MORRISON, Colo. (KDVR) — Every Wednesday from April to October, Bandimere Speedway in Morrison lets you be a race car driver. All drivers with any kind of car are welcome to test their speed on the drag strip.
One woman who likes to race is not letting her age slow her down.
There is a natural rhythm to life. An ebb and flow we tend to stick to. Janet Colville spends a couple hours every day in her own kind of rhythm, making towels and wraps by hand at her loom.
“It’s very meditative just going back and forth,” Colville said.
But as much as the retired grandmother loves to weave, she admits it is not exactly the most thrilling hobby.
“It gets a little boring,” Colville said.
For many people, when life becomes routine, and the patter predictable, it is easy to let time pass you by.
“People are working 16 hours a day at their jobs and they have nothing to go back to except maybe a meal and a bed and then they start over again,” Colville said.
It is a pattern she refuses to follow. So she trades the pedal at her loom for the pedal of her car, as a race car driver at Bandimere Speedway.
“She’s probably the most regular, regular we have,” Bandimere staff member Ray Giadone said.
Colville started racing two summers ago, when she was 69.
“She’s not sitting at home and knitting,” Debbie Bandimere said. “I mean she does that too actually. That’s funny! But she loves to come out and the adrenaline rush.”
If you think a 71-year-old race car driving grandma is the most unique thing going down the track at Bandimere Speedway, think again. Colville drives a 2015 Toyota Prius she affectionately named Persephone.
“All my friends think I’m a little crazy, but they admire me for doing it. For taking the chance and for doing something that’s just different than the run-of-the-mill book club, which I belong to. Or study group, which I belong to,” Colville said. “This just gets my blood going.”
She does not have the fastest car, or the loudest one. She simply races to have fun.
“She has more fun racing than anybody out here,” Giadone said.
Colville said her unique hobby helps keep her young and her mind sharp. She encourages everyone to become more involved in activities as they age.
“Go out and find something you enjoy. It doesn’t matter what it is,” Colville said. “Something that just gets you excited.”
Because, in the end, it is not the routines of life we remember. It is the times we break them.
“Do something outrageous. Do something that you would never ever dream that you would ever do. Just do it,” Colville said.