22 June 2010

At long last - NASCAR HOF

As promised, here's the blog post on the NASCAR HOF.

When you enter, there's an exhibit of the various cars through the years. If you aren't paying attention, it seems as it the cars are just on a really cool inclining curve. However, for those who stop to - ahem - READ the signs that are posted (MOM, I'm talking to YOU!), you'll note that the incline is marked and represents the grade of different tracks on the circuit. And when the incline reaches 33ยบ, there's a section where you can walk on the "track" - or, rather, attempt to. This isn't a great pic, because it's hard to see the whole "track" and the grade in a one-dimensional pic, but I think you can get the general idea:


On the floors above are exhibit halls. They had some of Dale Earnhardt's personal items, some of the cars, and the trophies. Mom and I got a kick out of the difference between the trophies from back in the day and now. Between exhibit rooms, they had hallways filled with memorabilia you can look at. And interspersed are placards with various drivers and owners who have allegedly made an impact on the sport. I say "allegedly" because at one point, I heard Mom say, "Oh my God," and I said, "What?" She said, "You'll see when you get here." About five seconds later, I said, "Holy crap. They'll let anyone in here."


There's a really great interactive area where you can practice being a jackman; try your hand at play-by-play (I wanted Mom to be Mike Joy to my DW, but she refused. She said she'd sit there and pretend while I did it by myself, but I thought it be lame to just do all the talking.); and there's a HUGE ASS board where you can see the owner's points, driver's points, manufacturer's points and how they can move around from race to race based on bonus points, etc. There were race car simulators where you could race your friends and family. And there's a Lowe's hauler you can walk through. (And unlike when I was at the grounds of Hendrick, I did not kiss the ground that Chad Knaus walked on. I knew this was a replica hauler. So shaddup.) And there's a Lowe's pit box. Where the genius that is Chad Knaus sits and works.

They really maximised all the space. For instance, even the elevator had an exhibit showing the evolution of the NASCAR logo throughout the years. And in the area in front of the stairwell, they had an exhibit showing the evolution of the firesuits throughout the years.

Please click here to take a look at the (over 100) pics I took at the HOF. I've barely touched on all of the things that are there, including the hilarious offer that DW made when a bunch of drivers all anted up when some stuff in one of the garaged mysteriously walked away. There are some really lovely tributes to fallen NASCAR comrades that I captured, and I hope you won't miss those. But I've tried to use this space to capture the entire feel of the HOF, albeit (somewhat) briefly knowing that not all of my readers are NASCAR fans.

In the coming days: a look at some recent knitted finished objects and a tribute to Michael Jackson on the anniversary of his death.

2 comments:

  1. As a friend and reader who's not a NASCAR fan, I appreciate your explaining this Stuff You Care A Lot About.

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  2. "stuff you care a lot about" ? Seriously, where are your friends priorities?

    ReplyDelete