Racing is a sport of marginal gains. Every driver, every team, and every manufacturer looks for that slight edge that can make them better than the next guy. However, few would know how Dale Earnhardt and Chevrolet pulled off his 1986 and 1987 NASCAR Cup Series win.
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Dale Earnhardt was yet to earn his famous Intimidator moniker. There were drivers like Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, and Rusty Wallace he was competing with. But the 1986 season changed that as he won his second Cup Series title.
GM makes a name for itself in NASCAR
That came as a result of GM’s decision to take matters into its hands. Designing Chevrolet’s Monte Carlo Aerocoupe and Pontiac’s Grand Prix 2+2, they hit the mother lode. They knew it. Competing with Ford’s Thunderbirds, these cars had unique (read: peculiar) noses coupled with fastback rear windows. These were supposed to give aerodynamic advantages.
The Chevy went to Earnhardt, who won the 1986 and 1987 titles with it. Whereas, they handed the Pontiac to Rusty Wallace, who grabbed a few memorable wins for himself.
Special as the Pontiac was, a unique version of it is now being put up for auction. A promotional version of the car built fully black with tan-colored interiors was donated to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega. Mike Raita, the Director of the institution, told Fox News that the place needed renovation for a long time.
Post-renovation, the Museum will be “going in a different direction” and thus the decision to auction the car at the Mecum Auctions in Kissimmee (FL) was taken.
The auction house has not placed an estimate, but we understand that a $20,000 bid would be where bidding could start. One of Rusty’s old cars was sold for $100,000 in 2019, so that figure wouldn’t be far this time too.
The story behind GM’s innovations
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They did not clear the car that was being put up for auction for street purposes. It was only for promotional usage. But it still racked up 2,500-odd miles on the odometer. However, there were some other steps GM had to take before they could go ahead with their design idea.
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Rules at the time required that “stock” models were in close resemblance with their production counterparts. In other words, there couldn’t be a vast difference in how a stock car looked in comparison to the for-sale model it was based on. This forced GM to sell a few thousand pieces of similar-looking cars.
The auctioneering website offers details on the specifications of the cars that were created. As per the Mecum website, “This car has a 305 CI V-8 engine, automatic transmission with overdrive, power steering and power brakes.”
The proof, however, lies in the pudding. Rusty’s incredible performances in the model show how good it was. He won 6 races in 1988 with the model and was second at the end of the season, just 24 points behind Million Dollar Bill.
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No one knows what kind of bids the model will attract, but one thing’s for sure – there are going to be some serious bidding wars before the hammer hits the table.
