Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum
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The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California, is located at 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Bldg. 3A, in Pomona, California 91768, USA. It houses a collection of memorabilia, automobiles and motorcycles related to the sport of hot rodding. Among other exhibits are one of A.J. Foyt's Coyote Indy Cars, Kenny Bernstein's first dragster to reach speeds in excess of 300 mph, the Bob McClung helmet and photo collection, a collection of Indy 500 credentials and artifacts from early events in the history of land speed records and hot rods. Temporary exhibits have also been created to honor participants in hot rodding including Vic Edelbrock, Don Prudhomme, the 1932 Ford, Track Roadsters, Parnelli Jones and the So-Cal Speed Shop.
The Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. except on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
[edit] Museum structure
The Museum is structured as a non-profit organization under the laws of the United States, section 501 (c) 6 of the Internal Revenue Code. The curator is Greg Sharp. The Executive Director is Tony Thacker.
The Museum produces and benefits from two annual Hot Rod Reunions. The Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion is held in Columbus, Ohio at National Trail Raceway, in June of each year. The NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion is held in Bakersfield, California, in October each year.
[edit] Museum history
The Museum was created by a group of long-time NHRA staff led by founder Wally Parks, for whom the Museum was re-named on his 90th birthday. The Automobile Club of Southern California stepped in as the presenting sponsor of the Museum. Steve Gibbs, now a retired vice-president of NHRA, led the team that reconditioned a WPA-built 28,000 sq. ft. building on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Fairplex to house the Museum. The Museum opened to the public April 4, 1998.
