Top > Sport > 2006 > March > 2006-03-09

NASCAR Hall of Fame to Find Home in Charlotte, NC

NASCAR announced earlier this week that it will build a sleek shrine to the sport`s greatest "paint-traders and leadfoots" in the heart of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. The selection of Charlotte as the site for the hall, to be built at a cost of $107.5 million, ended a yearlong competition against four other cities for an attraction expected to lure hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans annually.

NASCAR chairman Brian France told a crowd of about 1,000 people at the city`s convention center the good news. "In the end, you look at what`s going to be best in the long run. And so I`m happy to tell you today the NASCAR Hall of Fame is going to be right here in Charlotte, North Carolina." The news came as a disappointment to finalists Daytona Beach, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia. Richmond, Virginia and Kansas City, Kansas also submitted bids for the hall, but were cut earlier this year.

Ground on the new hall is, as per the agreement between NASCAR and Charlotte, to be broken by the spring of 2007 with the grand opening for the Hall of Fame occurring no later than March 31, 2010. Charlotte`s Convention and Visitors Bureau is set to operate the NASCAR hall under a contract that runs until at least 2038. Mr. France said "All the sites had different benefits. In the end, there were too many benefits to ignore here in Charlotte."