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Charlotte - Capital of Auto Racing in North America?


monsoon

Is Charlotte the Capital of Auto Racing in North America?  

107 members have voted

  1. 1. Which city is the capital of Auto Racing in North America

    • Charlotte
      49
    • Daytona
      10
    • Indianapolis
      43
    • Other
      5


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20 years ago nobody would associate Charlotte with automobile racing outside of North Carolina. Now that the awarding of the HOF to Charlotte has made the city the capital of NASCAR, does that mean it has displaced Indianapolis and Daytona as the best known city for automobile racing in North America?

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Well, I'd say Indy, Charlotte, and Daytona are all racing capitals, but now with a huge Hall of Fame, it might be a little ahead now. Racing movies usually mention or are set in this area, too, which tends to be an indicator of the 'capital' status of a place.

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  • 2 months later...

Charlotte I think for the history and tradition of the sport (coming out of the deep south's affinity for stock cars to out run the revenue men of prohibition and "dry county" days that followed), is a good choice for the HOF, Daytona and Indianapolis being almost a hybrid southern/midwestern city also attribute there racing starts to the moonshine runners (if that's what you would call them).

Since the city is trying to hook Pittsburgh up with a bigtime NASCAR event (there are a few NASCAR circuits that race here plus Chip Gannassi is a hometown powerbroker) I did a little research, seems the "first" and "best" muscle car ever to take the road was created here by a avid racer/mechanic, the legendary Yenko SuperCar. Hope the HOF in Charlotte has a display for it--even though it is not NASCAR specific.

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  • 4 weeks later...

i'd have to go with daytona. it's not just a big place to race in nascar. it also holds a lot of different races too. the history there can't be really touched. does charlotte have a big history in nascar? sure. but so does a lot of the south. i will say the charlotte is the capital of nascar, but i wouldn't say of all of auto racing. it's kind of like washington d.c. being the capital of the united states, but new york being the most famous.

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  • 4 weeks later...

^ yeah man, NASCAR pretty much was built in this area. 90% of the teams are located within a 30 mile radius. There's much more racing history in charlotte than in daytona. Daytona was the first "official" NASCAR race, but stockcar racing had been around much longer in the charlotte and NC area.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm stuck, I want to say Charlotte because of the HOF, but auto racing in general makes me sway towards Indi. As posted before, Daytona may be more popular and hosts the biggest event, but isn't the capital. Charlotte hosts the second two biggest events: AllStar and CocaCola 600 with the Daytona 500 obviously being first and the Firecracker/Pepsi 400 would have to be fourth. And no, having a statue of Dale doesn't make you the capital either *we have one too*

Charlotte is now ascertaining itself as the capital of NASCAR, but I can't see the average outsider pointing out Charlotte when posed with this same question. So, for that reason alone, I voted Indi.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What makes Charlotte stand out is all the race teams located in the Charlotte area. They now put out the carpet on Speed Steet. In the early days of racing, North Carolina had some of the best drivers being their first job was running boot leg from the law.

Indy will always be the grandaddy of raceways.

Daytona was were NASCAR was born.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've never followed NASCAR or auto racing, but honestly I've never heard of Charlotte being in any way affiliated with NASCAR (or really knowing anything about the city) until joining this forum. Certainly the Indianapolis 500 and Little Indy, probably due to living in Michigan, and Daytona because of relatives in that area, but that's it.

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  • 1 month later...

^ I don't think he likes it here in NC very much.

I grew up in NC mostly, and still did not know anything about Charlotte and NC's racing history, I guess it has a lot to do with your personal exposure, of which I had none until people I met in Texas were gaga about how I came from Charlotte (they were racing fans). I guess that goes to show you that to a racing fan, Charlotte IS quite well known. Now I know better though, so I can't really vote, at one time it was Indy like most other people who vacantly hear/see it it on the news occasionally or while flipping channels and think nothing of it.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Slightly off topic but....

NASCAR looks to be making a serious effort to broaden it's fan base. Montoya of Formula 1 fame ran in his first Daytona 500 on Sunday, and is poised to be a big draw for the growing latin american population in the U.S. The casual NASCAR fan may not realize how big of a coup this is for the sport. Montoya was arguably one of the top three drivers in F1 and is an international celebrity. It will be interesting to see how successful he ends up bing this season.

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Slightly off topic but....

NASCAR looks to be making a serious effort to broaden it's fan base. Montoya of Formula 1 fame ran in his first Daytona 500 on Sunday, and is poised to be a big draw for the growing latin american population in the U.S. The casual NASCAR fan may not realize how big of a coup this is for the sport. Montoya was arguably one of the top three drivers in F1 and is an international celebrity. It will be interesting to see how successful he ends up bing this season.

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Daytona and Indianapolis may be famous for having the two biggest racing events, but Charlotte is home to the industry really. Nascar, the #1 auto racing series (and sports organization) in the country, is all centered around Charlotte. Even the Speed Channel is apparently based in Charlotte.

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Daytona and Indianapolis may be famous for having the two biggest racing events, but Charlotte is home to the industry really. Nascar, the #1 auto racing series (and sports organization) in the country, is all centered around Charlotte. Even the Speed Channel is apparently based in Charlotte.
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