A Step Back In Time
I decided to take a stroll down toward Concord over the weekend to get over my withdrawals of the local winter shutdown of racing activity. Since I’m not originally from this area, I had to do some good ol’ investigative work with Mr. Google and I figured starting out in the Concord area would reveal some good results related to racing. (Good thinking on my part, huh? I seem to pick up on stuff like that rather quickly!)
I printed out a list of a couple of places and off I went. When I arrived at Hendrick’s Motor Sports Complex I had to sneak up to the door to see if they were open – I was the only one there and the door was unlocked! Now I’ve never followed NASCAR that much, (right now I’m ducking to miss the barrage of beer bottles thrown at me by the locals,) but I can tell you just about anything you want to know about Drag Racing or Motocross. I’m anxious to see how many races they’ll have at the new drag strip in Concord this next summer. Fat chance of me getting close enough to get some good shots though! That place is HUGE as in REALLY REALLY BIG – like Disney world kind of BIG! Oh well………..back to Hendrick’s……….The very first thing I see when I get in the door – by the way the store/museum part is free – is this really nice 5-window coupe. I stopped for a second and thought I heard the Beach Boys playing on the loudspeaker system. I always liked the chopped 34 3-window version better, but I would still take a nice 5-window any day.
32 Five Window Coupe
Once I got focused again on where I was at, I noticed a long line of USED race cars. Kinda reminded me of a dealership showroom, only I wasn’t getting harassed by any salesmen! I can just hear them now………”but it was only driven on Sundays and has really low mileage!” Behind each car, a hermetically sealed showcase contained items worn by the driver, awards and other advertising material. This place actually showed up in Google under a search for “Car Museums.” I bet if we would have had Mr. Google around when I was a kid in school, our field trips would have been a lot more exciting than the ones I used to skip out of!
Once I got done ogling all of the cars (and of course snapping gigabites of pictures) I finally reached the end of the first row. There was a mock-up of a drivers seat and roll cage right next to Ken Schrader’s Budweiser car. The one he crashed in 1995 at Talledega Super speedway on July 23rd. He crashed with 50 laps to go and ended up finishing in 32nd place. After the car got done rolling and flipping he was able to break camp and get out of Dodge! Thanks to the safety equipment he escaped with only some sore muscles and bruises. Aren’t you impressed with my Nascar Knowledge? (I could tell you I didn’t look at the placard in front of the car, but I wont!)
Kinda looks like a sub-compact after Kenny’s slight mishap!
Ken Schrader's Budweiser car
The next item I found was “THE WALL.” Here I found the heart of NASCAR. Carbs, Intakes, Magnetos, Dry sump systems, vavles, springs and cams. From my drag racing days, this is where your wallet gets really starts to get thin! Then the complete engine on the end. I guess this is where the cubic dollars$$$ comes in to play.
On around the corner – more cars, more cars and racing goodies to further thin your wallet out.
NASCAR Engines
On the way out was the last display – what makes it all worth it – the trophy display. I can’t say much about this part. I have my own collection of drag racing and motocross trophy’s too – all costing thousands of dollars and worth much more in priceless memories!
Hendricks Motor Sports Museum
