Don Chalmers, Tucumcari racino investor, dies

link Don Chalmers

QCS Staff

Don Chalmers, the Albuquerque auto dealer who was also the principal partner in the Coronado Park Racetrack and Casino proposed for Tucumcari, died Sunday after a two-year bout with cancer, according to a news release from Don Chalmers Ford, a dealership he owned in Albuquerque.

“He has been the driving force behind this project for the last seven years and will continue to be the driving force in spirit,” Warren Frost, chair of the Quay County Gaming Authority, which had been working to bring the racetrack and casino to Tucumcari, said. “We believe that Don's family will continue to be involved in the project.”

Frost said “appropriate steps” have been taken to ensure that Chalmer's death will not affect plans to build the racetrack/casino in Tucumcari.

“On a personal level,” Frost said, “those of us who have gotten to know Don over the last several years are devastated by the loss of our mentor and friend.”

Funeral arrangements for Chalmers are incomplete.

Chalmers, a native of Tulsa, Okla., moved to New Mexico eighteen years ago. He was the owner of Don Chalmers Ford in Rio Rancho and Chalmers Capitol Ford Lincoln in Santa Fe. He also maintained active involvement in and charitable support of organizations in the Rio Rancho, Santa Fe and Albuquerque communities that work with education, healthcare, economic development and community service.