Daytona 500 Experience, Automobile museum at Daytona International Speedway, Florida, US.
The Daytona 500 Experience was a 60,000 sq ft interactive motorsports attraction at Daytona International Speedway, opened in 1996 as Daytona USA and renamed in 2007. It held the Coca-Cola IMAX Theater, the Acceleration Alley full-motion simulator with 80%-scale stock cars, and the Goodyear Heritage Museum. It closed to the public in November 2010 and the site reopened in February 2017 as the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
The facility opened in 1996 as Daytona USA, replacing a smaller two-story visitor center that previously occupied the site. The museum earned a Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association in 1997 and became a major destination for racing fans.
The Champion's Walk of Fame, a Hollywood-style concrete walk outside the building, honors Daytona 500 winners since the attraction opened in 1996. Nearby stand statues of Dale Earnhardt and of NASCAR founder Bill France Jr. with his wife Anne. Inside were displayed the NASCAR championship trophy and the Harley J. Earl Trophy, awarded to the Daytona 500 winner.
The attraction closed to the public on November 6, 2010, when International Speedway Corporation ended public admission and kept the site for private functions only. The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America then moved in, and the refurbished museum reopened in February 2017. The speedway still runs its own tours: a 30-minute general admission tour and a 60-minute All-Access tour for a higher fee.
Since 1997 the winning Daytona 500 car was impounded and shown here for about twelve months, surrendered uncleaned and unaltered under the race entry form. Teams objected that losing a proven chassis hurt them at later restrictor-plate races; only Jeff Gordon in 2005 and Jimmie Johnson in 2006 won at Talladega with a substitute car.
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