The Jack Roush Racing Museum Is as Cool as You Can Imagine

Jack Roush has been around racing for nearly 55 years, and he’s been doing it well pretty much since day one. All the success from those seemingly endless racing efforts has yielded some pretty cool racing treasures, and the chance to peer into the Jack Roush Racing Museum is one that we quickly embraced. While not as good as being there in person, we found a captivating walk-through on YouTube, and it is the perfect watch if you like getting lost in NASCAR, Trans Am, and IMSA history.

The collection is located in Livonia, Michigan and has a depth that most museums can only dream of. YouTuber Stapleton42, who has a downright impressive knowledge of modern NASCAR stock car racing, hosts the impressive tour. Between the host and the museum’s historian, Tyler Wolfe, there are so many little tidbits of information about each and every history-filled car they walk by.

From the Paul Newman IMSA Mustang to a Mark Martin JR17 NASCAR chassis, there’s something for everyone in this collection. The video includes a clip of Martin telling the story of the chassis himself, sharing how the innovative Thunderbird not only set a track record at Watkins Glen in 1993, but also was part of the Japanese NASCAR race held at Suzuka in 1996 and ’97. In fact, the car still has pretty much the entire setup from that race still preserved, minus the engine.

Many of the cars are “rollers,” in that their engines have been removed. Wolfe points out that race cars often enter the collection when their racing lives are done or they have already been used as a promotional car or display piece. Those types of cars rarely still have finicky and valuable racing engines since it would make transport and display a challenge. Even without the engines, the cars still show all the signs of the last time on track, from confetti still stuck on the winners, to the track-rubbed side skirts and hammered fenders. It’s the intersection of art, speed, and history, and we enjoyed every minute.