Barber Motorsports Park and Museum, Leeds, Alabama

33°31'58.35"N
86°36'49.79"W
About 11 miles east of Birmingham


I'm afraid that I tend to view motorized vehicles in a practical light. My first criteria for the perfect car is whether it can hold a piece of plywood. My second is a minimal cringe factor when hauling sick children, injured dogs, or wet sod. This garners dramatic eye-rolling from my muscle-car-craving son. It also means that the Barber Motorsports Museum was not on my list of must-see attractions. I have edited my list. Not so much because of the enshrined vehicles as for the beauty of the museum itself. Set in a lovely park containing a 2.38 mile race track and scattered with sculptures, the museum displays 500 or so motorcycles and a variety of automobiles in a playful layout. A ramp spirals up through five floors around a glass elevator framed by racks of motorcycles. Visually, it's like a bag of M&M's in a chrome-plated dream.
The displays document the history of motorcycles and motorcycle racing. Military models brought to mind Indiana Jones movies. Board track racing must have been thrilling. I wonder if the wooden tracks creaked like the wooden roller coaster I once rode? The wall of glass at the back of the museum offers a view of the track and whimsically placed larger-than-life sculptures of bugs and birds. The bottom floor is not open to the public. It contains the restoration workshops and a tantalizing collection of unusual cars, including a solar racer built at Auburn.
The museum is open daily, including most holidays. Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for children 4-12.