Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed

Summarize the project's program, features, and achievements: The Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska, is a non-profit corporation founded in 1992 by "Speedy" Bill and Joyce Smith. The museum was originally located in a smaller building on Van Dorn Street in West Lincoln. The museum moved to its current location on the Speedway Motor's campus in 2001. This 150,000 sq. ft. museum was formed to present a continuous chronology of automotive racing engines and speed equipment development to preserve, interpret, and display items significant in racing and automotive history. The collection results from the Smiths' personal involvement in racing and hot rodding, and their lifelong passion for collecting and preserving racing and automotive history. With this new 2 story, 54,350 sq. ft. concrete tilt-up addition, the museum will surpass over 200,000 sq. ft. of space to display automobile history for years to come. With their foundational goals, the Museum of American Speed continues to guide and inspire future generations with immersive experiences that reveal America's rich heritage of innovation and achievements. It is their responsibility to interpret, display, and transform physical objects into meaningful interactive experiences. Speedway Motors of American Speed was awarded top honors in the 2021 USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest for Best Attraction for Car Lovers. The new addition will allow the museum to add enhanced displays for NASCAR, off-road racing and growing their already popular land speed, drag racing and custom show car displays. They also plan to add more interactive displays for youth and families making it an immersive experience for the whole family.

What obstacles were overcome related to the schedule, budget, program, specification, site, etc. on this project? Constructing an addition to an existing building always comes with some type of challenges. With this project, it was very important to protect the existing Museum from the construction. A major requirement from the Owner was to make sure the finish floor was at the same elevation of what was existing. Crucial planning from the very beginning in the Design-Build process allowed for all these details to be worked out and not become an issue during the construction process. Another challenge was having a construction site active but yet having the existing museum open for business through the whole project. Maintaining a safe job site for the staff and visitors as they continued to visit the museum during our construction was a major priority.

Please communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project. ? Ayars & Ayars, Inc. provided a complete Design-Build project package for this project, utilizing the skills and expertise of the following design professions: Architecture: Archi+etc., LLC Civil Engineering: E & A Consulting, Inc. Geotechnical Investigation ERDBAU, Inc. Structural Engineering Vector Structural Design Mechanical/Electrical Engineering Advanced Engineering Systems Ayars & Ayars, Inc. has been fortunate to have worked together with these design professions for many years, so when it comes to designing and building a project together we can work as a team to come up with the best solutions and end up with a great project that meets the needs and goals of our owners.

What is the potential for this project's impact on the community and/or environment? Today, the museum's collection has evolved through regular acquisitions, donations, and loans of unique vehicles, collections, and so much more. Combined with a team of passionate employees and volunteers who are committed to excellence—culminates in a spectacular place where automotive history, and the history of American ingenuity is on full display for visitors to experience. To fulfill the vision of The Museum of American Speed, the museum engages the local community through family-friendly events and exhibitions where learning about historic innovation, along with basic concepts of science and physics are intrinsically woven into challenging, fun, hands-on activities. With this new addition, they will be able to continue to expand their collections and share their passion for the automotive world with future generations to come. We do have a drone video that was created with Speedway Motors that we can send to you also. Just let us know.