On a visit to the Charlotte/Kannapolis/Concord area to visit all of the NASCAR Team…read moreGarages/Headquarters, Spire Motorsports was our fourth stop of day two, and our seventh team overall.
We visited Spire this past summer, on a Friday afternoon in July. We were actually the only group in the facility during our visit. When we originally planned our route, we based the order off of location of the facilities/relation to others, and did not necessarily check specific hours for each team. We first arrived here around 12:30 PM, and the sign on the door stated they were only open until 12. Since there were no other groups there, and the sign indicated they were closed, we thought we were out of luck. However, the store and facility were unlocked and still open. Of course, happy that we got to go inside and look around, but something to note that they might close early on Fridays. Not sure if the hours were entirely incorrect on the door, or we just got lucky on this particular day.
Spire is located on the corner of Mazeppa and Thunder Roads in Mooresville, among several other industrial-type buildings (in the old Kyle Busch Motorsports building). It is fairly easy to navigate to, and there is plenty of private parking around the building. It is not marked the best, as the only signage was a decal on the door. We even had to circle the building a few times to figure out exactly where to go. Just make sure that you have their new address in your GPS, as this team used to have its facility in Concord up until 2023 (we may have accidentally went there first!).
Everything to see here is located on the floor in which you enter the building. This includes the trophies, historical items, viewing window into the garage, and the team store.
The review is further broken down into categories below:
Displays/Museums/Historical Items - 4/5 Rating
They have a good number of cars and trucks that you can look at, and close enough where you can see inside. In fact, it is probably one of the most out of all the different teams we visited. Since Spire is a newer team, they do not have an excess of trophies, but there are some on display around the facility behind glass. There were also racing suits hung up around the perimeter. With there being so many cars and parts of cars, it was neat to get up close and really take good looks at all that was on display.
Team Store - 3/5 Rating
The team store is located in the back of the showroom, where all of the displays are. They did not have the most selection when comparing it to other teams, simply just because they are newer. Despite this, they had a great selection for a smaller team. The hat selection left some to be desired. There was only one Chili's item that was a t-shirt. There were 1:24 die casts, some smaller less expensive items, and some race-used bumpers for sale. It did not appear that there was a sale rack. The majority of the store was t-shirts, but overall it was not bad for a smaller, newer team.
Garage Access - 2/5 Rating
When you enter into the showroom, there is a large window on the right to look into the team garage. Though you are unable to physically enter the space, there was full visibility into the entire area. It would be a better fan experience to visit when the teams are not away for a race, as you will be able to actually see them working on the cars. As stated, we visited on a Friday afternoon going into a race weekend, so there was no one working on cars at the time of our visit.
Overall Access - 3/5 Rating
The overall access here at Spire is solid. Though you cannot go into the garage, there is full visibility through a large viewing window. Additionally, getting to see so many cars, parts of cars, and having the ability to look up close at them is something rather neat about Spire. Comparing this to other team's facilities, it is pretty standard access.
Extras - 5/5 Rating
The extras at Spire really blew us away, especially for a smaller team! Out of every garage, they had by far the most Hero Cards. They are on two magazine-type racks within the team store, but are free to take. There was a coffee machine in the team store that you could use, provided by one of their sponsors. Not sure if this is all the time, but during our visit there was a table full of stickers and activities for smaller children that were free of charge. Also loved the photo opps just outside of the team store!
We enjoyed our visit to Spire Motorsports. Considering the ability to see into the garage, look at many different cars, and all of the extras available to the fans, this is one of the best smaller team facilities that we visited. It is not too overwhelming though, as a visit will likely run you 30-minutes to see and look at everything. For a younger team that is gaining popularity, they have a very positive fan experience. In the future, if they keep developing, they have the potential to have an elite fan experience.