Covering 47,000 square feet (4,400 m2),[1][2][3] the museum was previously Richard 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 six NASCAR 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 is Danny "Chocolate" Myers, a former pit crew member for Dale Earnhardt's team, who also often records his Sirius XMNASCAR Radio show at the museum.[4]
Collections
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 #3 GM Goodwrench-sponsored Chevrolets anywhere in the world, most notably including his 1998 Daytona 500-winning car.[2][3][4] Other Earnhardt cars of note on display include his 1995 Brickyard 400-winning car and all of his non-black cars from NASCAR All-Star Races between 1995 and 2000.[4]
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 include brown bears, a cougar, a Cape buffalo, elk, a polar bear, and white-tailed deer.[3] In 2003, the museum was donating $1 from each admission ticket to a group of conservation organizations that included Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Foundation, the North Carolina Wildlife Habitat Foundation, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.[3]