CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - NASCAR wants to build a hall of fame in one of four cities, and Charlotte leaders want to land it to cement the city's claim as the center of the stock-car racing world.

Charlotte, Atlanta, Kansas City and Daytona Beach, Fla. will get letters from NASCAR this week asking them to pursue the chance to host it, NASCAR vice president of licensing Mark Dyer said. They will have five months to respond. NASCAR, the private corporation that owns and operates the most popular U.S. auto-racing league, could select a site by the end of the year.

"We want to feel good about it 10 years from now, rather than just have a big flashy opening and make headlines for a short time," said Dyer, who is based in NASCAR's Charlotte office.

NASCAR's proposal will not include requirements about size and funding sources, Dyer said. But NASCAR wants something as large and as attractive as the baseball, basketball and football halls of fame, all in smaller Northern cities.

The motor sports sanctioning body will probably want the cities or local groups to build and operate the facility, Dyer said.

Basketball's hall of fame, in Springfield, Mass., had about 250,000 visitors last year, said president and chief executive officer John Doleva. The new museum complex cost $45 million to build in 2002, and state and local government paid most of it, he said.

Like Springfield for basketball, Charlotte and Daytona have ties to the sport's origins. Atlanta has corporate muscle. Kansas City, with a 4-year-old track, represents the newer fan base.

Auto racing already has several halls of fame adjacent to NASCAR tracks, including one in Talladega, Ala., and another in Darlington, S.C.

The North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville, about 20 miles north of Charlotte, draws 250,000 visitors per year.

Many race teams have their headquarters near Charlotte, and their shops attract thousands of visitors. One racing team, Hendrick Motorsports, has 150,000 visitors a year

Republican Mayor Pat McCrory wants the Charlotte City Council to consider the NASCAR hall of fame at the same time as other cultural facilities.

"You have to consider that a cultural amenity," said Cathy Bessant, chief marketing executive at Bank of America and head of the Charlotte Chamber. "The whole notion of culture being highbrow and NASCAR (as) not is wrong. The NASCAR fan and the NASCAR community is the same community that is enriched by all of the forms of culture in the marketplace."

Since last spring, arts leaders have been lobbying the city for at least $88 million worth of downtown cultural projects, including a new art museum. Later this month, a mayoral task force on cultural facilities is scheduled to suggest revenue sources, including a higher rental car tax, a targeted uptown property tax hike and a parking surcharge.