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Introduction When I emigrated to the States from Canada in 1992, I could have gone anywhere on the continent. I decided to move to Harrisburg, North Carolina, the world center of stock car racing. Most of the NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series teams are located near Charlotte, with many of them within a short drive from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which I lived across the highway from for a year. It's a different world there. Every day was like being at the movies. If you like racing, there's no place like Charlotte. The Charlotte Motor Speedway is located on the east side of Highway 29, about halfway between Charlotte and Concord, which are roughly twenty miles apart. The corner of Highway 29 and Morehead Road could be considered Stock Car Central. Here's a quick tour. The building on the northeast corner is home to a Goodyear racing tire warehouse, Simpson Race Products, illustrator Sam Bass, and Darrell Waltrip's Busch Series and ASA race shop. Directly north lies the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is almost its own city. To the east, you'll find the race shops for Geoff Bodine, Sabco Racing, Bobby Allison, Dave Rezindes and Andy Hillenberg, Jr. Southeast of the corner is Darrell Waltrip's Winston Cup shop. On the way there, going east on Hudspeth Road, the first building you'll see on your right was Dale Earnhardt's very first race shop back in the Seventies. On the west side of Highway 29, right across from the speedway, lies a complex that houses numerous racing-related businesses. Right on northwest the corner is one of the most important stops you can make when you're in North Carolina: the Speedway Restaurant. You'll have a chance to sample some real Southern hospitality, thanks to Bill and all of the staff. The cooking's good too — I call it "simple, honest food for simple, honest people". The other thing you'll enjoy about the place is its racing atmosphere. There's usually someone in the place that's either on a team or in some way involved in racing. But the pictures and postcards all over the walls are a thirty-year collection of ways people have thanked Bill and everyone there for providing good food and a good atmosphere. Going west on Morehead road, it's about a mile to the turnoff on the right that goes down the hill to the ten-acre Hendrick Motorsports complex. This is one of the few race shops you'll find that's really equipped to give tours. Inside the main entrance you'll see one of their race cars, like their IMSA Corvette. A glass case houses some souvenirs donated by the family of the late Tim Richmond, including his famous hat. Behind the wall lies the engine shop, with four dynos and as many as twenty dry-sump NASCAR small-block Chevy engines on stands all lined up waiting for their customers. The complex also has a big fab shop, a well-equipped machine shop and an area for each of their race teams. That Gordon kid was a Yankee, so they stuck his butt out back. When you're at the Hendrick Motorsports shop, look at the buildings directly to the west. The first one you see is where Harry Hyde lived for many years. You may know that in the movie Days of Thunder, Robert DuVall played the part of Harry Hyde (and Tom Cruise played Tim Richmond). Beside Harry's is his cousin Tommy Johnson's race car fabrication shop. But don't get too close to these buildings. The stray dogs that Harry and Tommy adopted have assumed the roles of race shop guardians. They're sort of like rednecks. They bark a lot, but they're good dogs. To find other race shops in the area, just ask around. Just keep in mind that racing is a business, and although they appreciate your interest and would like to show you around, most race shops just aren't able to give tours to people. If you love stock car racing, you've got to experience North Carolina.
Stock car racers Marcos Ambrose http://www.marcosambrose.com/
Brandon Ash
Johnny Benson
Mike Bliss
Brett Bodine
Geoff Bodine
Clint Bowyer
Trevor Boys
Jeff Burton
Derrike Cope
Ricky Craven
Bill Davis
Dale Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Bill Elliott
Ron Fellows
Jeff Gordon
Scott Grissom
Kevin Harvick
Dale Jarrett
Matt Kenseth
Brad Keselowski
Mark Martin
Casey Mears
Joe Nemechek
Ryan Newman
The Ryan Newman Foundation
Steve Park
Richard Petty
David Reutimann
Ricky Rudd
Elliott Sadler
Peyton Sellers
Morgan Shepard
David Starr
Tony Stewart
Dick Trickle
Martin Truex
Kenny Wallace Rusty Wallace
Michael Waltrip
Stock car racing teams Bobby Allison Racing http://www.bobbyallison.com/
Bill Davis Racing
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing
Ford Racing
Hendrick Motorsports
Mattei Motorsports
MCI Racing
Menards Racing
Bud Moore Engineering
Morgan-McLure Motorsports, Inc.
Pennzoil
Raybestos Racing
RCR — Richard Childress Racing
Roush Fenway Racing
Skittles Racing Team
Team Paradigm
Valvoline Racing
Wood Brothers Racing Team
Yates Racing
Stock car parts manufacturers There are hundreds of links to racing parts manufacturers in the Speed equipment directory. Only companies that specialize in stock car parts are listed here.
A&A Manufacturing — chassis components
BSR Products
Childress Race Cars — chassis builder
Circle Racing Wheels
GRT Race Cars — chassis builder
Hutcherson Pagan — stock car chassis builder
MuscleMotorSports — used stock car parts bought and sold
Performance Bodies — aluminum stock car bodies
Port City Racing
Racescan — scanners
Roush Industries — race car engineering and design
Speedway Engineering — rear ends and sway bars
Stock Car Products — stock car parts
Stock car racing associations ARCA — Automobile Racing Club of America http://www.arcaracing.com/
AllStar Race Truck Series
IMCA — International Motor Contest Association
NASCAR
NASCAR Touring Series
V8 Supercars Australia — Shell Australian Touring Car Championship
More stock car racing sites Buck Baker Racing Schools http://www.buckbaker.com/
Fast Track Driving Schools
Holman Moody
Jayski's Silly Season Site
MRN Radio — The Motor Racing Network
North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame
Racetorations
Racing Adventures — rent a stock car
Racing West
Speed School X
Smokey Yunick
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