As Bandimere Speedway – the iconic racetrack perched in at the base of the foothills in Morrison – announces its closure at the end of the 2023 season, we’re taking a look back at the memories there.
Among them is this 1998 feature story on Melanie Troxel, at the time a 25-year-old up-and-coming dragster making her mark at Bandimere.
Then-Denver7 Sports reporter Mike Nolan spoke with Troxel about breaking the glass ceiling in a predominantly male-dominated sport.
“I don’t think I’ve ever identified that as being an issue, me being a female,” she said at the time. “It’s more an issue of, we’re all competitive and you want to go out and beat the person in the other lane – whether it’s a man or a woman.”
According to dragracecentral.com, Bandimere was Troxel’s first foray into drag racing.
Troxel was given the Women's Sports Foundation's individual sportswoman of the year award in 2006 and would be called one of “the National Hot Rod Association’s two most popular women” by The Denver Post.
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