M
MCanyon
Guest
Im not suggesting that anyone send money to this person, I am just posting this because it is in my neighborhood and is kinda interesting. This website also has some wonderful pictures www.nascargarden.com. It sounds like it would be pretty tacky, but it doesnt look too bad.
Victoria Kowaleski's extensive shrine to auto racing includes the facade of her house, a front garden and, on race days, the front lawn.
The centerpiece is the garden, which is filled with handmade models of the nation's 23 Winston Cup tracks, built to scale, 1,100 times smaller than actual size.
At the center of each track is a different plant. For example, there are Bleeding Hearts in Daytona and New Hampshire to commemorate the crashes that killed drivers Dale Earnhardt and Adam Petty at those tracks.
"I tried to make it as tasteful and appealing to the eye as possible," Kowaleski, a 48-year-old part-time minister and long-time race fan, told the Detroit Free Press for a Tuesday story.
"It's all from the creation of my hands. I think God inspired me to do this to unite the people of the world."
The epiphany came when she was writing $30 checks to charities March 3 - all the threes (3-3-03) seemed meaningful for fans of Earnhardt, who drove car No. 3 on the NASCAR circuit.
"I thought it'd be great if charities got a lot of money. A lot of NASCAR fans would like to give, but it's not affordable, so why not $3? How would I get a lot of people to join in? I could make a garden."
Kowaleski asks visitors to donate $3 to five charities.
Next, Kowaleski turned to NASCAR magazines for accurate maps of each track. After tracing each on thick poster board, she used quadruple-folded aluminum foil to form the sides of the template, with masking tape to seal the seams. She filled it with cement, which, when dried, was painted gray to resemble the track surfaces.
"I feel very emotionally rewarded," Kowaleski said. "It had to be something big enough to almost measure up to what Dale was, but it had to be something acceptable in a residential neighborhood. It had to look nice, because I didn't want to appear like some sort of nut."
To continue the Winston Cup theme, she painted her deck and part of her picture window black and white checked. On race days, she brings a television into the front yard to broadcast the events.
Kowaleski's Web site has registered 17,000 hits since its debut Aug. 10. E-mails have come from all over, including compliments from an Australian and a request for driving directions to Kowaleski's house from North Carolina.
The garden will bow out for the season Nov. 16, when the last Winston Cup race has been run.
Victoria Kowaleski's extensive shrine to auto racing includes the facade of her house, a front garden and, on race days, the front lawn.
The centerpiece is the garden, which is filled with handmade models of the nation's 23 Winston Cup tracks, built to scale, 1,100 times smaller than actual size.
At the center of each track is a different plant. For example, there are Bleeding Hearts in Daytona and New Hampshire to commemorate the crashes that killed drivers Dale Earnhardt and Adam Petty at those tracks.
"I tried to make it as tasteful and appealing to the eye as possible," Kowaleski, a 48-year-old part-time minister and long-time race fan, told the Detroit Free Press for a Tuesday story.
"It's all from the creation of my hands. I think God inspired me to do this to unite the people of the world."
The epiphany came when she was writing $30 checks to charities March 3 - all the threes (3-3-03) seemed meaningful for fans of Earnhardt, who drove car No. 3 on the NASCAR circuit.
"I thought it'd be great if charities got a lot of money. A lot of NASCAR fans would like to give, but it's not affordable, so why not $3? How would I get a lot of people to join in? I could make a garden."
Kowaleski asks visitors to donate $3 to five charities.
Next, Kowaleski turned to NASCAR magazines for accurate maps of each track. After tracing each on thick poster board, she used quadruple-folded aluminum foil to form the sides of the template, with masking tape to seal the seams. She filled it with cement, which, when dried, was painted gray to resemble the track surfaces.
"I feel very emotionally rewarded," Kowaleski said. "It had to be something big enough to almost measure up to what Dale was, but it had to be something acceptable in a residential neighborhood. It had to look nice, because I didn't want to appear like some sort of nut."
To continue the Winston Cup theme, she painted her deck and part of her picture window black and white checked. On race days, she brings a television into the front yard to broadcast the events.
Kowaleski's Web site has registered 17,000 hits since its debut Aug. 10. E-mails have come from all over, including compliments from an Australian and a request for driving directions to Kowaleski's house from North Carolina.
The garden will bow out for the season Nov. 16, when the last Winston Cup race has been run.
