A massive sculpture homage to a NASCAR driver seems like the last thing you’d expect in most people’s homes — but especially in a 3,777-square foot Manhattan penthouse in the center of an open living space.
But in addition to this listing‘s “soaring 12’ ceilings”, a rotunda with a stained-glass skylight and a wet bar, there is a giant “88” sculpture in the middle of the great room as a tribute to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who drove the No. 88 Chevrolet for 10 years before retiring in 2017.
A 2015 Architectural Digest feature story about the penthouse condo explains that “in the great room, which looks out onto a leafy park and the towers of lower Manhattan, looms a monumental Banks Violette steel sculpture in the form of a tilted 88”.
From the angle of that photo, it appears as though the numbers are tilted the wrong way.
Unlike Hendrick Motorsports’ other car numbers, which are angled back, Earnhardt’s No. 88 was always tilted forward. But obviously if you looked at the sculpture from the other direction, the numbers would be leaning the correct way.
The sculpture and listing caught the attention of none other than Dale Jr., who started speculating about who the possible current owner is.
The listing’s “expansive living room” was described as “ideal for entertaining.” But you have to imagine the current owners received a wide variety of questions about the outrageously large “88” sculpture in the middle of it.
