There are three major league professional sports teams in North Carolina: the Charlotte Sting of the Women's National Basketball Association, the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League, and the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League, who relocated to Raleigh from Hartford, Connecticut, in 1997. The Charlotte Hornets, now located in New Orleans, left North Carolina in 2002. Minor league baseball's Carolina League is based in North Carolina, and 14 minor league teams call the state home. Additionally, there is minor league hockey in Charlotte, Fayetteville, Asheville, and Greensboro. Two other professional sports that figure prominently in the state are golf and stock-car racing. The Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic in April is a major tournament on the Professional Golfers' Association tour. The North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham hosts the Dura-Lube/KMart 400 and the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 annually on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, while the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte is the home of The Winston, the Coca-Cola 600, and the UAW-GM Quality 500 on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit.
College basketball is the ruling passion of amateur sports fans in North Carolina. Organized in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Wake Forest University, and Duke University consistently field nationally ranked basketball teams. North Carolina won the NCAA Championship in 1957, 1982, and 1993, North Carolina State captured the title in 1974 and 1983, and Duke won back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992.
Other annual sporting events include the Stoneybrook Steeplechase in Southern Pines in April and the National Hollerin' Contest in Spivey's Corner, which tests farmers' ability to call livestock.