Virginia State Motor Sports Museum

Wood Brothers Racing Museum and Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame

Patrick County

Adopted in 1995 

Virginia designated the Virginia Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame as an official state symbol in 1995. The museum preserves and chronicles Patrick County's rich racing history. Race fans and visitors to the area will see how moonshine was made and hear the fascinating story of how this moonshining business lead directly to the birth of NASCAR racing. Home to the famous Wood Brothers Racing Team (their museum sits adjacent to the Hall of Fame).

Virginia State Motor Sports Museum:
Wood Brothers Racing Museum and
Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame

One of the most successful racing teams in NASCAR history, Stuart's Wood Brothers have won races on every major track in the country. Their Race Shop and Museum are located in the heart of Stuart. Adopted in 1995 as Virginia's State Motor Sports Museum.

Wood Brothers Racing Museum

Performance Drive, just of US Route 58 in the Town of Stuart in the Central portion of the County

Telephone: (540) 694-2121

Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame

Exerpt from
January 9th, 2003
Web posted by Charles Knapp

SOUTH BOSTON, VA -

The Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame will hold its first induction ceremony during the 2002 Big Daddy's South Boston Speedway Awards Banquet, scheduled for 6 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 25 at the World of Sports in South Boston, Va. The first inductees will be Virginia motor sports legends, the late Ray Hendricks and the late Wendell Scott. Both men will be represented by their families at the induction.

Hendrick, a legendary driver known for his hard-charging driving style, recorded hundreds of wins at South Boston during his storied career, many of them coming when he was piloting the famous winged No. 11 Modified coupe fielded by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell. The Richmond star won five track championships at South Boston, four of them while competing in the NASCAR Modified division and one in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman division.

Danville, Va., native Scott was the only African American driver to regularly participate in the NASCAR Grand National (now Winston Cup) series. On Dec. 1, 1963, he became the first and only African American driver to win a Grand National race, with the victory coming in Jacksonville, Fla. In 1999, Scott was inducted into the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.

The Speedway announced its plans for the establishment of the Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame in early 2002 following Ward Burton's Daytona 500 victory. Burton's win marked the first time a Virginian had won the "Great American Race."

"After Ward's win at Daytona, we learned that Virginia did not have an organization that recognized Virginia's motor sports legends," commented Big Daddy's South Boston Speedway General Manager Cathy Rice. "Recognizing this void, we announced that we would organize a Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame to recognize and preserve the history of Virginia's motor sports legends, and at the same time, help Virginia's next generation of motor sports heroes."

The activities of the Hall of Fame will surpass just the induction ceremony, including the establishment of a Virginia Motor Sports Walk of Fame at Big Daddy's South Boston Speedway. Throughout the year, the Speedway will initiate numerous fund-raising events, with the proceeds distributed to up-and-coming Virginia racers. The Danville (Va.) Register and Bee will assist the Hall of Fame in its fund raising efforts.

The advisory board of the Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame includes four Virginia natives: Atlanta Motor Speedway General Manager Ed Clark; Barbara Bass of the South Boston-Halifax County Museum of Fine Arts and History; motor sports artist Garry Hill; and legendary Winston Cup car owner Junie Donlavey.

Virginia Law

The law designating "Wood Brothers Racing Museum and Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame," located in Patrick County as the official Virginia state motor sports museum is found in the Code of Virginia, Title 1, Chapter 5, Section 1-510. Virginia symbols were re-organized under one section of the Code of Virginia in 2005.

Title 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS.
Chapter 5 - Emblems
§ 1-510. Official emblems and designations.

The following are hereby designated official emblems and designations of the Commonwealth:

Artisan Center - "Virginia Artisans Center," located in the City of Waynesboro.

Bat - Virginia Big-eared bat (Corynorhinos townsendii virginianus).

Beverage - Milk.

Blue Ridge Folklore State Center - Blue Ridge Institute located in the village of Ferrum.

Boat - "Chesapeake Bay Deadrise."

Covered Bridge Capital of the Commonwealth - Patrick County.

Covered Bridge Festival - Virginia Covered Bridge Festival held in Patrick County.

Dog - American Foxhound.

Emergency medical services museum - "To The Rescue," located in the City of Roanoke.

Fish - Brook Trout.

Fleet - Replicas of the three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, which comprised the Commonwealth's founding fleet that brought the first permanent English settlers to Jamestown in 1607, and which are exhibited at the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg.

Flower - American Dogwood ( Cornus florida).

Folk dance - Square dancing, the American folk dance that traces its ancestry to the English Country Dance and the French Ballroom Dance, and is called, cued, or prompted to the dancers, and includes squares, rounds, clogging, contra, line, the Virginia Reel, and heritage dances.

Fossil - Chesapecten jeffersonius.

Gold mining interpretive center - Monroe Park, located in the County of Fauquier.

Insect - Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio glaucus Linne).

Motor sports museum - "Wood Brothers Racing Museum and Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame," located in Patrick County.

Outdoor drama - "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama," adapted for the stage by Clara Lou Kelly and performed in the Town of Big Stone Gap.

Outdoor drama, historical - "The Long Way Home" based on the life of Mary Draper Ingles, adapted for the stage by Earl Hobson Smith, and performed in the City of Radford.

Shell - Oyster shell (Crassostrea virginica).

Song emeritus - "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," by James A. Bland, as set out in the House Joint Resolution 10, adopted by the General Assembly of Virginia at the Session of 1940.

Sports hall of fame - "Virginia Sports Hall of Fame," located in the City of Portsmouth.

War memorial museum - "Virginia War Museum," (formerly known as the War Memorial Museum of Virginia), located in the City of Newport News.

(Code 1950, § 7-35, 7-36, 7-37; 1966, cc. 102, 547, § 7.1-37, 7.1-38, 7.1-39; 1974, c. 24, § 7.1-40; 1982, c. 191, § 7.1-40.1; 1986, c. 138, § 7.1-40.2; 1988, c. 317, § 7.1-40.3; 1991, cc. 71, 575, § 7.1-40.4, 7.1-40.5; 1993, cc. 251, 509, § 7.1-40.6; 1994, cc. 33, 134, 220, 464, § 7.1-40.2:1, 7.1-40.8; 1995, cc. 12, 180, § 7.1-40.2:2; 1996, c. 52, § 7.1-40.9; 1997, cc. 66, 576, § 7.1-40.10; 1999, cc. 69, 336, § 7.1-40.11; 2001, cc. 97, 134, § 7.1-40.12; 2001, c. 228, § 7.1-40.13; 2005, cc. 557, 839; 2006, c. 128; 2007, cc. 391, 685; 2008, c. 262.)