200 miles per hour is a monumental task for any car and driver pairing to achieve, even for a short burst. I’ve never done it. I’m sure some of you have, but probably not many. Back in 1970 Buddy Baker exceeded 200 miles per hour, on average, for an entire lap of Talladega Speedway (then known as the Alabama International Motor Speedway), making he and the #88 car here the first to ever achieve that feat. It currently belongs to former NASCAR crew chief and team owner Ray Evernham, and now he’s selling it.
This exact car, serial number DC-93, was built up as a race car from an old Charger 500 press car. The car made its racing debut at the Daytona 500 in 1969 without the aero assistance. Following that short run, it was built specifically for Dodge aero testing of the so-called wing cars. Later that same year it re-entered NASCAR with Charlie Glotzbach at the wheel, where he qualified on pole for the inaugural Talladega 500, breaking the world speed record for closed course lap average at 199.446 MPH. Six months later it was handed off to Buddy Baker specifically for the purpose of breaking the 200 MPH barrier.
During its tenure as a racing car, DC-93 was piloted by Bobby Allison, Dan Gurney, Bobby Isaac, James Hylton, and Don White. White entered the car in USAC Stock Car competition for many seasons, before it was finally retired in the mid-1970s. White held on to the car until 1998 when it was purchased by NASCAR historian Greg Kwiatkowski and ultimately transferred to Evernham. It was during Evernham’s time with the car that it was perfectly restored to its original 1969 top-speed specification.
This is a pretty astonishing machine with a whole bunch of interesting history. It allegedly has all of the documentation and research done to confirm its authenticity, and the transfer of ownership has been documented since it left Dodge’s stewardship. It’s hard to beat anything with a 426 Hemi under the hood, but this might be one of the most significant cars to ever be elephant powered.
There’s no telling what this car will sell for, as there’s really no comp for something with this kind of history. A standard road-going Hemi-powered Charger Daytona was once a seven-figure car in the muscle car bubble of the 2000s, and this one likely still will be. That same road going machine is now worth about three quarters of a million for a #1 concours condition example. Add in the provenance of this one and you’re probably looking at something between one and three million.
I guess if you’ve got the scratch and the desire, you know where you need to be on Saturday May 21. Indianapolis is where you need to be, for the Mecum auction. Duh. For more photos and information, click the link and check it out.
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