.jpg) Dale Earnhardt's1998 Daytona 500-winning car at the Richard Childress Racing Museum | |
  Location within North Carolina | |
| Established | May 2003 (2003-05) |
|---|---|
| Location | Welcome, North Carolina, United States |
| Coordinates | 35°54′25″N80°15′17″W / 35.90694°N 80.25472°W /35.90694; -80.25472 |
| Type | Stock car racing museum |
| Key holdings | Dale Earnhardt'sNASCAR Cup Series cars |
| Founder | Richard Childress |
| Curator | Danny "Chocolate" Myers |
| Owner | Richard Childress Racing |
| Website | www |
TheRichard Childress Racing Museum (RCR Museum) is astock car racing museum located inWelcome, North Carolina in the United States. It opened in May 2003.[1][2][3]
Covering 47,000 square feet (4,400 m2),[1][2][3] the museum was previouslyRichard 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 sixNASCAR 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 isDanny "Chocolate" Myers, a formerpit crew member forDale Earnhardt's team, who also often records hisSirius XMNASCAR Radio show at the museum.[4]
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 #3GM Goodwrench-sponsoredChevrolets anywhere in the world, most notably including his1998 Daytona 500-winning car.[2][3][4] Other Earnhardt cars of note on display include his1995 Brickyard 400-winning car and all of his non-black cars fromNASCAR 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, andKevin Harvick, as well as a truck driven byMike Skinner.[2][4] Among these cars is Harvick's first winning NASCAR Cup Series car, which was victorious atAtlanta Motor Speedway in 2001, shortly afterEarnhardt's death at Daytona International Speedway.[5] In addition to Cup Series cars, the museum also displays cars that raced in theNASCAR Xfinity Series,NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, andARCA 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 includebrown bears, acougar, aCape buffalo,elk, apolar bear, andwhite-tailed deer.[3] In 2003, the museum was donating $1 from each admission ticket to a group of conservation organizations that includedDucks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Foundation, the North Carolina Wildlife Habitat Foundation, and theRocky Mountain Elk Foundation.[3]
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