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AUTOS: Hendrick Lands Prize Collectibles
The annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event long has been a popular haunt for NASCAR personalities, and the latest to visit the auction tent was team owner Rick Hendrick...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 15, 2009   Scottsdale, AZ
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick bought two of the most expensive cars to roll across the block on Wednesday at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick's winning bid of $200,000 at Barrett-Jackson secured him a custom 1923 Oldsmobile Touring Roadster. (Barrett-Jackson Photo)

The annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event long has been a popular haunt for NASCAR personalities, and the latest to surface in the Scottsdale, Ariz., auction tent was Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick.

Not only did Hendrick show up, but on Wednesday, he bought the two most expensive cars that rolled across the block on the day, a custom 1923 Oldsmobile Touring Roadster that sold for a hammer price of $200,000, and a special high-performance 1989 Corvette known as “The Snake Skinner.” The Corvette sold for $160,000.

Both cars were part of the General Motors Heritage Collection, an assortment of more than 200 GM cars being auctioned this week at Barrett-Jackson. The cars are not being sold because of the automaker’s ongoing financial problems, but instead are part of GM’s periodic purge of its collection, GM has said.

The Oldsmobile was powered by a 4-liter Oldsmobile Aurora DOHC V-8 IMSA GTS-1 race engine, with custom suspension brakes and other high-performance pieces.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick picked up one of 83 ZR-1 Corvettes built in 1989 dubbed 'The Snake Skinner' that were never sold to the general public. (Barrett-Jackson Photo)
The Snake Skinner was Corvette engineer John Heinricy’s personal car, one of 83 ZR-1 Corvettes built in 1989 but never sold to the public. At Heinricy’s direction, the car was specially lightened, and its engine was boosted to roughly 475 horsepower, about 100 more than stock.

Later in the week, Hendrick will auction off one of Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 DuPont-sponsored NASCAR Sprint Cup cars, with all sale proceeds going to the Hendrick Marrow Foundation.

Also scheduled to be auctioned off are one of Tony Stewart’s Cup cars, again with the proceeds going to charity. Stewart, a regular at B-J in years past, will miss this year’s event to attend the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa.

Other NASCAR personalities who in the past have frequented the sale include Richard Childress, Ray Evernham and Robert Yates.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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