The North East Motor Sports Museum, which broke ground last September amidst a who's who of New England auto racing that included Ricky Craven and Joey Logano, made its long-awaited arrival to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Wednesday. With NEMSM President Dick Berggren on hand, a fleet of X flatbed trucks made the trek from Gettysburg, Md., to the speedway's south entrance on Route 106.

More than 500 people and organizations have contributed money, artifacts, cars and time to the museum, which was constructed by Morton Buildings in Gettysburg, Md. The museum will initially measure in at just over 9,500 square feet, with an additional 10,000 square feet to be added at a later date. The building will be used to house the history of motorsports from the Northeast area with multiple displays of racing vehicles and racing related artifacts. 

"This project is unique in that virtually every museum in the country has one or several wealthy individuals behind it," said Berggren, who plans to have the museum open for business by NASCAR race weekend Sept. 23-25. "This museum is being built with funding provided by hundreds of racers and race fans rather than a few wealthy individuals. The support of local companies that have donated or reduced the cost of their goods and services has been huge to help the project get where it is."

A considerable amount of work has already been completed on the museum's site:

  • Well is in ground (donated by Capital Well)
  • Storm water evacuation system is in ground (pieces donated by EJP and EF Shea corporations)
  • Thousands of yards of gravel has been moved to level the property (equipment for that work and payment of the equipment operator has been donated by Bentley Warren
  • Gravel sifted into sand to be used to back-fill the foundation and under the floor, large and small stone for various uses. The work and the equipment to do it was donated by Bentley Warren.
  • All under-floor plumbing has been installed (donated by Total Climate Control)
  • All under-floor electrical conduit as well as conduit to carry wiring from the on-property pole to the building has been installed (labor donated by Doherty Electric)
  • Footings and foundation have been backfilled (concrete donated by the Michie Corporation)
  • On Wednesday, a crew from Kendall Construction arrived to prepare the underfloor sand for the five-inch thick concrete floor with plans to pour the floor later in the week.

The floor will take approximately a week to cure, after which Morton's crew will begin to erect the building. The pre-fab will take roughly six weeks to set it up and once the building is established, the work will begin to frame the bathrooms, library and offices. Interior plumbing will be finished and electrical wiring will then be installed, followed by sheet rock installation and paint. 

Cars, motorcycles, books, photos, helmets and the rest will begin to be moved in.