After a year of competition with four other cities, Charlotte, NC will be the home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR’s first Hall of Fame will be built in downtown Charlotte, within miles of the garages and sprawling mansions that make the region an epicenter of the sport.
The selection of Charlotte for the site of the $107.5 million hall ended a yearlong race featuring four other cities. The hall is expected to lure hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans annually, and officials hope it will open in 2009.
“In the end, you look at what’s going to be best in the long run,” NASCAR chairman Brian France told a crowd of about 1,000 people at the city’s convention center Monday.
The remaining finalists were Daytona Beach, Fla., and Atlanta. Richmond, Va., and Kansas City, Kan., were eliminated earlier.
Charlotte was the perfect fit for many reasons:
Charlotte’s proximity to the heart of the sport was cited repeatedly by supporters. Lowe’s Motor Speedway in suburban Concord is home to the longest race on the Nextel Cup circuit, the Memorial Day weekend Coca-Cola 600, and has long hosted NASCAR’s annual all-star race.
Nearly all the top race teams are headquartered in the communities north of the city, and many top drivers own luxury condominiums in downtown Charlotte or palatial homes on nearby Lake Norman. Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of the most popular drivers, lives nearby and has said Charlotte should get the hall.
Here’s an artist’s rendering of what the NASCAR Hall of Fame will look like (the background in this photo gives a better view). Here’s a photo of our happy Mayor Pat McCrory - a RINO, but a nice guy who’ll be mayor forever if he wants to be.
Congrats to the City of Charlotte and NASCAR fans, of which there are VERY many 
Comment by forest hunter @ 3/6/2006 - 6:55 pm
You can bet my parents will be there when it’s finished.
Comment by Baklava @ 3/6/2006 - 7:10 pm
CONGRATULATIONS Charlotte!!! I think it is an omen from God to move to NC.
- Lorica
Comment by Lorica @ 3/6/2006 - 7:44 pm
BTW That LOOOKS SOOOO AWESOME!!!
Comment by Lorica @ 3/6/2006 - 7:50 pm
I don’t get this. You Rightwing Republicans are all about not wasting taxpayer dollars, yet you all support Charlotte spending $150 million in public taxes to build a NASCAR museum? If we can spend $150 million taxpayer dollars on a NASCAR Museum and $500 billion dollars on a worthless and unnecessary war in Iraq, why can’t we afford to give all of our citizens an affordable universal health care system? Peace
Comment by steve @ 3/7/2006 - 10:30 am
steve, there is no such thing as affordable FREE health care for everyone. There are so many people who abuse the system as it is. I remember the emergency rooms in Los Angeles having great financial problems because Illegal Aliens and other uninsured people were taking ambulances to the emergency rooms to get simple checkups or get treated for a minor illness like a cold.
On the other hand, if we had never spent money on defense and fighting the wars we did, we’d never have ever heard from you because you would never have existed or be able to post your “stuff”.
Comment by PCD @ 3/7/2006 - 10:45 am
- They won’t need any health care if they’re dead. Defense comes first. Liberty
- Bang
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 3/7/2006 - 10:45 am
Defense only comes first to paranoid warmongers. For the rest of us normal Americans an affordable–Not Free- Universal Care System is in order. Any of you ever read the “Little Train Who Could”? That’s a story about people who believe in themselves and aren’t afraid to junk the Department of Defense for the Department of Peace. Nobody would have had their head sawed off had bush not illegally invaded Iraq. Peace
Comment by steve @ 3/7/2006 - 4:18 pm
In Response to steves idiotic remarks.
Junk the departmeny of defense. Are you in the Military? If not then shut the heck up be cause you obviously have no clue. If so, then your probably the John Kerry, disgrace type.
Comment by Jim @ 3/7/2006 - 6:30 pm
Steve just called 500,000 lives worthless. (the number of bodies found in mass graves) Steve why are you so hateful toward the people of Iraq?? Why can’t they be free too?? You so need to turn from your idiotic ways, and really get a grasp on Jesus. - Lorica
Comment by Lorica @ 3/7/2006 - 7:33 pm
The Department of “Defense” is about Peace through strength.
Steve admitted a few months ago that he was FOR a woman’s kids being killed because he would’ve done NOTHING in defense of the children above the pleading the woman was doing when the man was killing her children. His conscience must be killing him.
Comment by Baklava @ 3/7/2006 - 9:29 pm