Guest Author - Kimberly Button

Every so often a person feels the need for speed – the opportunity to push the pedal to the metal and feel the wind rush through your hair as the speedometer soars. Since it’s not safe, and certainly not legal, to indulge in this adrenaline-rush fantasy on the open road, you will want to plan a visit to Charlotte, NC, the nation’s capital of high speed thrills and home to many other surprising, and inexpensive, attractions.

Motorsports are a major activity in the Charlotte area, with a myriad of racing shops, team headquarters and opportunities to experience the thrill of race car driving. It doesn’t cost a cent to tour many of the racing shops where you can see cars being worked on in the garage or take pictures among a race car team’s memorabilia.

At the center of the excitement is Lowe’s Motor Speedway, one of the country’s premier racing facilities which hosts three NASCAR Nextel Cup events each year as well as other motorsports races and various car shows. The Speedway’s Over the Wall Tour is a fun behind-the-scenes tour which allows visitors to get a close-up look at the garage, travel down pit road, and even drive around the Speedway’s infamous 1.5 mile oval with 24 degree banks. Over the Wall tours are just $5 and well worth the cost to experience driving along the Speedway.

To relive the early years of motorsports action, head to the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame where over 35 race cars and cases of memorabilia portray all types of auto racing. Visitors can relive some of NASCAR’s greatest moments in the museum’s mini-movie theater. Adult admission is $5.

High speed thrills of another kind are found at Paramount’s Carowinds. Straddling the North Carolina/South Carolina border, the theme park combines an eclectic mix of Carolina favorites, death-defying roller coasters, Nickelodeon fun for the kids, and a refreshing water park. Though the theme park admission price is definitely not cheap, it’s much less than some other major theme parks and offers just as much fun.

A visit to the Reed Gold Mine will prove to be educational for the majority of Americans who believe that the gold rush started in California. In fact, North Carolina was the site of the first authenticated discovery of gold. In 1799, 12-year old Conrad Reed found a 17-pound rock which his family used as a doorstop for three years. Feeling that the stone might be valuable, Conrad’s father took it to a jeweler who paid him $3.50 for the historic rock, a figure 100 times less than its estimated value at that time.

Word of the area’s hidden riches soon spread and by 1825 a gold rush had begun, with North Carolina leading the nation in gold mining until 1849. The Reed Gold Mine’s Visitor Center has exhibits and a film portraying the state’s gold mining industry as well as tours of the underground tunnels and processing areas. Visitors can even recreate the excitement of the gold rush by panning for gold. Admission is free and the cost of panning for gold is just $2.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the area that first discovered gold is now the nation’s second largest banking center. Charlotte started its reign as a financial powerhouse when the first branch of the U.S. Mint was established in the city in 1837. After the Mint permanently closed in 1913, the historic building became North Carolina’s first art museum in 1936. Known as the Mint Museum of Art, the highly regarded art collection co-exists with a full set of gold coins originally minted in the Charlotte Mint in a tribute to the building’s varied past. On display are historic costumes, maps, decorative arts and collections of American, Asian, African and pre-Columbian art. Admission is free on Tuesday nights. Adult admission is regularly $6.

If you are ready for a high speed adventure that’s easy on the budget, race on over to Charlotte, NC for an exhilarating vacation destination.


Contact Information

Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau
(800) 722-1994
www.visitcharlotte.com

Lowe’s Motor Speedway
(704) 455-3204
www.lowesmotorspeedway.com

North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame
(704) 663-5331
www.ncarhof.com

Paramount’s Carowinds
(800) 888-4386
www.carowinds.com

Reed Gold Mine
(704) 721-4653
www.itpi.dpi.state.nc.us/reed

Mint Museums
(704) 337-2000
www.mintmuseum.org


Lowes Motor Speedway photo courtesy of Lowes Motor Speedway.
Paramount’s Carowinds photo courtesy of Paramount’s Carowinds.
Reed Gold Miner photo courtesy of Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau.


Kimberly Button is the author of The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook, the only Walt Disney World® Resort theme park guidebook that features scavenger hunts, trivia questions, word puzzles and hidden Mickey searches tailored to each attraction to alleviate boredom while standing in lines. For more information and to read an excerpt, visit www.disneysurvivalguide.com