NASCAR Team Owner Rick Hendrick Wins Auction For An Iconic 1977 Chevrolet Nova Raced By The Late Dale Earnhardt

Over the span of Dale Earnhardt’s career, he has driven a lot of cars. After such a high profile racing career that has gone on for decades, they span far and wide. Some of these cars, Junior has actually added to his collection. It would be difficult, though, to be able to make space for all of them. He has to be a little bit selective about which ones he wants to own and these things can get rather expensive. In this one, though, we find a machine that Earnhardt Jr. was willing to spend a good amount of money to bring home.

The car started out as a Pontiac Ventura but had been overhauled and converted to a Chevrolet Nova. In the timeline of Earnhardt cars, this one was incredibly early on. If it was the car that Dale thought it was and not a replica, it was one of the first. The machine was believed to be one before the massive blow up and even before Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. In fact, the car was one that Dale had worked on in the garage right beside his mother’s house. It was nothing short of a garage build beast.

When the car went up for auction, Junior had to have it. The steps that he went through to make sure that it was real are a story to be heard. In a normal car, of course, it will have some sort of number identification. In this car, though, obviously, there is no VIN number. Junior set out and put on his best detective hat in order to try and verify that this thing was the real deal.

He would turn to his uncle, Robert Gee Jr. to make sure that it was, in fact, legit. As someone who worked on the car and traveled with it, he had a bit of insight. However, it wasn’t enough to convince Dale Jr. that it was the real deal. The video below showcases all that he went through and his conclusions to determine if it was worth the $190,000 final bid or not.