WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A triad staple that's preserved NASCAR history took its final lap December 16th.
The Winston Cup Museum has permanently closed its doors. This comes after a years long legal battle between the museum and tobacco company ITG brands.
Many came to support the nearly two decade legacy of the Winston Cup Museum.
Founder Will Spencer called the ceremony a bittersweet see you later, but not a goodbye.
"Thank you to Reynolds, and the city. History is hard to re-create and history is hard to preserve and it's harder when it's gone," he said.
His wife Christy addressed the crowd thanking all for their support.
"This is an end of a chapter but it's not the end of the book," she said.
As a fourth generation business man, Spencer tells WFMY News 2 the NASCAR community is much like a family.
"It's about everybody, the teams, the members, and it took everybody to make the sport what it is," he said.
He said it's difficult to process how lawsuits over the museums name led to it's permanent close.
"I think the hardest thing is when you grow up with something. I've had the museum 19 years," Spencer said.
The funding to preserve that history would require a re-branding they can't afford. Spencer said his love for NASCAR started with him building model cars, and he turned it into a career.
Now he has bigger dreams beyond a collectors museum.
"There's so many untold stories, that is my main objective. I want to tell untold stories and try to bring that piece. I didn't get to do that at the museum," he stated.
Some fans told us those stories is why they too love the sport.
"In my era, in my time as a kid what I enjoy about NASCAR is the history," Tim Hunter said.
Spencer told WFMY News 2 he plans to auction off 33 cars in his collection at the Mecum Auto Auctions in Kissimmee, FL in January.