Petersen Automotive Museum To Also Host Daytona 500 Viewing Party,
Fan Fest
LOS ANGELES--(Business Wire)--
NASCAR and the Petersen Automotive Museum have announced that in
celebration of 60 years of NASCAR racing, they will unveil a
retrospective on the history of the fabled sport. On Friday, Feb. 15,
the Petersen Automotive Museum will open its doors to a new "NASCAR:
60 Years" exhibit, featuring a unique collection of race cars spanning
NASCAR's history.
The museum will also host a Daytona 500 viewing party on Sunday,
Feb. 17, complete with a block-party style Fan Fest, featuring NASCAR
racing simulators, food & beverage stations, a jumbo television
screen, music, the NASCAR Street Tour, interactive displays and more.
The eastbound lanes of Wilshire Blvd in front of the museum (between
S. Fairfax Ave. and S. Orange Grove Ave.) will be closed to host the
event.
The free event will allow fans to enjoy some of the sights and
sounds of the NASCAR experience firsthand, providing the ultimate
viewing opportunity to watch the 50th running of the Daytona 500
(FOX/12 p.m. Pacific) on a 12' projector screen. The event will serve
as a lead-in to the West Coast Premiere of NASCAR, when the Auto Club
500 (FOX/1 p.m. Pacific) will be held at California Speedway in
Fontana on February 24.
"There is nothing more American than NASCAR," said Dick Messer,
Executive Director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. "We are excited
about partnering with this iconic motorsports brand and celebrating 60
Years of NASCAR at the Petersen."
Starting on Feb. 15, the museum will showcase unique race cars
that all have a place in NASCAR history. Among the collection are:
-- 1940 Mercury driven by Sam Packard
-- 1964 Mercury Marauder driven by Darel Dieranger
-- 1972 Ford Torino driven by Bobby Unser
-- 1974 Dodge Charger driven by Richard Petty
-- 1989 Pontiac driven by Rusty Wallace
-- 2002 Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Also on display will be this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
championship trophy, as well as a series championship trophy from
2003. The vehicles and trophies will be on display until Aug. 31.
"As NASCAR celebrates 60 years of stock car racing, nothing could
be timelier than for our fans to see the evolution of race cars pulled
together by the Petersen Museum," said Jim Obermeyer, Managing
Director, Brand and Consumer Marketing. "The cars are obviously a
critical element of NASCAR's heritage and should be celebrated in
connection with 6 decades of the world's finest racing. NASCAR fans
are the most passionate fans in the world and are the key link to the
sport's roots."
NASCAR and the Petersen Automotive Museum will also host a
screening of "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" on
Wednesday, Feb. 20, featuring a "meet and greet" with the 2008 Daytona
500 winner. Tickets to the showing are free and will be given away at
the Fan Fest and fans can also enter to win tickets on myfoxla.com
through Feb. 15.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR),
celebrating 60 years in 2008, is the sanctioning body for one of North
America's premier sports. NASCAR is the No. 1 spectator sport -
holding 17 of the top 20 highest attended sporting events in the U.S.,
and is the No. 2 rated regular-season sport on television. NASCAR
races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in more than 30
languages. NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal in all of sports, and
as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any
other sport.
NASCAR consists of three major national series (the NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series), four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as
well as two international series. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200
races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico.
Based in Daytona Beach (Fla.), NASCAR has offices in New York, Los
Angeles, Charlotte (N.C.), Concord (N.C.), Conover (N.C.), Bentonville
(Ark.), Mexico City, and Toronto.
About the Petersen Automotive Museum
The Petersen Automotive Museum, recognized internationally for its
innovative design, is dedicated to the interpretive study of the
automobile and its influence on our culture and lives. Encompassing
more than 300,000 square feet, its exhibits and lifelike dioramas
feature more than 150 rare and classic cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Covering four floors, the facility features permanent exhibits on
the first floor that trace the history of the automobile. Visitors are
invited to walk through, not by, exhibits and dioramas and experience
settings of early Los Angeles where the world's first shopping
district was designed.
Rogers & Cowan
Scott Houston, 310-854-8196
Copyright Business Wire 2008
