The NASCAR Hall of Fame was designated to be built in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 6, 2006 and groundbreaking began in 2007. It is projected to be opened for visitors in 2010. The Hall of Fame will be a welcome asset for tourism in Charlotte plus create jobs for the locals. It will have an office building that will house the business operations of marketing the NASCAR image and licensing. The NASCAR Hall of Fame has also adopted the words Racing was built here Racing belongs here as its slogan.
Besides being a very modern building that captures the spirit of racing, the NASCAR Hall of Fame has as its first mission to pick the first inductees. There are some unofficial Hall of Fame sites where people are taking polls and we will take a look at some of the popular drivers getting voted for.
Lee Petty had 54 victories and is the father of Richard Petty. He raced during the 1950s an 1960s when NASCAR really began to take off. His home state is also that of the NASCAR Hall of Fame: North Carolina. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, and elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
Richard Petty is getting a lot of votes at unofficial NASCAR Hall of Fame sites and it is to no surprise. Richard Petty has 200 wins and 7 championship titles. He and Dale Earnhardt are the only two drivers in NASCAR history to have 7 championship titles. Richard Petty was dubbed the title of the King of Racing. He is the son of Lee Petty who was also a championship NASCAR driver.
Bobby Allison is another well-known name is racing. He has 84 victories with 3 Daytona 500 championships.
Cale Yarborough has 83 victories plus he is famous as being the only driver to win 3 straight championships. He is ranked 5th in the All-time NASCAR winners list. He has also been the winner of the Daytona 500 four times.
Bobby Isaac had to leave a race in 1977 because of heat exhaustion. During the time they were treating him he had a heart attack and died. In his short life of 45 years, he would achieve 37 victories. He would also set 28 world land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah (outside of the NASCAR competition). He would eventually be named as one of 50 of the all-time great NASCAR drivers. He is also a 1979 inductee of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.
There are other NASCAR driver greats being considered including Buck Backer, Clay Earls, Tim Flock, and Junior Johnson.
Charlotte, North Carolina is a perfect location for the NASCAR Hall of Fame because there are over 50 teams of the Busch, Craftsman Truck, and Nextel Cup Series Championship competition all in close proximity to Charlotte. And Charlotte was the home of the first premier NASCAR race in 1949. Thats why they say racing started in Charlotte and should remain in Charlotte.
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