Posted on 02/28/2006 1:54:22 PM PST by devane617
True. Everybody has to pass through Atlanta at some point, whether they want to or not.
Why do you think the Nextel All-Star Challenge (formerly the Winston race) will stay at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC, after serious consideration for holding the race at either Texas Motor Speedway or the Atlanta Motor Speedway?
Nascar ping...
Charlotte has won the year-long race to land NASCAR's Hall of Fame, three sources told the Observer on Tuesday night.
Charlotte beat out Atlanta and Daytona Beach, Fla., to win the $100-million plus shrine to stock car racing, the sources said. An official announcement is expected Monday afternoon in Charlotte.
"It's coming to Charlotte," said one source, who like the others asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality of the process. The source said final logistics must still be worked out, but "it's going to happen."
"Monday will be a great day for the city," said another source.
A NASCAR spokesman, reached late Tuesday, would only confirm that NASCAR would announce the project site this month.
Sources said NASCAR Chairman Brian France is expected in Charlotte on Monday for the announcement.
Charlotte has been competing with four other cities since early 2005 to host the shrine, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. Two months ago, NASCAR eliminated Kansas City and Richmond, Va., as candidates, leaving Charlotte, Atlanta and Daytona Beach.
Charlotte's proposal calls for a futuristic-looking $137.5 million building at Brevard and Stonewall streets that would also include a new ballroom for the uptown convention center.
It would be paid for largely through a 2 percentage point increase in Mecklenburg County's tax on hotel rooms, as well as contributions from state government and local companies. All but $15 million would be public money.
Sources said the Charlotte City Council would finalize details of the deal on Monday.
Mayor Pat McCrory, reached late Tuesday, said only: "No comment."
City officials released most of the city's initial bid to the Observer last summer, but withheld a portion known as the "pro forma" that projected the hall's long-term expenses and operating budget.
Related documents, however, showed the city would operate the hall and pay the bulk of construction costs, while NASCAR would get payments for the use of its name and merchandise.
Details veiled
Charlotte taxpayers may have to wait a while longer to know details of the city's negotiations with NASCAR.
City leaders said Tuesday they see any NASCAR deal as an economic development package, like those that lured Johnson & Wales University, Time Warner Cable's back-office operations and other private companies.
Typically, those deals get worked out in closed-door meetings. Most details stay secret until just before an announcement.
It's not unusual for companies to require city officials to sign non-disclosure agreements pledging to keep details under wraps. But, of course, city officials can't talk about those either.
The Charlotte City Council met for three hours behind closed doors on an "economic development issue" Monday night, but members refused to even say what it was about.
"We're trying to recruit businesses to our community, and we need to treat those with a different kind of caution because they're competitive," said John Lassiter, chair of the council's economic development committee. "The public had ample opportunity to weigh in (on the hall) when we put together the financing for our bid last year."
Council members said earlier Tuesday they won't make the same mistakes they made in 2002 and 2003, when they quickly approved thick contracts with the NBA to build a new $265 million arena uptown. Later, some details surprised them, such as the lack of a requirement for the team to pay for policing outside arena events.
"We've already asked about the policing and traffic control around the new cultural arts facilities," said council member Patsy Kinsey, referring to a recently-approved package of museums.
Council members also reiterated they would not spend revenues from property taxes on the hall of fame and said they would carefully scrutinize any documents before voting on them.
They also noted that because state law requires all votes be taken in public, citizens would have at least some opportunity to comment before any final action.
Successful campaign
Charlotte's selection climaxes a high-profile pitch by city and Chamber of Commerce leaders to woo NASCAR with the slogan "Racing was built here. Racing belongs here."
Backers touted the city's built-in fan base and financial plan, and pointed out that the city is home to 90 percent of NASCAR's race teams.
Atlanta was seen as a strong competitor, because its regional population is more than triple Charlotte's, and because of corporate ties between its companies and NASCAR. It planned to raise $92 million for construction, with as much as $30 million from city and state governments and the rest from corporate sources.
Daytona Beach emphasized its status as home to NASCAR's headquarters. It was expecting to spend to spend about $105 million, mostly from private sources.
Oh well...If the NHF was truly Atlanta's idea that was taken to NASCAR, then look for the Attorneys to come out of the woodwork. I hope to see someone take down the France family a few nothces.
I like it.
Yeah, you'd think a "hall of fame" would be paid for by those going into it. Sort of like libraries in Arkansas.
Charlotte makes sense to me.
I was driving in Buckhead (Atlanta) tonight and the roads are awlful. They could take some of that money they were gonna give to NASCAR and fix the roads.
I live in Atlanta and I think it should be in Charlotte or Daytona. That's the center of NASCAR's history. Besides when NASCAR fans come to Atlanta they don't go to downtown Atlanta as far as I can tell.
sniff, sniff. Boy do I smell money. HEY!! That smells like my money! I live in Atlanta. I love NASCAR (for everyone else. I don't care for it myself). But who in the hell gave anyone the authority to pledge 100 million of my money to attract a museum? That's right, it will be a museum. With all its stupid unappetizing concession stands and flunkie employees. How utterly boring. How utterly..., un..., un..., unoriginal. Been there, done that. NASCAR should have its museum in Daytona where Bill France has the greatest monument to stock car racing ever, the Speedway.
It's either a NASCAR hall of fame, or the city will give the money to homeless. At least the NHF will bring in hundreds of millions during it's lifetime.
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