NASCAR team owner Richard Childress says he has cars sitting in his museum, not at an auction
Three Dale Earnhardt cars are rolling across the auction block today. Comments from NASCAR team owner Richard Childress have left us to believe the cars could not genuine.
Today, a 20-car collection is set to roll across the auction block. The cars in set for the Saturday edition of the Mecum Auctions event in Phoenix, Arizona.
Three of the machines are claimed to be Dale Earnhardt cars from the Richard Childress Racing stable back in the day. Two of them are cars claimed to have been driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The highlight of the collection is Chassis no. 9309 which claims to be the 1994 car that Dale Earnhardt drove at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The listing states, “One of the most famous cars in the history of NASCAR.”
The significance of that that is that Earnhardt claimed the 1994 NASCAR championship in that race. It would be his 7th and final NASCAR championship before his death.
Dale Earnhardt cars coming up for sale is a very rare thing. Why? Mostly because team owner Richard Childress has a museum of his own. He’s kept a bulk of the #3 machines in house, even all these years later.
So, when Dale Earnhardt cars come up for sale it spawns some questions across the racing comminity.
Related: Three Dale Earnhardt race cars are set to roll to auction
Update: Earnhardt Collection – Sold
Kelley Earnhardt Miller comments on the Dale Earnhardt cars that are for sale
“I wanna know where they came from? That’s the first thing,” Kelley Earnhardt Miller asked of her father’s supposed cars on her ‘Beyond Racing’ radio show via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
“I’m curious where they came from and if they’re real.”
So far, we haven’t learned anything about who’s selling the collection. We only know that it’s from an ‘avid collector’. That’s the vague detail we have so far.
“Just thinking about the old cars at our race shop. You sell old cars for them to race. I guess some cars could change hands to different teams.”
“Eventually, someone realizes, ‘Oh, this is a chassis from Dale Earnhardt Incorporated that Jr drove.’ Maybe it doesn’t have the Bud stuff on it. They re-decal it.”
“It’s very interesting. We’ve had a couple people ask us to verify cars over our history. We never really had a lot of success at verifying what that looks like.”
Richard Childress comments on the Dale Earnhardt cars for sale
“No, I didn’t know they were selling some of them. I thought I had about all of them,” Richard Childress stated.
“There’s a few of the Dale cars out there, I think. I started saving Dale’s cars in the real early 90’s.”
Richard Childress built his own museum. The RCR museum houses the built of the Earnhardt #3 fleet.
“I think I have 42 or 44 of his original cars that he drove. It goes back to the 86-87 championship car.”
All of the above sounds pretty interesting. Especially since the auction listings states that the 1994 machine is the car Earnhardt drove at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he clinched the championship.
“It’s sitting in my showroom at the museum. They definitely don’t have the ’94 that he won his championship with. We have it.”
Well, that’s an interesting twist.
“I have probably 5 loaned out to different museums. We’re going to put some in the Hall of Fame for the 60th anniversary. I may even put the Daytona 500 winner in there.”
“We sold a few way back in the day. But, not anything in years. I sold one to a guy in Ireland. There’s cars out there. But, not anything with any significance at all.”
You can learn more about the collection in the link below. The entire collection is schedule to be a highlight at the auction.
Well, the auction should be interesting later today.
This story will be updated if any new information becomes available.
More
Update: Earnhardt Collection – Sold
Three Dale Earnhardt race cars are set to roll to auction
Dale Earnhardt’s yacht is for sale
Dale Earnhardt Jr kept secret notes in case of the worst as he finished he raced with concussions
Earnhardt Sr pushed Mark Martin’s buttons, just for fun
Dale Earnhardt Jr recalls on track disputes with his own father
A disoriented Dale Earnhardt Sr at Darlington Raceway
Dale Earnhardt Jr recalls getting the belt as a child
The Kannapolis Intimidators are set for a name change
Karsyn Elledge is going full-time dirt racing; Her mother, Kelly Earnhardt Miller comments
Links
Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Mecum Auctions | NASCAR
