Following Clauson’s passing, his longtime supporters — Richard and Jennifer Marshall of Priority Aviation — approached Baker about wanting a new suite at the NSCHoF, something Baker admittedly couldn’t accommodate at the time because there simply weren’t any suites available.

“We had a waiting list … a very strong waiting list, actually, of people who wanted to lease suites with us and we just simply didn’t have any more,” said Baker. “Everyone who leases suites with us are very happy here and they renew their suites every year, so there’s just not a lot of turnover. It’s a great problem to have, but we needed a solution.

“We looked at building more suites on top of the museum building itself, but we couldn’t do that because the building is a purpose-built building,” Baker explained. “Quite simply, it won’t hold any more weight on the top. We knew we weren’t going to be able to add on top of where we were and that we were going to have to add a new structure. It’s something that we’ve had on the drawing books and in our plans since 2009, and we just didn’t have the revenue or the financial ability to build a $3.4 million building.”

That’s when the Marshalls stepped in, knowing that additional suites were needed and that it would be a way to honor Clauson’s legacy in open-wheel racing.

“Richard came to me two years ago and said, ‘Bob, we’ve been waiting for seven years for a new suite. How long are we going to have to wait?’ I told him, ‘I don’t know what the answer is,’” said Baker. “He told me point-blank to build more suites. I told him that we’d had the plans drawn up for a while … and actually pulled them off of a shelf to show him that we had, in fact, thought about this but that we just didn’t have the money to invest in a new set of suites.

“Then he started asking me the right questions,” Baker noted. “He asked if we were a 501(c)(3) organization, which we are as a non-profit, and he said he would think about things. He came back to me about two weeks later and said, ‘If you’ll build a new set of suites and put Bryan’s name on them, I’ll donate $1 million to help you get started.’”

Groundbreaking for the project officially began last June. Less than a year later, Marshall’s vision and Baker’s wish for nearly a decade is reality.

“Richard and Jennifer have been our biggest benefactors for this project since the beginning,” Baker added. “It was just a case of all the stars aligning perfectly. Everyone was on the same page. Richard and Jennifer came to the Marion County Fair Board meeting a few weeks later to approve everything, the contractors were there, our museum board was there and everyone was in agreement on all the factors.

“Even the race track agreed to move the spigot for the water truck into the infield so that this building could be built. It’s been a huge team effort and I couldn’t be more pleased and honored to have helped oversee this project and help guide it to completion.”

In addition to the 12 new suites, the Bryan Clauson Suite Tower will also feature an observation deck on the sixth floor, which will allow suite-holders to have an unprecedented view of the action at Knoxville Raceway overlooking the track’s second turn.