NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
CUP: Hendrick Buys, Sell For Charity
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick bought several cars at Barrett-Jackson, including a custom 1923 Oldsmobile roadster...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 19, 2009   Harrisburg, NC
Rick Hendrick donated one of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolets driven by Jeff Gordon, which was auctioned on Saturday night at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner Rick Hendrick will have quite a prize for the showroom of one of his Chevrolet dealerships: The very first 2010 Camaro to roll off the production line.

Hendrick bought the 2010 Camaro VIN 100001 Saturday night at the annual Barrett Jackson Collector Car event in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a high bid of $350,000. All proceeds from the sale will go to the American Heart Association, with Barrett-Jackson waiving its customary auction commissions as part of the deal.

By winning the auction, Hendrick has the right to option the car exactly as he chooses. The 2010 Camaro is one of the most anticipated American cars in recent memory, returning to the Chevrolet lineup for the first time since being discontinued in the 2002 model year. The top-of-the-line Camaro SS features a 426-horsepower V-8 engine similar to the one that powers the Corvette. Production of the car is scheduled to begin March 16 at the General Motors manufacturing facility in Oshawa, Ontario.

Hendrick, who owns a number of domestic and foreign automobile dealerships throughout the United States, has been lobbying hard on behalf of the Big Three automakers in recent months, urging Congress to approve loans to keep the U.S. companies alive.

The team owner bought several cars at Barrett-Jackson, including a custom 1923 Oldsmobile roadster. He also sold one, donating one of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolets driven by Jeff Gordon, which also was auctioned on Saturday night.

Gordon’s car, which was raced 14 times and won races at Chicagoland Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway, fetched a top bid of $500,000 from Arizona developer Ron Pratte, with all proceed being donated to the Hendrick Marrow Program, which matches bone marrow donors to leukemia patients.

Hendrick, himself a leukemia survivor, has raised more than $10 million for the marrow program. “We know we’ve matched 200 people and that’s 200 lives saved,” Hendrick said during the auction. “… It will change your life to be able to save a life. You don’t know what it means to meet some of the children.”

The Gordon car was restored to race-ready condition over the winter by crew chief Steve Letarte and his crew and Hendrick said the engine produced 830 horsepower on the dyno.

NASCAR 39/10: Reviewing the 60th SeasonNASCAR 39/10: Reviewing the 60th Season A unique and comprehensive look at a historic season in the annals of stock car racing. For the first time ever, NASCAR fans will be able to relive the entire 2008 Sprint Cup Season, over the course of a 30-hour anthology. From Preseason Testing in Daytona, to the Postseason Banquet in New York, viewers will relive NASCAR’s 60th season, and one of the most important years in the sport’s history.
tom_jensen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.