NASCAR HALL OF FAME

Website

Admission Price: $27 (adults)

501 South College Street, Charlotte (use 400 East MLK Blvd. in the GPS)

Visited in 2023

Visited 2012, 2013 & 2017

Hours--10am-5pm (7 days a week)

Wi-Fi? No

Hero Cards? No

Videos: https://youtu.be/PgRY8kCKmOU https://youtu.be/m_bXEC3mhJA

Overview--There's just SO MUCH to do and see here! Basically, the building it set up in a circular shape, and there's four floors. The first floor is essentially just a lobby. Your ticket is actually a "Hard Card", which you can register in order to score points at all the various experiences.  The second floor has a "welcoming" film, which I'd highly recommend if there's any Nascar newbies in your group. Around the second floor is "Glory Road", a banked, elevated "track" with cars ranging from the moonshinin' days to today. There's also a "Pit Stop" cafe that sells average food for decent prices, and a rotating exhibit of historic cars.  The third floor features the actual hall of fame, with a focus on that year's inductees. After that, there is the Race Week exhibit, which shows you (and allows you to experience) virtually EVERYTHING that goes into a race. From car set-ups to actual pit-stops to haulers to engines, it's all there to be seen and experienced. I tried virtually all of it, though I skipped the simulators (which cost extra).

The fourth floor is the Heritage Speedway, and this is where the Hall really shines through. You'll find something on just about everything in the sport's history here. Not just the big names, either. There's even some information on some of the sport's "rogues", like Curtis Turner and Tim Richmond. You can check out the closest calls in Nascar history, see the safer barrier portion that Michael McDowell destroyed at Texas, even an actual 76 gasoline orange ball porthole from Daytona!

Ratings--

To See and Do: 5+ you could literally spend all day here with all there is to see and do!  Plenty of interactive exhibits are included in your ticket price.

Accessibility: 5 I don't think there's anything they missed here--from the sport's history to the process of getting ready for a race to the race itself, everything is covered and VERY interactive.

Gift Shop: 4 the gift shop has a LOT to buy, but unfortunately most of it is rather on the expensive side and runs a few dollars more than it would online or at the track.

Friendliness of Staff: 2 this was the only real demerit on my last trip.  It took far too long to buy my tickets because the one person working the booth seemed very overwhelmed and out of her depth.  Also, the gift shop crew seemed more interested in talking to each other than fans.

Final Verdict--See it, this is not to be missed!

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