First look into the Hall will leave fans wanting more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Anticipation was heavy Tuesday as the NASCAR Hall of Fame opened its doors to the media for a sneak preview of what the general public will get to see after the Hall opens for real on May 11.

The Hall did not disappoint.

Artifacts range from the early days of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson ...

... to the still-to-be unveiled car of first-class inductee Dale Earnhardt.

This reporter may have been disappointed in the iRacing.com race simulator, where it was a struggle to complete a single lap at Darlington without wrecking into the wall multiple times. But the Hall itself did not.

Greeting folks at the doors was Buz McKim, the HOF historian chiefly responsible for gathering so many of the great artifacts that grace the gleaming 40,000-square-foot exhibit facility.

"Welcome," he said. "This is like Christmas Day for us."

You get the idea that every day going forward will seem like Christmas for McKim and so many others who have been instrumental in making the NASCAR Hall become reality.

Asked if he has a particular artifact or display that is his favorite, Hall executive director Winston Kelley replied: "I've told folks a lot of times, it's like you're a grandfather and you've got 30 or 35 grandkids. What is your favorite grandchild or your favorite moment with one of your grandchildren? It's hard to single something like that out. I've got three or four of them that are about the history of the sport or I was involved in the acquisition of artifacts that are special to me.

"But people that come through here leave with different perspectives. I can't say there is any one thing for me; there are several for me. But there are several different ones for everyone who comes through."

One Menz take

Ready for a quick tour, from one such perspective? (That would be mine, in case you're slow on the uptake).

Upon entering, the first stop is the High Octane Theater -- a 278-seat, state-of-the-art theater where feature films about the history of NASCAR will be shown in surround sound on a 64-foot curved projection screen. The current 12-minute movie is well worth watching.

After exiting out the back of the theater, visitors will find themselves in the Great Hall, with Glory Road looming in the background. Glory Road, which features 18 historic cars on progressive banking that simulates many of 46 historic tracks also featured, is one of Kelley's personal favorites. One cool aspect of the plaques that line Glory Road and are chock-full of information about the tracks is that many of them include an actual chunk of the track featured, and it's amazing to compare the differences in various track surfaces. (Continued)