of its California-based personnel to Indianapolis -- or as many drag racers like to call it, "Glendora East."

And rumors continue to persist that it's just a matter of time before NHRA moves everything else remaining from its birthplace in Southern California nearly 75 years ago to Indianapolis.

Much like the folks that own Bandimere, NHRA is also reportedly looking for the "right place" in the Indy area. And also like Bandimere, there have been a number of rumors that NHRA is going back and forth between building or buying a new home, and potentially in partnership with at least one motorsports- or automotive-related partner.

But still, NHRA's future HQ and edifice remain up in the air for now.

Don't worry, NHRA is not going away (we hope!). It'll continue to be racing for many more years -- unless the move to EVs sounds the final death knell to competition of vehicles powered by gas, alcohol or nitromethane fuel.

Ask most diehard fans of NHRA drag racing and they will likely reply in unanimity that they want to see MORE racing and MORE tracks. But at the rate things are going, we're likely going to see a lot LESS racing and a lot LESS tracks in the future.

It's up to the folks who run the NHRA to figure out how to keep that from happening. But will they or, better yet, can they?