Charlotte, NASCAR fans eagerly await Hall of Fame opening

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05/10/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The month of May will be unlike any other for the City of Charlotte, as Tuesday's much-anticipated opening of NASCAR's new Hall of Fame kicks off a long list of race activities in the Queen City.

Since its groundbreaking on January 25, 2007, the NASCAR HoF, located in the city's downtown area, has evolved into a 150,000-square-foot entertainment center honoring the history and heritage of the sport.

NASCAR announced in March 2006 that Charlotte was awarded the site of its Hall of Fame, with the city topping Atlanta, Kansas City, Daytona Beach, FL and Richmond, VA in its proposals to construct and fund the HoF.

It makes sense for Charlotte to have the hall, since it is NASCAR's "hub city," and since most NASCAR teams have their race shops located in the Charlotte metropolitan area.

A NASCAR hall was long overdue, since other major professional sports in this country had landmarks constructed many decades ago to house memorial items and honor illustrious athletes in their respective sports.

"I think it's huge," said Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR champion. "I think it really signifies where our sport is today and its significance and the role that it plays in major sports. I think that's what the NASCAR building as well as the Hall of Fame being in Charlotte, N.C., really means."

Among some of the features in the $195 million NASCAR HoF include a 64-foot- wide curved projection screen inside a 275-seat theater and several floors of interactive exhibits and artifacts, including dozens of historic cars.

"One of our objectives was to have something for everybody, whether you are a diehard NASCAR fan or whether you have never been around the sport, whether or not you're five years old or 85 years old...if you want to see the history or do something hands on," NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley said. "The exhibit design team did a fabulous job, and our team acquiring the artifacts and NASCAR's team helping us with us with all the props and the media videos are absolutely incredible."

The NASCAR HoF will hold its first induction ceremony on May 23. NASCAR founder Bill France and his son, Bill France Jr., a former NASCAR chairman, as well as drivers Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson make up the 2010 inaugural induction class.

"It feels good," seven-time NASCAR champion Petty said of his induction. "I felt like this was a race...you feel good finishing in the front five."

The five-member induction class for 2011 will be revealed later this year.

May traditionally has been a busy month for racing in Charlotte, with the running of the all-star race followed by the longest event of the season -- 600 miles -- at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

This time, Charlotteans and NASCAR fans have a lot more to roar about.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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