Charlotte is the headquarters of NASCAR, so its racetrack is naturally the American home of speed. The Charlotte Speedway doesn’t just host races, it also has a star-studded history of being on the silver screen. Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder, Burt Reynolds in Stroker Ace, and Elvis Presley in Speedway were all shot at the D-shaped ring. Although Lightning McQueen never drove on the Charlotte Speedway in Disney’s Cars, real life stock car racing legends like Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman graduated from this track.
The track began when Ollen B. Smith built the 1.5-mile track in 1959, but went bankrupt two years later. Smith continued his day job as a Ford car dealer for a while before becoming a majority shareholder of the track again in 1975. It is America’s only racing track with permanent housing—52 condo units with a great view of the track.
You could pay $15 to go on a van tour of the track, or just pay an exorbitant amount of money to learn how to drive a real stock car.
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