Dozens of people gathered at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame on Tuesday, Feb. 2, for a grand re-opening celebration of the museum and ribbon cutting of it’s new Chase Elliott exhibit, hosted by the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce. 

The new Chase Elliott exhibit features each of Elliott’s winning trophies from the 2020 season, including the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy, two of his childhood go-karts, his first racing suits, and the grandfather clock won during the Xfinity championship in 2014. 

The Georgia Racing Hall of Fame closed its doors for just over a month while they updated the entire facility and added new exhibits including the Elliott exhibit and an evolution of racing exhibit, which features wheels and racing helmets used throughout history. 

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In addition to the locals that showed up on Tuesday morning, people from all over to see the museum renovations and the new Elliott exhibit. 

Speaking to the Dawson County News after the ribbon cutting, Harold Fontenot of Lilburn, Ga., said that he brought his family out to experience the exhibit firsthand. 

“We love racing,” Fontenot said. “Our schedules matched up so we figured why not make the drive.”

On Monday night, Cindy Elliott was announced as the new curator of the Racing Hall of Fame. 

“When I came off, I told them I would continue to work on exhibits and volunteer my time,” Elliott said. “It’s always been a passion of mine and it’s really not anything new to me.” 

Through Elliott’s leadership, Bill Elliott’s first Winston Cup Series win race car and Chase Elliott’s first Cup Series win race car were placed prominently on display, front and center in the new exhibit. 

“Bill’s first win car and Chase’s first win car have never been on display before,” Elliott said. “The NASCAR Hall of Fame has called me several times asking for Bill’s and I always said after the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame we would send it up there.” 

Volunteers were unsure whether or not the re-opening would be ready by Tuesday, but Elliott added that the help of the Dawsonville community made sure everything would be ready. 

“A lot of support from so many volunteers,” Elliott said. “We’ve even had new volunteers ask how they could help. Without those man-hours, we wouldn’t have been able to get this done. That means so much to us and this facility that there are other people who truly care about it.” 

Now that it has been officially reopened, racing fans of all ages are able to take in what the museum staff are calling a “completely new viewing experience.”