NASCAR racing champion Tony Stewart bought this race-winning car from team owner Joe Gibbs and sold it at Barrett-Jackson to raise money for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation. The car sold for $300,000, and celebrities and bidders made additional contributions to boost the total the charity received.
Charity spirit drives giant Barrett-Jackson auction
By Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News
The 2008 edition of what has become known as "the Barrett-Jackson" continued the tradition.
The week-long event opens with its annual Drive the Dream gala fund-raiser for Childhelp. Then, on Friday evening, NASCAR racer Tony Stewart was on hand to donate an actual race-winning car with proceeds going to the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, a charity founded by drag racer Darrell Gwynn, who was paralyzed as a result of a crash and who now provides wheelchairs for children with disabilities.
The car not only drew a high bid of $300,000, but bidders and celebrities alike chipped in additional dollars for the cause.
The fund-raising reached a peak on Saturday, when Ford offered the first 2008 Shelby GT500 KR coupe, with proceeds going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; Chevrolet provided the first 2009 Corvette ZR1, raising money for the United Way of Michigan, and Chrysler tendered the first 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 for sale.
The Mustang brought $550,000. The Corvette, with Tonight Show host and car collector Jay Leno encouraging bidders, went for $1 million. The Challenger drew $400,000 for notMYkid, a charity that educates parents about youth behavioral health issues.
Actor John Schneider sold his own 1969 Dodge Charger "General Lee" for $450,000, with part of the proceeds going to autism research and a U.S. Nationals-winning NHRA nitro funny car brought $130,000 for the Eric Blake Faulkner Foundation that provides perinatal bereavement assistance.
Scottsdale resident and rock'n'roller Alice Cooper also is a car guy. This year at Barrett-Jackson the former Detroiter sold this "Golf Monster Gullwing," a recreation of a 1965 Mercedes-Benz 300SL coupe. The deal included a guitar and a set of Cooper's own golf clubs. It went for $185,000.
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Barrett-Jackson prides itself on what it calls "only at Barrett-Jackson moments," and they include the bidding for such charity vehicles, the appearance of celebrities (among those on hand this year were Muhammad Ali, Alice Cooper and Patrick "Dr. McDreamy" Dempsey) as well as the excitement that surrounds the bidding for vehicles such as:
* Carroll Shelby's own 1969 GT500 convertible (sold for $675,000);
* The original Monkeemobile (sold for $360,000);
* The Intimidator, the first of a series of 50 Chevrolet Camaros built under the auspices of NASCAR's Richard Childress Racing team, with this one not only named for late driver Dale Earnhardt Sr., but powered by a real racing engine (sold for $575,000);
* The Pininfarina-designed and built 1963 Chevrolet Corvette "Rondine" concept car ($1.6 million);
* The 1963 Ford Thunderbird "Italien" concept ($600,000);
Towering above the other vehicles at Barrett-Jackson is Robosaurus, "the world's largest robot" that picks up cars, burns them with fiery breath and crushes them between jaws that generate 20,000 pounds of force. Robosaurus sold for $575,000.
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* The 40-foot tall, car-crushing, fire-breathing Robosaurus ($575,000);
* An off-shore powerboat, trailer and trailer-pulling Hummer from the movie Miami Vice ($500,000);
* Blastolene B-702, a piece of rolling sculpture, powered by a 12-cylinder GMC engine and designed as modern tribute to the classic curves of the French coachbuilt cars of the 1930s ($475,000);
* A 1933 Duesenberg J dual cowl phaeton ($1 million);
* The 1959 Pontiac Catalina "Pink Lade" convertible built for the wife of General Motors design director Harley Earl ($225,000)
(Prices listed are high bids and do not include sales commission.)
Central Arizona's McDowell Mountains provide a backdrop for the tents with mountain-like peaks that house the 1200 vehicles offered for auction at Barrett-Jackson.
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