MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Every father dreams of giving his child the world.

In Michael Waltrip's case, though, he has had to endure some grief for chasing his dream. First he bought a 12-theater cinema; then he bought a roller-skating rink. And before his youngest daughter, Macy, could enjoy either one of them, he gutted them both to help create Waltrip Raceworld.

"My daughter is still not happy about that. I took out a movie theater and a skating rink so far. ... That's why I had to build her an office in the place," said Waltrip, grinning.

When he's done, the office for an 9-year-old will be far from the only unique aspect of Waltrip Raceworld, which totals 142,000 in square footage between the main building where racecars are fine-tuned and the fabrication shop nearby where they are built from the chassis up.

It's a far cry from the first building that housed Michael Waltrip Racing's team in 1995. That was a modest 3,500-square foot garage behind the Waltrip family home in Sherrill's Ford, N.C. The operation included five full-time employees who referred to themselves as "Five Guys in a Garage."

Now Waltrip employs more than 200 individuals, a number that climbs "steadily and daily," according to his own press release. They don't refer to themselves as anything yet, as there are too many of them who never even see each other in passing and probably never will in the vastness of their new place of employment.

For the record, the original movie theater, which totaled 46,000 square feet, now houses the main Raceworld structure and has been expanded to 107,000 square feet. The fabrication shop, which used to be the roller rink, comprises the remaining 35,000 square feet of the facility.

The main attraction for fans will be the fact that they can purchase tickets and actually stroll through the place on an elevated walkway, watching crew chiefs and their underlings work on the cars below. Flat-screen television monitors and fancy interactive displays will be sprinkled throughout, providing fans with information about the beehive of workers below and the various tasks they will be performing on the cars right before their very eyes.

There will even be a special room displaying the five Daytona 500 trophies that Waltrip and fellow team driver Dale Jarrett own.

"I think it's like Daytona USA on steroids," was how Waltrip described it, referring to NASCAR's own interactive mini-amusement park for fans located just outside Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Jarrett, the veteran driver lured to Waltrip's world when Michael took Toyota's money and decided to run (a Nextel Cup race team, that is), was asked to compare the gleaming edifice to some of the places he's worked out of in the past during his long Cup career.

"There's just no comparison. There's really not much comparison to this place from anything that's been built in any day or time," Jarrett said. "We started out working out of garages. That's what we called 'em. Then we moved up to the point that they were race shops. I don't even think the term 'race shop' does this place justice, to say that's what we have here. We need to come up with something new."

How about "The House That Toyota Built?" Or "Sushi On Steroids?"

While Waltrip seems sensitive to the popular perception that Toyota's infusion of hard currency into his operation made this all happen, his new $20 million race home could not have sprung to life in record time (groundbreaking was April 5, 2006, and the certificate of occupancy is due to be handed over on Feb. 15) without the foreign-based automobile manufacturer's financial assistance. There is no doubt that Raceworld would not exist if not for Toyota sponsorship dollars.

Fact is, Waltrip shouldn't need to apologize for that. Along with his wife, Buffy, who provided the inspiration for much of the interior design, Michael has taken the money and built something totally unique -- at least for the time being.

It's cool and no one else yet has anything like it. He calls the section where fans can stroll through "The Experience." It includes not only the bird's-eye view of what's happening on the race-shop floor below but eventually will also offer access to the only one of the 12 original theaters that remains intact, a gift shop (naturally) and a food court complete with small bar area "where someone can grab a beer if they want." Waltrip hopes to show videotapes of actual races and other entertaining stuff in the theater and even envisions placing artificial grass and picnic tables in the place to give fans the feel that they're tailgating at a race when they visit.

And what's on the menu in the food court? Well, for now it's going to be Burger King and Domino's Pizza, of course. They are sponsors who already have ponied up, along with Toyota and others.

Jarrett insisted that it will indeed be quite an experience for all race fans who visit, but added that it will be something more, too.

"It's a great workplace and work environment for our employees," Jarrett said. "I think they're going to enjoy coming here to work. There are a lot of long hours put in, so I think it's important to give them a good environment to come work in, to ask them to do all that.

"Then to come here and do it all in front of the fans, who can actually watch them perform their duties and see all that it takes to get these cars ready and to the racetrack for the weekend, it's quite an adventure. I know that the fans are going to enjoy coming and seeing all that it takes to make this happen."

Owner Waltrip's three Cup teams -- his, Jarrett's and David Reutimann's -- will officially move into the joint by March 1. The grand opening of "The Experience" for fans will occur sometime in mid-May, held in conjunction with that month's NASCAR events at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Rick Lazes of Park Management, which partnered with Waltrip to help conceive and design "The Experience" portion of Raceworld and confirmed the place's hefty $20 million price tag, said that 250,000 fans are expected to work their way through it during the first year -- no doubt spilling out several hundred-thousand dollars or more into Waltrip's pockets as they do so.

Yet Waltrip insists that, in his world, making money is not the goal. Getting someone to simply give lots of it to you is much more important.

"I don't really have any goals, as far as how many people we'll have coming through here in a year or will it make money or not. It's not about that. It's about value added for our sponsors," Waltrip said. "We really need to do a good job of creating a data base of everyone who comes here to visit, so we can go back to our sponsors and tell them, 'Look, this is how many people came here and saw your product and saw your cars.'

"That will help us to deliver added value to our sponsors, and as an owner that's very important -- because who knows what costs will be added in the future and when sponsors might say they've had enough. If we offer them something different, we can get them signed back up and keep moving forward.

"Despite all the glitz and allure of 'The Experience' for the fans, it all goes right back to our race teams; it all goes right back to delivering added value for our sponsors, so we can keep moving forward. You have to understand that ever since I was a kid, I was a racecar driver. Building this out is so much about being a racecar driver, and not so much about being an entrepreneur or a guy who wants to make money off it."

Perhaps not. But it is about building it and believing they will come, and come again.

Not necessarily the fans; but the sponsors.

That's really who the racecar driver and especially the racecar driver who also happens to be a team owner has to please these days, and Waltrip Raceworld is well on its way to becoming the living proof.

Just ask Michael Waltrip's youngest daughter if you don't believe it.