It is common for a car dealer to let someone take a new car out for a test drive.
It is uncommon, however, to have that car come back covered in dust and bugs, with a busted right-side mirror and a scrape along one rear fender. That's not to mention a couple hundred miles more on the odometer plus eyewitnesses who report the car was repeatedly being topped out at 130 miles per hour.
“When I found out what happened, I called the guy I loaned it to,” said Philip Alderman, the owner of Colonial Chevrolet-Buick in Talladega.
“I asked what kind of insurance he had, and he said, `Man, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that fool (the driver) would smack that car into the wall like that.”
The “guy” to whom Alderman lent the car – a 2006 black Monte Carlo – was Rick Humphries, the general manager of Talladega Superspeedway.
The “fool” who smacked the car into the wall was Dale Earnhardt Jr., doing a little “ride and drive” that allowed guest passengers to take a few laps around the newly resurfaced track at Talladega last month.
That's why Alderman was not really unhappy with the condition in which the Monte Carlo was returned. In fact, he's turned it into the centerpiece of his dealership showroom.
“We didn't even wash it,” Alderman said. “We're willing to sell it, as is. Rick had Dale sign the dashboard and the sticker, and we laminated all the articles and pictures of the trips Dale took in the car around the speedway.
“For $125, I could have it fixed up as good as new. I haven't done it. I'm thinking about putting it up on eBay for auction.”
He believes he can auction off the car for more than the usual value of a 2006 Monte Carlo. The current sticker price of the Earnhardt car is $29,405.
Alderman's dealership used to regularly lend cars to the Talladega track for “ride and drives” until the speedway became aligned with Ford.
However, because Earnhardt Jr. races in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, he wasn't about to be seen driving a Ford around any track, which sent Humphries back to Alderman for help.
“Rick and I are good friends,” Alderman said. “He's president of the Rotary, and I'm president-elect, so we've had a lot of fun with this.
“I think all they did was make the car more valuable. It's the first car to go around the (newly resurfaced) track at Talladega, the first car to hit the newly painted wall – and there is still paint on the rear fender to prove it. And, of course, it was driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. That's why we haven't even washed the bugs off of it.”
Alderman is still trying to work out a site to make the car available for auction on eBay, but isn't overly concerned, one way or the other.
“It's good for me, no matter what,” he said. “I didn't cost me anything. It draws people into the dealership. It gets people thinking about the Monte Carlo.
“Worst case, I can fix the mirror, buff out the scratch, and sell it anyway. But I just think it's got some novelty value, because of who drove it and what happened to it.”
