NASCAR Hall of Fame to feature nearly 1,000 artifacts
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The NASCAR Hall of Fame is slated to open in 2010 in downtown Charlotte.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
CHARLOTTE – The NASCAR Hall of Fame will feature nearly 1,000 artifacts on display, a theater screen that is 65 feet wide and 15 feet high and a video wall with 64 plasma-screen televisions.
Visitors will carry a card or wristband that has a computer chip in it that they may use to activate certain interactive parts of the museum, such as the racing simulation area.
NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley revealed some of the exhibit plans Monday at a meeting of the Charlotte City Council. The city of Charlotte owns the museum, which is scheduled to open in April or May 2010. The exhibit budget is $31 million.
The theater where people will get an introduction to the hall of fame will have 270 seats, and races also will be shown in that theater on the 65-by-15 screen.
Kelley hopes the 10,000-square-foot main floor will have a feeling similar to New York’s Times Square, and plans call for different exhibits in May and October so fans coming to the Charlotte races can see something different each time. That area could also be used for private receptions and charity events.
The inductee area will have a spire for each inductee that will include the video of the inductee’s historical background, a photo of the inductee and a quote about the inductee. The current year’s inductees – NASCAR will induct five annually – will be in the middle of the inductee area, while the past inductees will be near the wall and likely eventually encircle the area of current inductees.
The artifacts to be used for each inductee will not be revealed until the induction ceremony for that honoree, Kelley said.
“There will be cases that go with [each inductee],” Kelley said following the meeting. “The cases will have anything from their physical artifacts [such as] their uniforms [and] helmets, but you’d also look to get something that talks about the history of that individual, something behind scenes.
“If you took somebody like [Dale] Earnhardt, you’d like to have something that represents that he’s an outdoorsman, showing the personal aspect of the individual.”
In addition to the area honoring inductees, there will be an area dedicated to a week in the life of a NASCAR team from preparing the car through the race-day experience. Another floor will be dedicated to the history of the sport.
Cars that are on display on the walkway ramp throughout the museum likely will be changed out every two years, Kelley said, while select artifacts will be rotated out every three or six months. Kelley said the hall of fame has a database of 2,500 artifacts that it has talked to people about either being donated or loaned to the hall. All of the donations will be to a foundation set up for the hall of fame.
The chip given to guests will allow them to participate in the interactive portions of the museum and will keep track of the person’s progress and abilities in things such as the racing simulation game, the pit-crew experience area and a possible racing trivia area. Kelley said he hopes that guests can then go to the hall of fame Web site, enter a code and call up their results. And if guests return to the hall, they could resume participation at interactive areas at the point they stopped the previous time.
“The ones who have the fastest lap when they’re first through [the racing] simulator, every so often they can come back and race against other people [at the same level],” Kelley said following the council meeting.
The council will vote April 13 on awarding contracts for exhibit builders, the most well known to race fans being iRacing.com – owned by Roush-Fenway Racing co-owner John Henry (who also owns the Boston Red Sox) – handling the racing simulation software.
Electrosonic Inc., whose projects have included the World of Coke in Atlanta and the National Constitution Center, will handle the video components. Kubik Maltibe, whose work includes the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, will fabricate and install the exhibits. The two companies have worked together on several projects with hall of fame exhibit designer Ralph Applebaum Associates.
One item that could be an issue at the April 13 meeting is the warranty on the exhibit work. The current plan is for a one-year warranty on most of their work, and one council member is asking for a warranty of five years or 1 million visitors.
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10 responses to "NASCAR Hall of Fame to feature nearly 1,000 artifacts". Post a Comment.
Cathy Rooks said:
Mar 24, 2009 at 2:47 PMNow maybe they will stop having the year end awards in New York and start having them there in Charlotte! Makes sense to me!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportDoc Lehman said:
Mar 24, 2009 at 4:15 PMCathy: Don't hold your breath. All the money is in New York and we all know that Nascar could care less about what the fans want. They are in for the BIG $$$$$$$$
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPriscilla Bartels said:
Mar 24, 2009 at 5:19 PMI agree they will pay no attention to all of us in the south where racing started.I see no reason why it has to be held in New York where they have no love for NASCAR,and have called the fans hillbillies and such with no education,we are the only ones really who spend money at the races my son goes to everyone close to Fla. even though he cannot really afford to go to many of them he goes at least 5 times a year and never misses a one on TV. Tony Stewart being his fave driver. and Bobby Labonte mine and my ggrandson has his uncles favorite no 29 being as how his uncle passed away at 46 and he called him his daddy.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMax Finkelberg said:
Mar 24, 2009 at 5:52 PMWOW!!!!!! This should be interesting. VERY interesting.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPeter Riggs said:
Mar 24, 2009 at 5:57 PMLooking forward to seeing it on my visit from Australia. Have put back my visit to wait until the HOF is open. Being a nascar fan here in Aus for 20 odd years I am very very much looking forward to getting over there to see it. Any other aussie fans or anyone want to catch up let me know. Pete
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» Confirm Abuse ReportRon Bleile said:
Mar 24, 2009 at 9:39 PMI can't wait until this place opens.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportDARRELL COFFEY said:
Mar 25, 2009 at 11:01 AMI ORDERED MY BRICK,I'M EXCITED AND WAITING FOR THE HOF TO OPEN.I WONDER IF THEY WILL HAVE A WORKING MOONSHINE STILL AND THE CARS FROM THAT ERA TO SHOW THE REAL ROOTS OF STOCK CAR RACING.THAT WOULD BE COOL.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportKyle Newton said:
Mar 26, 2009 at 11:07 AMI should be a nascar driver so i can have more cars than i need and a big house, all the chocolate I want and a lot of Fans. Im a few months younger than Logano people who comment after me tell me how many fans i would have if I had 4 cup wins at 18 years old.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportterry ruth said:
Mar 28, 2009 at 5:05 PM#7 DARREL it won't matter the old school fans will not go and the new ESPN era fans are clueless....they think it all started with Earnhardt ....so it really doesn't matter what they put in.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportTom Collins said:
Mar 29, 2009 at 10:47 AMWill there be any blurry pics from you know who?
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