Nascar Hall of Fame?

[monsoon]

Last time I checked Arnold was still governer of that state who managed to get in during an off year referendum. An amazing feat for a Republican that drives hummers, and refers to his opponents as "girly-men" in an place that is supposed to be liberal. (there is that word again,haha) Your characterizations is incorrect.

The fact of the matter is that 1 out of every 10 people who live in the USA live in California, and the numbers continue to rise. Its not exactly suffering.

[bfermanich]

Last time I checked Arnold was still governer of that state who managed to get in during an off year referendum. An amazing feat for a Republican that drives hummers, and refers to his opponents as "girly-men" in an place that is supposed to be liberal. (there is that word again,haha) Your characterizations is incorrect.

The fact of the matter is that 1 out of every 10 people who live in the USA live in California, and the numbers continue to rise. Its not exactly suffering.

DerrickSkugler was right about you.

Theres just no point to arguing with you any more. "Hey, the governator is Republican!" Wooptie freakin' doo. The mayor of New York City is republican too. Does that make New York City conservative? No. If you can't see that, then I have no choice but to throw up my hands and give up. Its hopeless.

You're right. I'm wrong. Isn't this what you want to hear? Congrats buddy, you've won.

By the way, congratulations to Charlotte for winning the NASCAR HOF. They deserved it the most out of anyone. They put together the best package and showed the most heart. And NASCAR will fare better in the long run being there. Besides I think Atlanta should focus its priorities on other things, like getting a few more Fortune 500 headquarters back in the city.

[ironchapman]

Apparently, more people in Atlanta are angry over this than I thought. I've seen countless articles ]like this one over the past few days that seems to say we're a little more bitter over losing the hall than I thought.

I didn't think it was such a big deal really. Charlotte has better ties to NASCAR than we have.

[monsoon]

DerrickSkugler was right about you.

Theres just no point to arguing with you any more. "Hey, the governator is Republican!" Wooptie freakin' doo. The mayor of New York City is republican too. Does that make New York City conservative? No. If you can't see that, then I have no choice but to throw up my hands and give up. Its hopeless.

You're right. I'm wrong. Isn't this what you want to hear? Congrats buddy, you've won.

By the way, congratulations to Charlotte for winning the NASCAR HOF. They deserved it the most out of anyone. They put together the best package and showed the most heart. And NASCAR will fare better in the long run being there. Besides I think Atlanta should focus its priorities on other things, like getting a few more Fortune 500 headquarters back in the city.

I think you have proven the earlier point that I made that most people attempting to put forth arguments in support of "conservative" politics resort to responses such as this.

The fact of the matter is this is a website that is devoted to mass transit, urban development, ending sprawl, discouraging automobile inspired development, and preventing the general rape of the environment by the corporations that insist of slapping down big box development after development while others sit empty. None of these positions are hallmarks of the people that you would apply the "conservative" label to and in fact by your definition we would be left wing commie loving liberals for having these notions in our heads here.

Given this fact about our site, I am always amused and surprised with people show up here in support of Republican politics and get indignant when they find that most of us here don't support most of that platform. I am sure if you go to the NRA website, or we love Sprawl and SUV forum, you will probably find more accepting ears.

BTW, it was you who brought politics into this thread by slandering city dwellers as "liberals" so don't go flying off the deep end when we do choose to respond. It was something that doesn't deserve to be in this thread in the first place.

[Newnan]

Apparently, more people in Atlanta are angry over this than I thought. I've seen countless articles ]like this one over the past few days that seems to say we're a little more bitter over losing the hall than I thought.

I didn't think it was such a big deal really. Charlotte has better ties to NASCAR than we have.

I'm disappointed at the sore loser attitude of many metro Atlantan's. Sure it's disappointing that we didn't get the HOF, but we already have so much stuff here and we should be happy that Charlotte now has something that will bring more vibrancy to its downtown. Anyway, I think we should all get over this loss and focus on the good. On a really positive note, it appears that KIA is almost certain to put their new plant in LaGrange, the residential boom continues in the city at a breakneck pace, and Downtown is continuing to become an exciting, vibrant place even without Nascar.

[ironchapman]

I'm disappointed at the sore loser attitude of many metro Atlantan's. Sure it's disappointing that we didn't get the HOF, but we already have so much stuff here and we should be happy that Charlotte now has something that will bring more vibrancy to its downtown. Anyway, I think we should all get over this loss and focus on the good. On a really positive note, it appears that KIA is almost certain to put their new plant in LaGrange, the residential boom continues in the city at a breakneck pace, and Downtown is continuing to become an exciting, vibrant place even without Nascar.

@ KIA-

While it seems that they will come here (and I think they will), Mississippi has put in a nice bid for the plant as well.

I think the 'sore loser' attitude many Atlantans have toward losing the hall is because of the comments made about the city by the NASCAR people. They made it seem like Atlanta was some sort of crime ridden wasteland that's hardly safe in any area. Sure we've got our crime problems, but the part of our city where they were putting it (downtown, specifically the Centennial Olympic Park area) was hardly an unsafe or a bad spot in the city when it comes to crime.

[ironchapman]

^In case anyone's wondering, KIA's coming to metro Atlanta.

-------------------

Anyways, I found this editorial in today's paper that provides us with a slightly more optimistic view of Atlanta after it's loss of BellSouth and NASCAR. George Berry says that losing these will be crucial in helping Atlanta become a more mature city (sounds kind of odd the way I put it.....he says it better).

Setbacks won't fell Atlanta

All of these signals point to the fact that Atlanta has reached a more secure and mature status. Atlanta is no longer a young city seeking to build its confidence by winning a trophy. The city certainly has reached the point that it does not have to buy projects such as the NASCAR hall of fame. Rather, Atlanta has simply changed.

We all change as we mature. The city is going to have continued economic growth. It is not going to be ignored by companies and institutions that are national in scope. The city now has the requisite critical mass. The metro area was ranked the nation's 11th largest in the 2000 census and is likely in the top 10 by now.

I've been thinking this myself for a few days.

[Andrea]

For those who are interested in Atlanta's deep NASCAR roots, you might want to take a look at Neal Thompson's new book, "Driving With The Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels and the Birth of NASCAR." Thompson goes into considerable detail about the prominence of some of the early Georgia drivers. There are also scads of references to Lakewood Speedway, which for many years was known as the Indy of the South. The front cover features a photo of the legendary Ray Parks, who's still here in town. Ray is standing beside car No. 22, built by Red Vogt, and proudly displaying the logo of Parks Novelty Machine Co., Atlanta, Ga.

Neal points out that Atlanta and Daytona were really the birthplaces of stock car racing. Lots of great stories here, from our city's rough and tumble days.

http://www.amazon.com/Driving-Devil-Southe...t/dp/1400082250

[nowensone]

^ Ah, give poor little Charlotte a crumb here, you guys get everything else... And we want your new Aquarium, how cool...

[Andrea]

^ Ah, give poor little Charlotte a crumb here, you guys get everything else... And we want your new Aquarium, how cool...

[nowensone]

Was mostly kidding, I personally have mixed feelings about CLT "winning" the HOF, I am for it as long as it doesn't distort the city's image. I do not see NASCAR as a negative, but I just don't want it to overshadow it's other selling points, kind of like how Nashville is still to many people just the Country music capital, and so on. But I do secretly enjoy the bootlegging visual you gave, I have one section of family from the NC mountains (still bootleggers as far as I know), my grandmother used to tell me some crazy stories. It is yet another negative stereotype, but I do sympathize (just a little) with their screw the government, they are wrong mentality.

[Pillsbury]

Oh, I'm glad Charlotte got the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

I was really thinking more about the notion that Atlanta doesn't have a longstanding relationship with stock car racing. Yes, we're all about the sleek towers and creating a sophisticated urban environment these days, but it wasn't that long ago that this was a wild and woolly Southern town, with moonshiners, rasslers, honky-tonks, manufacturing plants and industrial league baseball games.

I interviewed some old timers several years ago, and they talked about how the bootleggers would come tearing down from the hills on Highway 19. They'd take Roswell Road into Buckhead, where they'd make a drop and their wares would be distributed from there.

[AphroHippi]

^^ I also remember back in the 80's when Andy Young was mayor, he hired a former prostitute, and they proposed that the Fulton Industrial district be turned into a red light district.