Richard Childress Racing Museum
The Richard Childress Racing Museum (RCR Museum) is a stock car racing museum located in Welcome, North Carolina in the United States. It opened in May 2003.[1][2][3]
Dale Earnhardt's 1998 Daytona 500-winning car at the Richard Childress Racing Museum | |
Location within North Carolina | |
| Established | May 2003 |
|---|---|
| Location | Welcome, North Carolina, United States |
| Coordinates | 35°54′25″N 80°15′17″W / 35.90694°N 80.25472°WCoordinates: 35°54′25″N 80°15′17″W / 35.90694°N 80.25472°W |
| Type | Stock car racing museum |
| Key holdings | Dale Earnhardt's NASCAR Cup Series cars |
| Founder | Richard Childress |
| Curator | Danny "Chocolate" Myers |
| Owner | Richard Childress Racing |
| Website | www |
History
Covering 47,000 square feet (4,400 m2),[1][2][3] the museum was previously Richard Childress Racing (RCR)'s workshop.[2][3] After it was replaced by a newer and larger facility in 2002, Richard Childress redeveloped it as a museum. RCR won six NASCAR Cup Series championships and 58 race wins while using the current museum as its team workshop.[2] The museum outlines the history of RCR, beginning with Childress's own career as a driver.[2] The curator of the museum is Danny "Chocolate" Myers, a former pit crew member for Dale Earnhardt's team, who also often records his Sirius XM NASCAR Radio show at the museum.[4]
Collections
The RCR Museum contains over 50 race cars, more than half of which were driven by Earnhardt.[5] It contains the largest collection of Earnhardt's black #3 GM Goodwrench-sponsored Chevrolets anywhere in the world, most notably including his 1998 Daytona 500-winning car.[2][3][4] Other Earnhardt cars of note on display include his 1995 Brickyard 400-winning car and all of his non-black cars from NASCAR All-Star Races between 1995 and 2000.[4]
In addition to Earnhardt's cars, the RCR Museum also includes stock cars driven by Childress, Austin Dillon, Robby Gordon, and Kevin Harvick, as well as a truck driven by Mike Skinner.[2][4] Among these cars is Harvick's first winning NASCAR Cup Series car, which was victorious at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2001, shortly after Earnhardt's death at Daytona International Speedway.[5] In addition to Cup Series cars, the museum also displays cars that raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and ARCA Racing Series,[4] in addition to one of Earnhardt's car haulers.[5] As of 2004, every car in the museum had an operational engine.[5]
The RCR Museum's galleries have been built in the engine workshop, fabrication room, and research and development department of the former team workshop.[2] Childress's own office has also been preserved as part of the museum. In addition to the museum's primary focus on stock car racing, it also includes a hunting and conservation gallery that displays mounted animals killed by Childress on his hunting trips.[2][5] Animals included in this gallery include brown bears, a cougar, a Cape buffalo, elk, a polar bear, and white-tailed deer.[3] In 2003, the museum was donating $1 from each admission ticket to a group of conservation organizations that included Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Foundation, the North Carolina Wildlife Habitat Foundation, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.[3]
Gallery
Earnhardt's No. 3 Atlanta 1996 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Austin Dillon's 2017 Coca-Cola 600-winning No. 3 Dow Chemical Company Chevrolet SS
Richard Childress Wildlife and Conservation Gallery
References
- ^ a b Newton, David (May 16, 2003). "Museum an Earnhardt fan's dream". The State. Columbia, South Carolina. p. 23. from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hembree, Mike (May 22, 2003). "The house that Dale built". The Greenville News. p. 26. from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ a b c d e f Higgins, Tom (June 29, 2003). "Earnhardt's love of outdoors memorialized". The Charlotte Observer. p. 72. from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ a b c d e "RCR Museum". Richard Childress Racing. from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e "Richard Childress Racing Museum - Walls Of Wonder". MotorTrend. September 1, 2004. from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023.