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NASCAR plans visit to proposed KC hall site

Officials will be coming to the area on Aug. 18

By JIM PEDLEY

The Kansas City Star

The next date circled on the calendars of those hoping to bring the NASCAR hall of fame to Kansas is Aug. 18.

That is the day that a group of NASCAR senior management officials will come to the area to visit the proposed site of the hall.

“We will get up-close and personal and look at the site,” Kerry Tharp, director of public relations for the Charlotte division of NASCAR, said of the visit. “We will see things in person. We will sit down with the people who have taken so much time” to put it together.

Kansas City, Kan., is one of five communities hoping to persuade NASCAR to build its hall of fame in their area. The others are Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Daytona Beach, Fla.; and Richmond, Va.

Representatives of each of the communities submitted proposals to NASCAR on May 31.

Since that time, NASCAR officials have been reviewing the proposals.

Kansas is proposing a $100 million-plus facility that includes state-of-the-art interactive displays, a futuristic design and an amusement-park-style thrill ride.

“Think Disneyland,” Kansas Speedway president Jeff Boerger said last month.

If built, the hall will be located in the Village West development atop the bluff overlooking the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435 near Kansas Speedway.

The exterior would be designed by world-renowned Kansas City-based architectural firm HOK Sport+Venue+Event. The interior would be designed by New York-based DMCD.

Plans call for a building of 100,000 square feet or more.

Final plans for the building, wherever it is built, will be determined by architects and NASCAR officials.

Bob Marcusse, president of the Kansas City Area Development Council, said he and his group are looking forward to NASCAR’s visit.

“We’re ready, and we’re confident,” Marcusse said.

From the sound of it, the other candidates have reason to feel the same way.

Tharp, who has seen the proposals, said they are “very imaginative, very innovative.”

“They are all very well done. The thing that impresses me is the amount of time and effort of these cities. It’s kind of exciting for us to know there is so much interest.”

The tours are scheduled for August, and Kansas will be the fourth site NASCAR officials will visit.

Tharp said that after the site touring is concluded, NASCAR officials will “huddle and take a look at where we are.”

He said the hope is to select a site by the end of the year.