Fans flock to Hall opening, revel in NASCAR's pastime

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- One of the happiest people at the NASCAR Hall of Fame grand opening was someone who hadn't yet been through the doors.

Daniel Caudill, 14, made the trip to Charlotte from his family's home in Wilkes County, N.C., at least an hour's drive away. With him were dad, Chris, mom, Diane and sister, Ashley. All were smiling despite getting pelted by a persistent rain shower, but it was Daniel whose grin shone brightest. This is the fan on which NASCAR's foundation is built, the youngster with a lifetime of fervor for the sport ahead of him.

Grand Opening

• Menzer: A celebration
• Doors officially open
• Blog: From the scene
• Photo Gallery: Opening
• Complete story archive
• HOF: Special Coverage

SPEED Special

• Part 1: Open door to history
• Part 2: First-class look
• Part 3: Reliving moments

On his T-shirt were a number of autographs from the stars of the show who happened to pass by. A freshman at Wilkes Early College High School in Wilkesboro, N.C., the young man has even put together a blog featuring extensive driver biographies. Others might very well have been just this side of miserable standing there in the rain, soaking wet, with no umbrella.

Not Daniel Caudill. Not on this day. Not here. Not at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

"I love the family aspect of it and the environment when you go to places like this," Daniel said. In his zeal, there was no doubt he wasn't just trying to score points with mom and dad. "I'm planning on going into NASCAR."

Be careful, Daniel, what you ask for. He's not quite mapped out his particular career path yet, whether it be in NASCAR as a journalist, official or some other capacity. Whatever the case might be, he was looking forward to making it through the doors.

"I'm looking forward to the historic aspect of it, being able to learn more about the drivers and the history to add on to my knowledge of the sport," Daniel said.

In Daniel's expectations is the root of what the NASCAR Hall of Fame is all about. This is a place about history, about how NASCAR rose out of the dirt back roads and pastures of the Southeast. It's about Bill France Sr. and Red Byron, Junior Johnson, Richard Petty and Curtis Turner. It's about Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

It's about an unequaled passion for a sport and its heroes.

Those who visited the NASCAR Hall of Fame came from all walks of life. There were newer fans like Daniel and older ones like Pawley's Island, S.C.'s Mike Morris, who has been in love with the sport since attending his first race at a local dirt track in 1957.

"Drivers didn't have any fear," Morris said. "They just had a leather belt on, holding them in. They would go over the wall, sparks flying and they'd climb to the top of the hill and start waving their hand that they were alright."

His first favorite driver was Fireball Roberts. When he really wants "to put on the dog with racing," Morris will sport a Fireball Roberts T-shirt when he goes to the track. After Roberts lost his life due to injuries he sustained in a 1964 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Morris became a Cale Yarborough fan. After that hard-as-nails driver retired, it was on to another one, Dale Earnhardt. (Continued)