Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [28]
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If your need for speed is still not satiated, head two-hours southwest to Sevierville, TN and the NASCAR SpeedPark (www.nascarspeedpark.com). Adults and kids alike can test their racing skills on the eight tracks of adrenaline-pumping pavement. For $32, you can race until you singe your eyebrows off.
From Bristol, take Hwy 394 (south bound) to I-81 (south bound) to I-40 (west bound) to Hwy 66 (south bound) and follow the signs to the park.
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Wipe your mouth off and head deeper south still on I-40 (west bound) to I-59 (south bound) to Talladega, AL, home to the Talladega Superspeedway. The largest, fastest track in NASCAR is a monster: staring into its massive, wind-blown grandstands has been known to send shivers down the spine of even the most casual car enthusiast. It says one thing: speed. But not so fast, you need a bed nearby and the pickin’s are scarce in these parts. Race Lodging, actually based in Bristol, can place you in a private home on race weekends in both Bristol and, more importantly, Talladega.
Back at the track, you can spend a considerable chuck of time wandering the various halls of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, full of retired NASCAR vehicles, including a load of heaped wrecks that are terrifying (yet fascinating) to feast your eyes on – kind of like a five-car pileup. The car Ricky Bobby drove in Talladega Nights is here, as is an impressive 1919 Ford Racer. But where is the one Kenny Rogers drove in Six Pack? Where is Brewster Baker’s badassmobile? Huh?
A few miles from the track is the Montana Saloon, serving fat burgers under the even fatter stuffed water buffalo’s head. The long bar here is classic saloon territory, but with friendlier faces and better food. Fully refueled, it’s time to head to Florida, where the mecca of NASCAR awaits.
Charlotte may be the home of NASCAR, but the Daytona 500 is its birthplace, its most coveted Victory Lane and home to its biggest party. Each February, the season-opening race draws the largest crowd in motor sports: Daytona International Speedway seats 168,000, but there are at least 50,000 more folks hyped on Heineken and dripping sweat in and around the track. Though the annual Georgia-Florida football game hordes the phrase, this is actually the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”. Not only that, but Daytona Beach is better equipped for tourism than anywhere else on the NASCAR circuit, with a wealth of attractions and sandy beaches all around. But this ain’t no story about Disney World!
The Daytona 500 Experience is sort of like the world’s largest NASCAR theme park. If you want to tour the track at Daytona, you can do it here (via a 30-minute tram tour). It’s located just outside Turn 4. Otherwise, race fans play along Atlantic Ave, the requisite beach-paralleled main drag that all beach towns must have. Racing’s North Turn, a beach bar-and-grill, sits on the very spot that NASCAR began, on these hard-packed sands that were once home to world-record setting land speed automobile races. Doesn’t sound too inviting for sunbathing, does it? You can dine inside a booth carved from a stock car at Cruisin’ Café, part museum, part restaurant and full of memorabilia and retired stock cars.
Atlantic Ave is literally lined with lodgings, all of which cater to race fans one way or another in February. For a touch of extra class, head to the Shores, a boutique property with a nice spa and sophisticated color palette if you’re suffering from beach-décor overkill. You deserve it. After all, you’re the new face of NASCAR.
Kevin Raub
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TRIP INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
From Charlotte, take I-77 (north bound) to Hwy 150 toward Lincolnton/Mooresville.
DO
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol tours include