I just want to make a slight addendum to Tim’s previous write-up of the Clausen Car. Jason and I happened to be in the neighborhood and Tim invited us to the Auction of all motorized vehicle parts great and small.
From F-1 to Nascar and the 10L, if you collect used card parts it was probably here. There was so much I can not remember it all with the grace to explain it in full.
The Auction/ or Museum staff gave away free Domino’s pizza as a way to entice people to stay, or rather they were afraid if the bidders were hungry they would leave without making a purchase. One of the thousand other restaurants on I-Driver would have been happy to open their doors to any auction-goer.
Obviously some names in racing, or any sport, stick out and are recognizable for their great achievements or longevity in the media, ie Jordan, Barkley, LeBron, Kounikova, Tiger, Earnhardt, Brady.
After Tim gave us a brief tour of the Race History Auction, he led us to a corner of the room where he showed us the treasure he had found, the Clausen car. The car was taped to the plaque, and appeared very small in comparison with all the other items in it vicinity.
Tim grabbed the 10L and threw it up on the neareset “table” he could find. He wanted to show Jason that the car was still was still complete, in all its glory, after all these years. In his eagerness to show Jason his find, none of us notice what he was using for a “table.”
Moments later Tim says, “Wow, would you look at this…. I’m throwing body clips all over the back of Dale Earnhardt’s car as if it were just any old car.”
The auction staff was too busy passing out free pizza slices to notice … oddly enough there was a charge for a Diet Coke.
I had noticed the Earnhardt car on our first swoop of the museum’s stash, as well as a car that was driven by Bobby Allison…with my name of course I noticed. Plus I grew up in Daytona, so all of these names are very familiar to me.
We were all leaning on the Earnhardt car as if it were one of our car’s and we were in the driveway discussing where to go for dinner, casual as can be. It was 7 years ago this weekend that this great Nascar icon passed. He won seventy-six races (including his only Daytona 500 victory in 1998), and his seven championships are tied for most all-time with Richard Petty. His highly aggressive driving style made him a fan favorite and earned him the nicknames “Ironhead”, “Mr. Restrictor Plate,” “The Man in Black” and most famously “The Intimidator.” Earnhardt died from massive head trauma from a crash in Turn 4 on the final lap of 2001 Daytona 500.
Once we noticed who the car had once belonged to, Tim and Jason gathered up the body and body clips of the 10L, and stepped away from the car. Not sure whether it was in reverence or just that we didn’t want to be forced to buy it. Can you imagine parking that in your driveway?
“Yep, that’s my daily driver,” you say to the inquisitive neighbor.
It had no backseat, no passenger room, and no trunk space at all – I would LOVE to drive it around the Daytona International Speedway, but where would all my shoes go ? 🙂
Below photo courtesy of my iPhone (I love that thing!)
Second photo courtesy of the world wide web and Wikipedia, photo circa 1994
