By Mike Chambers
The Denver Post
Approximately 450 Front Range drag racers will have a chance to become reality television stars Saturday at Bandimere Speedway, the quarter- mile drag strip in Morrison.
The drama could become thicker than the smoke, because up for grabs will be $10,000 cash and $8,000 worth of tools — a priceless combination for your average grease monkey.
Bandimere, celebrating its 50th anniversary, will host Speed television’s “Pinks All Out,” a reality series about amateur drag racers and their passion.
The second-year show is a spinoff of Speed’s “Pinks,” which was about racing for car ownerships, or pink slips. The Bandimere racers won’t risk losing their cars, only their privacy.
Speed’s 90-member production crew will film 12 hours Saturday, capturing 120 hours of footage that will be edited into a one-hour show. “Pinks All Out” runs Thursdays at 7 p.m., with the Bandimere show scheduled for Oct. 9.
Spectator admission — and a chance to be an extra — costs $20 for adults (free for children 12 and under). Time trials begin at 2 p.m., with the final 16 competitors set to begin first-round eliminations about 6 p.m.
The quickest cars won’t necessarily make the final 16-car field. Following time trials, producers will pick the closest 16-car grouping based on speed and human interest.
“During time trials, we’re looking for everyone to run all out, and then we’ll put the closest grouping of cars together to race for the 16-car show,” Speed spokesman David Harris said. “As a participant, the coolest thing for them is, this is their chance to be on TV, to see themselves race under pressure like a John Force or Kenny Bernstein.”
Harris said the John Bandimere Jr. family that owns and operates Bandimere Speedway would play a prominent role in the show.
“We create the competition and build the lifestyle reality show around the competition, but this episode will be a lot about coming to Denver, racing at Bandimere and the (Bandimere) family,” Harris said.
For more information, go to or .
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
AROUND TOWN
And that’s no bull.
Like other professional American sports, the Professional Bull Riders makes its would-be rodeo stars prove themselves in the minor-league circuits before hitting the big leagues. A rider must take his lumps — literally — in small rodeos in order to be eligible for promotion.
The proving ground comes to town this weekend when the PBR Kody Lostroh Enterprise Invitational Tour comes to the Broomfield Event Center for a two-day event. The action starts at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday.
Riders — most of them budding bull riders from Colorado — will be out to earn enough money to qualify for PBR’s top-shelf Built Ford Tough Series tour.
Check or for more information.
STAY ON THE COUCH
Let the Games begin.
Besides the Super Bowl, there are few events each year that become topics of national conversation. But even fewer events become international topics, something shared around the globe. The Olympics’ opening ceremony, airing from Beijing on NBC (KUSA-9) today from 6-10 p.m., is one.
The ceremony will largely be the work of film director Zhang Yimou, the man behind breakthrough historic epics “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers,” as well as “Raise the Red Lantern.” But he has never directed something on this scale. There will be more than 15,000 performers and nearly 30,000 fireworks.
GET OFF THE COUCH
Pedaling with a purpose.
The Bob Guthrie Memorial Ride around Lake Dillon on Sunday, beyond an enjoying cycle through Summit County, has two reasons for being.
First, the ride is in remembrance of a man known to many as a skier, biker and outdoorsman who died on the slopes in a February accident.
Guthrie also helped pioneer an effort to build a path around Lake Dillon, called the Swan Mountain Recpath. That leads to the ride’s second purpose. Funds raised at Sunday’s ride will go to completing the path, which would eliminate the need for cyclists to bike on the auto-heavy Swan Mountain Road.
The 75-mile ride starts at 8 a.m., with 20-mile and 10-mile rides starting later in the morning. Check for more information.
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
Favre back on Broncos’ schedule.
The reverberations from Brett Favre’s move to the New York Jets this week keep coming. Now the Broncos will be affected. The Broncos are set to face Favre and the Jets in New Jersey on Nov. 30 — some 13 months after Favre burned the Broncos for an 82-yard touchdown pass in overtime that gave the Packers a 19-13 victory last season in Denver.
November’s rematch with Favre may give the Broncos a chance to relive that horror — or live it down.
WEAK IN REVIEW
At least there were few witnesses.
The Rockies’ season may have hung in the balance Thursday with the return of pitcher Jeff Francis from a long stay on the disabled list. Francis pitched the first game of a doubleheader against the Nationals, with Ubaldo Jimenez throwing the second half.
But you wouldn’t know it to look on TV — neither game was televised. Of course, TV contracts are complex and full of contingencies. But instead of the Rockies’ games, FSN was airing reruns of “Amazing Sports Stories,” “Air Racing” and the vaunted Rockford Thunder at Akron Racers national pro fastpitch softball game.
Then, again, the Rockies’ double loss probably was better left unseen.
