There are certain
things that the South lays claim to…we love big hair, fried catfish, Paula
Deen and NASCAR just to name a few.
Southerners take great pride in their heritage, history and high
cholesterol. It’s not good, it’s not
bad…it’s just the way it is and who we are.
New York and NASCAR
sound like they go together about as well as oil and water do, but you might be
surprised that Yankees think rubbin’ is racin’ too. Nielson Media reports that in 2010, New York
City came in behind Atlanta as the second
biggest market for network broadcasts of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
races. That’s a stat I would have never
guessed. With the push to get a track built in NYC, there’s a chance New Yorkers won’t have to settle for watching cars make laps on television, they can see it in person.
My & Brett’s television
careers have put us in the path of several NASCAR drivers. Brett interviewed Tony Stewart and Mark
Martin and I’ve talked with Mark Martin, Jack Roush and Matt Kenseth before. (Mark is a good ol’ Arkansas boy…he’s from Batesville
and is a real sweet guy!)
Me & Mark bck in the day…2003 I think.
The only NASCAR race
I have ever been to turned out to be a memorable one…I was in Pit Row at the
Daytona 500 in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt crashed on the last lap. I wasn’t real familiar with NASCAR or the
environment then, but it didn’t take much to understand the loss that the sport
suffered.
When Brett and I were
in Charlotte visiting his parents for the holidays, we knew we had to check out
the new NASCAR Hall of Fame. The
marketing department generously allowed us to come tour the new
facilities…thanks y’all! Since
apparently there are so many New
Yorkers that are into NASCAR, we knew we had to share our experiences.
The Hall of Fame
opened in May and is housed in a new 390,000 square foot building in downtown
Charlotte. From the street, it sort of looks
like the side of a giant tire! No one
needed to tell me to start my engines…Brett and I hit the ground running as
soon as we were in the door!
Our first pit stop
was to check out Glory Road. Located
near the front of the entrance, Glory Road is a collection of 18 historic cars
and shows how automobiles have developed and advanced over time. The cool thing is that they’re all set on a
strip of track that mimics the various degrees of banking found in NASCAR. Glory Road actually starts out flat (like the
beaches the cars raced on) and ends at an impressive 33 degree incline (just
like Talladega). The exhibit also
featured information on 46 current and historic tracks, so Brett had a lot to
read!
Fame is just around the curve from Glory Road and there’s quite a collection of
memorabilia for those inducted. The Inaugural
Class of 2010 honored Junior Johnson, Bill France Jr., Bill France Sr., Richard
Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Seeing
Earnhardt’s #3 car reminded me of that February afternoon in Florida nearly 10
years ago. The Hall of Fame has screens above each inductee that show highlights of their careers.
The second floor of
the Hall of Fame is where things start to get fun! Almost all of it is completely interactive so it’s a great
place for kids (and grown men!) We got
take a look at how NASCAR operates behind the scenes during a race week…everything
from touring a car hauler (pic on left) to how cars get ready to race. There were some pretty cool exhibits featuring some of the original timing devices used in the early racing days in Daytona.
We even got to practice our broadcasting skills by calling a race! All I could think to say was “Hit the Pace Car, Cole! Hit the Pace Car!” Kisses to Jerry Bruckheimer for that golden nugget! My husband would have been mortified of my commentary, except that he was bustin’ out a few lines of his own with outburst of “Shake ‘n Bake!” every 5 seconds. Yes, we were those adults.
There were some cool qualifying simulators and lots of Hall of Fame volunteers around to help us figure out what to do and which direction to go next.
Brett even had his chance to polish his pit
crew skills! He managed to jack up the car,
“change” the tire and refuel in about 29 seconds. Funny how he’s never that fast in real life? The staff at the HoF told us they have a guy who comes nearly every day on his lunch break and practices the routine…he’s down to 19 seconds! Not too shabby, considering a NASCAR pit stop crew does it in about 12-13 seconds.
The third floor of the Hall of Fame features tons of artifacts from NASCAR’s 60+ year history. The museum had a great collection of items from the early NASCAR drivers, but I really enjoyed looking at the stuff from drivers I recognized from today. We saw everything from a piece of the start/finish line from the Bristol Motor Speedway, as presented to Terry Labonte, to Ryan Newman’s 2008 Daytona 500 trophy.
*Special thanks to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for generously providing admission. Thanks y’all…we loved it!
Photography image credits: Heather Flanigan, Brett Garrett. Graphic image credit: NASCAR Hall of Fame.
