Museum of American Speed

I’ve lived in Lincoln for 12 years and never new this place existed until recently. If you are a gear head, or just interested in things that go fast, this is a very cool place. I would highly recommned a visit. What a nice «hidden gem» in Lincoln.

Our visit to the Museum of American Speed sounded like this, «Oh My God, look at that» at every turn in this fabulous museum. Throw in few «Holy Cows, and That is amazings» and you can guess we had a wonderful four hours visiting. We were there only four hours because we had to leave at closing time (Actually, no one told us we had to leave. I think they would have let us stay longer.) If you want to make comparisons, the Indianapolis Speedway Museum has 50,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. The Museum of American Speed has nearly 150,000 sq. ft. To top it off this place is immaculate. They have race cars from all genre of racing in the US including the Wood Brothers Ford David Pearson drove to win the 1976 Daytona 500. Want to see a Tucker automobile? They have one. Open wheel dirt sprint and midget race fans will love this place. Then there are the incredible toy peddle cars of which there were hundreds, The lunch box collection, the guitar collection, posters from movies with racing themes, more toy cars, rare motors for true gear heads, and the terrific Gasoline Alley garage display with Indy cars from different eras. There was so much more to see. This museum is a travel destination in itself. Did I mention the staff will make you feel at home?

We were invited as part of a University Engineering event to come out and have some dinner and see the museum. I’m very much involved in engineering, design, and racing and have been for 40 years. I did not expect to see something like this in Lincoln NE and was blown away. From pedal cars to nascar, lunch boxes to guitars, sprints to flathead drylake speed cars, etc etc etc this place is just awesome. I didn’t notice at first but after we walked the entire 3 floors there was a Tucker on the first floor. I don’t think there are many of these around, they only built 50 or 51 but this museum had one and it was the first I’d ever seen. Very historic, great people running it.
Thanks for the tour and hospitality!!!

I, along with about 1500 other people from all across the USA and Canada, were in Lincoln, NE for the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Solo National Championship events being held here from Sept. 4 — 11, 2009 for the very first time. This event had previously been held in Topeka, KS for the past 16 years or so, but the Lincoln Air Park is now it’s new annual home.
On Monday Sept. 7, 2009 the SCCA-​Lincoln Welcome party was generously hosted by the Museum of Speed, which houses both the Bob Smith & Speedway Motors Collections and is located just west of the downtown area. Neither I, any of the other racers, or our guests had ever heard of this museum. Every one of us were absolutely floored by what we found inside. The Museum of American Speed is loaded with critically historical automotive race, antique, and custom cars, engines, and related memorabilia such as pedal cars, toys, lunchboxes, anything slightly automotive related that you can imagine, that have been restored and are displayed in elegant perfection. There are even some non-​automotive collections such as unique cookie jars, etc. Three stories worth to be exact! Here is the link to their website:
If you are a racing or automobile buff and are ever passing anywhere near Lincoln, NE you ABSOLUTELY & UNCONDITIONALLY must go out of your way to tour this museum!!! It is truly an automotive spectacle that will leave you with a wonderful, fond memory for the rest of your life.