Dale Earnhardt Jr. to auction off two cars for charity in Scottsdale Saturday night
Tonight’s the night for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to do something great for children: Two of Earnhardt’s cars will be sold at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Collector-Car Auction, with 100 percent of the proceeds from both cars going to Nationwide Children's Hospital.
And the man himself will be there to do the honors at 9 p.m. ET.
The first car is an Earnhardt-designed 1970 Chevelle Resto-Mod with a modern Chevy V-8, a reproduction body in Black Diamond metallic paint, coilover suspension system, Camaro Track Pack 20" racing wheels, Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires, four-wheel disc brakes and re-trimmed 2012 Camaro seats.
“Assembly of the Chevelle came together at GM's Milford Proving Ground and started with an original '70 Chevelle frame, but almost every other component used during the car's construction is all-new, including the body,” states the auction listing.
And right after the Chevelle goes, Barrett-Jackson will auction off a genuine NASCAR Premier Series No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet SS that Earnhardt used in six races in 2014-15.
Chassis No. 88-857 was first raced at Phoenix International Raceway, where Earnhardt finished second in February 2014. Subsequently it would run twice at both at Richmond International Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway and once at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Jim McCoy, Nationwide’s Director of Sports Marketing, said the race car being auctioned off is the first of Earnhardt’s cars to carry primary sponsorship from Nationwide.
“Dale will be there on stage, with the patient champion, our CEO and representatives of Chevrolet and Nationwide Children’s Hospital," said McCoy in an exclusive interview with FOXSports.com. “And it should be a really cool event.”
With all the money for both cars going to the hospital and no sales fees or commissions of any kind, it certainly is a good cause.
“Hopefully they will go for a lot of money,” said McCoy, who said the sports marketing department at Nationwide has an annual fund-raising goal.
Last year, the department raised about $4.8 million for the hospital.
“This should be a nice start for putting a dent in that number for 2017,” McCoy said.
