The Search Is On For Items To Showcase In New NASCAR HOF

NASCAR HOF Seeking Souvenirs, Memorabilia To Fill Facility

The NASCAR HOF is scheduled to open by March 31, 2010, and museum historian Buz McKim must “find thousands of ... souvenirs –- each with a story about the sport and its culture,” according to a front-page piece by David Perlmutt of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. McKim, a former ISC archivist, wants “‘actually raced’ cars from each NASCAR era,” as well as helmets, race suits, boots and gloves from famous drivers and posters from historic races. He said that the HOF “won’t ignore the sport’s distant origins in moonshine running during Prohibition.” McKim: “Moonshine did not beget NASCAR. But some early drivers were rum runners. The sport used a lot of the technology found on their cars.” Perlmutt reported the search “will begin in earnest at summer’s end,” and the HOF “doesn’t plan to buy artifacts, but acquire them through donations or loans.” HOF Exec Dir Winston Kelley said that the hall will talk to team museums or other racing museums “about rotating exhibits and designing tours where fans visit the hall, then team operations and museums” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/19).

A COKE AND A SMILE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Betsy McKay reports the $96M New World of Coca-Cola museum opens to the public Thursday. Coca-Cola estimates around a million people will visit the museum annually, which is located about a mile from its corporate HQs in Atlanta (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/21).