Thursday morning my wife and I decided to take a drive down the mountains. We do this a lot, so we've learned to pack a bag with a change of clothes, and to take our meds with us, "just in case". This day the further we went down the parkway, the more we kept being drawn south. We finally decided to go on down into North Carolina, and get a motel room for the night, and go to the Richard Childress Museum in Welcome. We'd been saying we were going to, and shoot, we were closer to there, than to home.
Yesterday morning, we arrived at the museum just after they opened and spent a couple of hour walking around, looking at the old (and some not so old) race cars, and Richard's hunting trophies. There is quite a collection of both. If you're in the area (around High Point, N.C.) it's well worth stopping if you're a NASCAR fan. There is a small charge for admission.
I'm not a picture taker, but I did snap a few with my cell phone.
One of Richard Childresses' early modified cars. I want to say, a 34 Chevy.
One of Richard's early "Grand National" cars from the days when Richard was a driver himself. Note the small piece of metal where the door handle would have been, indicating that at this time (late 70's) they were still using sheet metal from street cars.
Ricky Rudd drove this #3, Piedmont Airlines Monte Carlo to victory at the old Riverside Raceway in California, giving RCR it's very first win in NASCAR's top division, the then "Winston Cup." Rudd would gain one more victory at Martinsville, Va., before being replaced in the #3 car by a guy you've probably heard of...Dale Earnhardt. Not the smooth door handle area, indicating that by this point, (early 80's) car builders were moving away from "stock" sheet metal and were building bodies from scratch.
One of Dale Earnhardt's famous Goodwrench Chevrolets.
Dale's winning car from the 1998 Daytona 500.
We didn't have time to look around the area much more, so we'll have to go back. There is a lot to do and see for a NASCAR fan, even where there isn't a race at the nearby Charlotte Motor Speedway.
We did stop at one other place that might be interesting to someone who keeps up with professional bass fishing. About a half mile from RCR is David Fritts Ranger (boat dealership). David won the 1993 Bassmasters Classic as well as a number of other professional tournaments, and has a small personal museum in the showroom.
Yesterday morning, we arrived at the museum just after they opened and spent a couple of hour walking around, looking at the old (and some not so old) race cars, and Richard's hunting trophies. There is quite a collection of both. If you're in the area (around High Point, N.C.) it's well worth stopping if you're a NASCAR fan. There is a small charge for admission.
I'm not a picture taker, but I did snap a few with my cell phone.
One of Richard Childresses' early modified cars. I want to say, a 34 Chevy.
One of Richard's early "Grand National" cars from the days when Richard was a driver himself. Note the small piece of metal where the door handle would have been, indicating that at this time (late 70's) they were still using sheet metal from street cars.
Ricky Rudd drove this #3, Piedmont Airlines Monte Carlo to victory at the old Riverside Raceway in California, giving RCR it's very first win in NASCAR's top division, the then "Winston Cup." Rudd would gain one more victory at Martinsville, Va., before being replaced in the #3 car by a guy you've probably heard of...Dale Earnhardt. Not the smooth door handle area, indicating that by this point, (early 80's) car builders were moving away from "stock" sheet metal and were building bodies from scratch.
One of Dale Earnhardt's famous Goodwrench Chevrolets.
Dale's winning car from the 1998 Daytona 500.
We didn't have time to look around the area much more, so we'll have to go back. There is a lot to do and see for a NASCAR fan, even where there isn't a race at the nearby Charlotte Motor Speedway.
We did stop at one other place that might be interesting to someone who keeps up with professional bass fishing. About a half mile from RCR is David Fritts Ranger (boat dealership). David won the 1993 Bassmasters Classic as well as a number of other professional tournaments, and has a small personal museum in the showroom.
We went to Rockingham last fall for the late model triple header, and she was hoping to see him there, but missed him, then missed him at the RCR museum yesterday. She's planning to ambush him at the HOF now.
