Road Trip: NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte
Opened in 2010, the 150,000-square-foot hall is a shrine to all things NASCAR. Actual race cars, touch screen exhibits, countless videos, a theater, fascinating artifacts and lots of hands-on activities make for an incredibly active visit. There's always something new to look at, to learn about and to do.
Posted — UpdatedOther than my father-in-law, I don't come from a big family of NASCAR fans. I'm aware of the various names and personalities. And I even went to a race - at the Martinsville Speedway - many years ago, courtesy of my husband's dad.
But my kids don't know much about the drivers or the cars. They've seen glimpses of races on the TV, but that's been just about their only exposure. In fact, when noted NASCAR historian Buz McKim asked one of my daughters who their favorite driver was, she said, "Is there a Dale Ear-and-hard Jr.?" Apologies to Earnhardt fans. That's how she pronounced it.
The venue, McKim tells me, traces the history of NASCAR from the turn of the century as the sport progressed to the need to form a unified series of races in the 1940s.
We started out, thankfully, in the so-called High Octane Theater, a 278-seat theater that features a movie that explains the history of NASCAR. It gave all of us a great foundation to understand what we'd see as we walked through the exhibits with McKim as our guide.
From there, visitors walk through the Great Hall, which features rotating exhibits, and the Glory Road, a banked ramp with more than a dozen historic cars. At points along the ramp, steps lead visitors up onto the ramp to see how steep they really get on actual tracks. From there, the Hall of Fame includes the Hall of Honor, where you can learn more about the inductees, and, a Heritage Speedway, which features artifacts from the past 60-plus years.
But, if my kids could have spent a day there, they would have been fully stationed in the Race Week exhibit, an incredibly interactive area that gives visitors a behind-the-scene glimpse of what a NASCAR team does to get a car ready for race day.
Here's what my kids could have done over and over again:
We were here for about three hours. My kids could have loved another three hours.
The museum in downtown Charlotte is open daily. And you'll never know who you'll see here - members of a band with a big show in Charlotte, current and retired NASCAR drivers and more are regular guests. Tickets are $19.95 for adults and $12.95 for kids ages 5 to 12 with discounts for seniors and military. Everything is included except the Simulator, which is $5 per person.
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