Dale Earnhardt's 1997 Daytona 500 Crash Car Hood To Be Sold

NASCAR collector Charles Ross has decided to part with his incredible collection of racing memorabilia, and in this video he talks about one of the items being sold.

This could potentially be the "Holy Grail" of all Dale Earnhardt collectibles. This is the ACTUAL hood from Earnhardt's 1997 Daytona 500 "Crash Car" Monte Carlo, which has been PERSONALLY AUTOGRAPHED by Richard Childress and (then) crew chief Larry McReynolds.

The story of Earnhardt's 1997 Daytona "Crash Car" is one that truly personifies who Earnhardt was as a person and a racer: tough and determined. He never gave up - no matter how much the deck was stacked against him.

After running with the leaders the entire race, Earnhardt had maneuvered his way into second place with only ten laps to go. He was racing hard with Jeff Gordon down the back straightaway when Gordon made a move to pass, taking the air off Earnhardt's spoiler. As he did so, Earnhardt got loose and slightly touched the wall. He quickly tried to recover, but Dale Jarrett had run up on him quickly, leaving no downforce on the #3 Monte Carlo's rear end (a slight tap may have been involved), and Earnhardt went into a slide.

At almost 200 mph the car flipped onto its roof and skidded down the track. Amazingly, after contact with another car then the outside wall, the car somehow wound up on its wheels and slid into the infield. Earnhardt was being escorted to the ambulance when he realized that the car could be restarted.

"I looked back over and said, 'Man, the wheels ain't knocked off the car yet,'" Earnhardt said. "So I went back over and told the guy in the car to fire it up. He hit the switch and it fired. I said, 'Give me my car back!'"

With hundreds of thousands of fans going wild, The Intimidator refused medical attention, climbed back into his wounded race car and went on to finish the race five laps down in 31st place.

This hood was displayed at Richard Childress Racing (RCR) before being purchased by private collector Charles Ross. It includes a Certificate of Authenticity from RCR. You've seen the replay of the Crash Car many times on highlight reels and tribute films and now you have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to add a piece of this car, one of Earnhardt's most legendary machines, to your own collection!

Ross has partnered with the well-known automobilia auction website GoMotorBids.com to sell his massive array of memorabilia and Diecast collectibles. You can get more information about this item (plus thousands more) by visiting GoMotorBids.com.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Dale
• Earnhardt
• NASCAR
• Racing
• Auction
• Daytona
• Crash
• Collectibles
• Autographed
• Gomotorbids
• Russ
• Dickey

[pwnzor3000]

Hey GMB, recently I bought a Dale Earnhardt 1989 - 1994 Chevy Lumina race used hood.

Actually, I have a video up of it, but the video is shitty LOL!

Anyway you could tell me how I could get Richard Childress to get me a COA and help me identify which race and year the hood was used in?

[GoMotorBids]

@pwnzor3000 Congrats on your purchase. Unfortunately, we don't have any direct corporate dealings with RCR right now. All of the stuff that we have sold like this has come from private collectors. We would simply suggest starting with the RCR website and seeing if they can put you in touch with the right person. It probably won't be too hard for them to authenticate it, but knowing exactly what car it came off of will be next to impossible, unless they marked the chassis number on the hood.

[RichieRottentooth]

They cut this car up why?

[GoMotorBids]

@RichieRottentooth I guess that's a question for Richard Childress.

He had the car on display at the RCR shop for awhile, and we assume that since the hood was removed the rest of the car was cut up too (but we aren't 100% sure). This would have been a perfect car to display at the Hall of Fame, but 12 years ago or so it was probably just another trashed race car taking up space in his shop. They may not have felt it was all that special, considering he finished 31st or thereabouts.

[18sux29rox]

i cant find a real video of the crash. I only found the 15 second vids. How can i find the real video?!?!?!  PLEASE REPLY!!

[GoMotorBids]

@18sux29rox If you search "1997 Daytona - Dale Earnhardt Flip" here on youtune, you'll find a video that's a bit longer that shows the whole crash. Also, if you check our GoMotorBids videos, you'll see we've got his post-race interview, which is pretty funny.

[alljackedup408]

If i had the money.. it would be mine

[cnycarnut]

wow i remember watching in awe when he got back in that car! thank you som much for kepping earnhardt souvenirs and memorabilia open to the public!

[ksthomas]

I have a piston from one of Dale's RCR engines for a souvenir. I thought that it was pretty neat since not many people would care to have a piece of the hard working power plant. I know Dale had to have run it hard that's what made it special to me.

[pwnzor3000]

@GoMotorBids I will make sure to do that!

And Ive narrowed down the years in which the hood couldve been used; 1990 - 1991.

And it does have a little bit of damage, just to the right of the middle of the hood down at the bottom.

Hopefully I can get somewhere w/ that info!

[d3rdbaseace]

give you 5 bucks for it.10 if it has blood.

[d3rdbaseace]

@RichieRottentooth cuzz it's only a chevy.

[GoMotorBids]

@ChristinaC19 The hood was only slightly bent up, and when Earnhardt pulled into the pits, the crew beat it back into shape (somewhat) with a mallet. You can't really see the dents in the hood in the video - but they were there. If you do a search on YouTube, you can see video clips of the actual crash, and you'll see that the hood itself wasn't all that mangled. The roof and rear decklid took the brunt of it.