Concord is the county seat of Cabarrus County. It is located near the center of Cabarrus County in the Piedmont and is 20 miles northeast of Charlotte center city. The Piedmont area of North Carolina can be characterized by rolling hills and forest. Land left untended will typically return to native forest land within a few years. The climate can be described as cool winter seasons with hot, humid summer seasons. The city was a winner of the All-America City Award in 2004.
Concord is the home to Charlotte Motor Speedway, a NASCAR Research and Development Office (which also is the headquarters for research for touring and sportscar racing operations), and several professional race teams, including Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. The speedway opened in 1959 by owner Bruton Smith. Smith’s company, Speedway Motorsports, Inc., owns Charlotte Motor Speedway. The company also owns and operates a dragstrip and dirt track facility adjacent to the speedway. Concord is also home to Windshear, Inc., a firm that owns a state-of-the-art wind tunnel facility used to test the aerodynamics of vehicles (mostly motorsports vehicles). Numerous NASCAR driver have their headquarters here.
