Charlotte, NASCAR fans eagerly await Hall of Fame opening

Autoracing Betting Lines

05/10/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The month of May will be unlike any other for the City of Charlotte, as Tuesday's much-anticipated opening of NASCAR's new Hall of Fame kicks off a long list of race activities in the Queen City.

Since its groundbreaking on January 25, 2007, the NASCAR HoF, located in the city's downtown area, has evolved into a 150,000-square-foot entertainment center honoring the history and heritage of the sport.

NASCAR announced in March 2006 that Charlotte was awarded the site of its Hall of Fame, with the city topping Atlanta, Kansas City, Daytona Beach, FL and Richmond, VA in its proposals to construct and fund the HoF.

It makes sense for Charlotte to have the hall, since it is NASCAR's "hub city," and since most NASCAR teams have their race shops located in the Charlotte metropolitan area.

A NASCAR hall was long overdue, since other major professional sports in this country had landmarks constructed many decades ago to house memorial items and honor illustrious athletes in their respective sports.

"I think it's huge," said Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR champion. "I think it really signifies where our sport is today and its significance and the role that it plays in major sports. I think that's what the NASCAR building as well as the Hall of Fame being in Charlotte, N.C., really means."

Among some of the features in the $195 million NASCAR HoF include a 64-foot- wide curved projection screen inside a 275-seat theater and several floors of interactive exhibits and artifacts, including dozens of historic cars.

"One of our objectives was to have something for everybody, whether you are a diehard NASCAR fan or whether you have never been around the sport, whether or not you're five years old or 85 years old...if you want to see the history or do something hands on," NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley said. "The exhibit design team did a fabulous job, and our team acquiring the artifacts and NASCAR's team helping us with us with all the props and the media videos are absolutely incredible."

The NASCAR HoF will hold its first induction ceremony on May 23. NASCAR founder Bill France and his son, Bill France Jr., a former NASCAR chairman, as well as drivers Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson make up the 2010 inaugural induction class.

"It feels good," seven-time NASCAR champion Petty said of his induction. "I felt like this was a race...you feel good finishing in the front five."

The five-member induction class for 2011 will be revealed later this year.

May traditionally has been a busy month for racing in Charlotte, with the running of the all-star race followed by the longest event of the season -- 600 miles -- at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

This time, Charlotteans and NASCAR fans have a lot more to roar about.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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