Courtesy Atlanta Motor Speedway
Last year Atlanta Motor Speedway joined a growing holiday tradition at racetracks across the country with its inaugural Gift of Lights. With more than a million LED lights, this drive-through display was one of Georgia’s most successful holiday events in 2011. As a result, Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Gift of Lights returns on Nov. 18 and continues through Jan. 6.
Even though the Gift of Lights requires you to drive through its mile-and-a-half of festive scenes (at a time when a gallon of gas typically costs more than $3), it’s actually one of the most eco-friendly holiday displays around thanks to its energy-saving LED lights. The journey begins with a welcoming Christmas tree display as you enter the grandstands. But it’s not all about Christmas as the Gift of Lights’ initial stretch features blue menorahs, dreidels and other traditional Hanukkah icons. From there, things take a whimsical turn as fairy tales and nursery rhymes such as Cinderella, The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe and Humpty Dumpty get lively illuminated treatments.
Photo by Brad Harrison, Atlanta Motor Speedway
After you pass the smiling green dragon (wearing a celebratory Santa hat, of course), you go through an under-the-sea-themed section that features fish, crustaceans, waterfalls and other aquatic life. Then you finally get to a wintery North Pole-like area where penguins and other arctic creatures have fun with elves, candy canes and other Christmasy creations. But it seems that Santa is also a NASCAR fan as brightly-lit race cars (driven by Santa and his reindeer) line an outdoor stretch not normally accessible on race days. Gift of Lights concludes with a visual display of eight maids a-milking, five golden rings and all the other gifts from “The Twelve Days of Christmas” before you drive through a colorful tunnel that takes you to the exit.
The entire display is set to holiday music and NASCAR drivers recounting their favorite Christmas memories on your car radio. New for 2012, you can also get your photo taken with Santa Chris in the Speedway Gift Shop for no additional charge. When I talked to Mr. Cringle, he recounted some of his larger-than-life memories yesteryear’s wrestling greats like Ox Baker and Andre the Giant. And I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better early Christmas gift than talking to Santa about wrestling!