For Charlotte, NASCAR is much more than just racing, and even much more than its magnet attraction, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, set just north of the city in Cabarrus County.
It was in North Carolina’s Piedmont region that it all began—moonshiners in early stock cars outrunning the law on the Piedmont’s back roads. Today, the bulk of NASCAR drivers are based within 100 miles of Charlotte, with numerous racing shops open to the public and plenty of NASCAR attractions.
“It’s a culture,” says Judy Root, director of communications for the Cabarrus County CVB, which markets the area as the “Racing Side of Charlotte.” “We have a NASCAR art gallery, restaurants with NASCAR themes, hotels with NASCAR decor, and NASCAR museums. Lowe’s can handle groups of all sizes, and the sport adapts well to team building.”
Opened in 1960, Lowe’s Motor Speedway (704.455.3275; www.lowesmotorspeedway.com) stages three NASCAR Nextel Cup races annually, plus two Busch Series races and one Craftsman Truck Series race. Nextel races include the Nextel All-Star Challenge and Coca-Cola 600 in May and the Bank of America 500 in October.
However, with other races and everything ranging from car shows to flea markets, the speedway is used more than 300 days a year for major events.
Back-of-the-house tours that include traveling by van around the tracks are popular with fans and groups, and the speedway has eight driving schools, including the Richard Petty Driving Experience(704.455.9443; www.1800bepetty.com) and the Jeff Gordon Racing School (704.886.2400; www.jeffgordonracingschool.com). Most schools offer a range of options that can be customized for groups, from ride-alongs—at 160 mph—to one- or two-day driving programs.
Richard Petty, for example, offers ride-alongs, three- to five-hour classes, full-day racing experiences, high-performance karting, and adds-ons such as a tire-change challenge. Jeff Gordon’s programs include a half day on an autocross course, drag racing and a pit-stop challenge.
The speedway’s largest off-site spaces are the Nextel Cup and Busch garages, each of which measure 22,000 square feet and are ideal for corporate social events, sales meetings, trade shows, training, or theme parties. Its Time Warner Media Center features theater-style seating for up to 100 guests. High above the front stretch, adjoining suites hold 128 guests. In addition, the track’s Speedway Club also offers a variety of meeting space, entertainment and special event options.
Events can be customized with stock car ride-alongs, games and simulators.
Aside from Lowe’s, the region dishes out plenty of other racing-themed attractions, team-building possibilities and venue options.
Concord Mills shopping center, located near the speedway, revs it up for groups with NASCAR SpeedPark (704.979.6770; www.nascarspeedpark.com), which has event rooms, five speed tracks, simulators, and several other activities.
Checker Flag Lightning’s NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway (704.979.7223; www.smsonline.com), which features racing simulators and team building, can handle group events of up to 100 people.
In summer 2005, the Cabarrus County CVB launched the Dale Trail (www.daletrail.com) as a tribute to Dale Earnhardt, who died tragically in the 2001 Daytona 500. The effort includes signage, banners, brochures, and a dedicated website.
Root explains that more and more visitors were coming to see Earnhardt’s hometown and other sites related to the racing legend.
“We connected the dots,” she says.
The trail features several points of interest, including Earnhardt’s hometown of Kannapolis; Dale Earnhardt Plaza, with its nine-foot bronze statue of Earnhardt; Dale Earnhardt Tribute Center, showcasing murals by motorsports artist Sam Bass that depict Earnhardt’s career; Richard Childress Racing, the home shop for Earnhardt’s team and his No. 3 car; and Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
In Mooresville, Dale Earnhardt Inc. (704.662.8000; www.daleearnhardtinc.com), also on the trail, is home to five NASCAR teams and features exhibit areas with everything from Earnhardt’s trophies to mementos of his career and his car collection. Three venue spaces are available: a 6,000-square-foot public showroom of racing memorabilia, an interior showroom and a trophy room for smaller groups.
Also in Mooresville, Pit Instruction and Training (704.799.3869; www.5off5on.com) trains pit crews, offers tours and has 11,000 square feet of space available for meetings and events. It also provides pit crew team-building programs for corporate groups, including seminars and daylong training sessions.
Meanwhile, most of the race shops where cars are built and tested are open to the public, with special viewing areas, gift shops and self-guided tours. Some also have museums. The race shops give visitors a chance to see how race cars are built and maybe even watch a team practice pit stops.
But whether it’s Lowe’s garages or a small shop, planners can be sure of one thing, Root says: “These places are spotless and immaculate. They call Dale Earnhardt Inc. the ‘Garage Mahal.’”
