During GTM Cannonball Run 2019, we actually drove very close to Talledega Superspeedway in Alabama, but it wasn’t really a good time to stop and check out the track or the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. During a more recent road trip, Chrissy and I were going to again be driving right past it, and this time we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stop by and check things out. It was only a 30 minute detour from our best possible route, and it was the Thursday before the NASCAR race at the track, so that just made it all the more interesting.
I know one of the first criticisms people might have is that the museum is billing itself as an “International” hall of fame, but is based at a track that only hosts NASCAR races, sort of like Major League Baseball calling it the World Series when all the teams are in North America. That said, the elected members of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame come from many forms of motor sports. (Click on the image below to expand).Â
Opening in 1990, the inaugural class was chosen from from an initial list of 50 possible names. There are of course NASCAR names on that list such as Lee Petty and Bill France, Sr., but other inductees that lend credence to its name as an international, multi-disciplinary, museum include Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Mickey Thompson, and Dan Gurney. (Harry Gant’s Skoal Oldsmobile, below).
All of that said, unless you are a NASCAR fan, there aren’t many cars that will interest you at the museum. There is the Hall of fame wall, the trophies for each inducted member, and a few odd-ball cars here and there (like the SCCA VW Golf pictured below; front splitter reads: “it’s not a car, it’s a volkswagen” – LOL), but most of the cars are Stock Cars or somehow related to stock car racing. Don’t get me wrong, there are some very historic stock cars in the museum, including ones that are little more than a pile of scrap, so for a NASCAR fan it can be a fun trip down memory lane, just don’t expect to see F1 and Indy cars throughout the museum.
While we were there, we took the opportunity to take the track tour, which is really just a ride around the facility and the track in the back of a tram. Since it was leading into NASCAR weekend, though, that meant Talledega was very alive with staff setting up for the weekend, campers and fans all over the place, and a very impressive inspection going on around the top of the walls. The truck driving along the top of the wall for inspection looked like it was defying gravity. The banking at Talledega is 33 degrees in the turns, and the truck was only moving around 2 mph, so it looked like it was going to fall down on top of us.
Being a NASCAR fan, I really enjoyed the trip and enjoyed the up close and personal look at NASCAR vehicles through the generations. Seeing the old Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile stock cars brought back memories from when I watched NASCAR as a kid. I wish there was more international flare to the selection of vehicles on display at the museum (like the Barber Motorsports Museum we visited early this year), but given that it is located at a NASCAR track, I imagine they are catering to their primary audience. The thing that shocked me most about the museum is that it is the only one I have been to that is completely devoid of a gift shop. You can’t even buy a post-card to commemorate the visit.  The trip even gave me an idea for a future article so expect to see a few more photos from the museum at a later date, but for now, I will leave you with one of the actual cars from Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. #iwannadrivefast
