CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ A Dale Earnhardt Sr. race car billed at auction as "one of the most famous cars in the history of NASCAR" is not the original, his longtime friend and team owner Richard Childress said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
"It's sitting in my showroom at the museum," Childress said of a 1994 No. 3 Goodwrench Chevy Lumina that Earnhardt drove to his seventh NASCAR Cup series title. "So I don't think that's the correct car. They definitely don't have the '94 that he won the championship with."
Earnhardt, known as "The Intimidator" for his aggressive style on NASCAR tracks, died in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500.
The car was listed online as the most valuable of 20 cars affiliated with Dale Earnhardt Sr. and son Dale Earnhardt Jr. that were up for auction on Saturday at State Farm Stadium, home of the NFL Arizona Cardinals in Glendale. Wisconsin-based Mecum Auctions, which handled the auction, listed the car's value at $200,000 to $300,000, The Charlotte Observer reported two days before Saturday's auction.
By 3 p.m. Saturday, all of the cars had sold, according to the Mecum Auctions website _ except for the car whose authenticity Childress questioned a day earlier on the NASCAR show.
Bidding for the car stood at $190,000 at 3 p.m. Saturday, according to the Mecum website, and bidding remained at that price this week with an online tag saying: "The Bid Goes On ... "
Richard Childress Racing followed up the comments with a statement to the Observer and other media:
"The cars listed on their website and sold at auction are former show cars, not the actual race cars used by RCR and Dale Earnhardt in the events claimed in the listings," according to the statement.
"The Wheaties Chevrolet is a replica show car, as the original sits in the RCR Museum in Welcome, North Carolina. The 1994 no3 Goodwrench Chevrolet is also a show car and not the one used to win the championship (in 1994).
"The chassis numbers do not match and there are multiple indications of this being a show car (stock air filter, "Do Not Touch" on the doors, etc.)."
On Monday, RCR officials released a Facebook Live video from the team owner's car museum in Welcome.
