National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum

Next to historic Knoxville Raceway is the only museum in existence dedicated to the history of one of racing’s most unique, raw, and undiscovered sectors: sprint cars. 

Non-winged sprint cars first came around in the 1930s and 1940s and were the predecessor of today’s Indycar. Today, most sprint cars have wings on top to add downward pressure to give the car more traction, which makes the cars faster and easier to control. Imagine the races without them. 

The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inducted its first members in 1990 and is dedicated to memorializing some of the sport’s most significant drivers, car owners, crew members, and pioneers. The Hall of Fame itself is housed on the second floor, over the first-floor museum, where visitors can explore the firesuits, helmets, and sprint cars of yesteryear. The museum even allows visitors to sit in a sprint car and has a viewing deck where spectators can catch a fantastic view of Knoxville Raceway, home of one of the thrilling sports’ most significant races, the Knoxville Nationals.