Charlotte Motor Speedway
One of the nicknames given to Charlotte, “Home of NASCAR”, is due to NASCAR’s influence culturally on the city. Charlotte’s Speedway was south of town, and had a wooden track. In 1924, Charlotte held its first race, with nearly 50,000 spectators. The track closed in 1927 and it wasn’t until 1960 that the new Charlotte Motor Speedway opened. ("Charlotte facts," 2012) Starting off as a 1.5 mile super speedway right outside of Charlotte, the Charlotte Motor Speedway was built by O. Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner. On June 19, 1960 the first World 600 (now known as the Coca-Cola 600) was ran at this race track.("Speedway history," )