DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Daytona Beach honors those who have pushed the limits and "dared to dare."
“It honors all forms of motorsports,” George Levy, the museum’s president told WPTV. “Anything with an engine, whether boats, planes, cars and motorcycles.”
President George Levy tells WPTV about the highlights of the museum
The bread and butter of the museum honors the history of stock car racing and the Daytona 500. One area in the museum looks back at the beginning of racing in Daytona on the beach.
“The first few years they were getting huge crowds, but they weren't selling any tickets,” Levy explained. “The tickets were for the grandstands and a lot of people would just go in over the hills and the dunes and just sneak in.”
Levy said Bill France, the founder of NASCAR, had an idea and installed signs in the dunes warning of rattlesnakes.
“All of a sudden, everybody wanted to sit in the grandstands," Levy said. "The event was a huge success, both in terms of attendance and sales from that point forward."
The museum celebrates the present as well. The winning Daytona 500 car is wheeled into the museum within days of crossing the finish line.
“It still has the confetti. It still has the grease, the wheel marks, the bumps and the bruises,” Levy explained.
The Daytona 500 winner also plants their legacy in cement on the walkway outside the museum. The driver’s hands and right racing foot is forever stamped in cement, except the 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric.
“He was wearing some really nice dress shoes. He didn't have his racing shoes with him and he didn't want to ruin the dress shoes,” Levy explained. “It's his bare foot in the concrete, rather than his racing shoe.”
On the walls of the museum are plaques honoring the more than 300 people inducted into the Hall of Fame. They are voted on from experts in the field and former racers.
No matter where visitors look, there is history at every turn.
“I could point to any object here, any car, any piece of memorabilia, and there are just these amazing, human stories," Levy said. "That's what makes it really come alive.”
