“You can’t auction off the car it’s mine”: NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip recounts the 'unreasonable' struggle to reclaim his Camaro at the auction 

NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip reminisced about when he had no option but to repurchase a Chevrolet Camaro he already paid for. The NASCAR Hall of Famer uncovered an interesting story about how highly skilled car fabricator Robert Gee used Volkswagen parts to combat a major hurdle.

Waltrip, a three-time Cup Series champion, 84-time Cup race winner, a five-time Coca-Cola 600 victor, and more, has etched his name among NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers. However, like his rivals, he battled with his Camaro's structural issues. The bumpers couldn't fit precisely and the car was seated low, requiring a special shape to solve the puzzle.

While Waltrip was scratching his head, his fabricator Robert Gee visited a junkyard to fulfill his quest -tapping on a Volkswagen bumper with big tire arches molded inside to provide ample space for his Camaro's tires. After initial skepticism, Waltrip agreed to Gee's idea, pouring in $25000.

However, after Robert Gee's tragic demise in 1994, his family put the car on auction. Upon learning that what he thought was his car was up for sale, Darrell Waltrip called Gee's daughter to tell her that the Camaro was his and she could not sell that.

"I felt like it was my car but when Robert passed, they had an auction at his garage and they were going to auction off the car. I called his daughter and said, 'Hey you can't auction off that car, it's mine,'" Darrell Waltrip said via Dirty Mo Media (26:56).

He was met with disappointment when Gee's daughter asked for ownership proof but Waltrip failed to produce. Thus, he headed to the auction to bid for the Camaro. But things weren't easy as his colleague Butch Stevens was also in attendance to grab Camaro's parts.

"I go to the auction, it's over at Robert's house. The car comes up for bid and I start $2500 because it wasn't together, it was a lot of pieces and parts you had to put back together. So I bid $2500, somebody bid $3000, I bet $3500 and somebody said $4000. I look around and it was Butch Stevens because he had helped work on that car too" (27:32).

"I said, 'Look, Butch, we can jack this thing up to $10000 if that's what it takes. I'm going to buy this car, we were kind of buddies, I said, 'You can either bail, or jack the price up to unreasonable but I'm going to buy that car," Waltrip added.

Nonetheless, Waltrip was successful in his quest to repurchase the Chevrolet Camaro for $4000.

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"They're never going to find it": Darrell Waltrip reveals how officials failed to spot an illegal modification

Unlike the modern era, where advanced technologies could be used to identify illegal modification much more easily, the previous era was dependent largely on eagle-eyed officials. However, Darrel Waltrip and Co. successfully fooled them.

They filled the high-octane ride with lead to suffice the pre-race requirement. As the race progressed, the heat melted the lead as a result of which it dripped from the hole underneath the car. But what's interesting about the hole was that when the officials put a jack to lift the machine, it rested on the hole from where lead escaped.

Darrell Waltrip recounted the moment when the illegal modification couldn't get caught. He told Dale Earnhardt Jr. (via Dirty Mo Media).

"So they're [officials] looking at all the cars. They take the jack and they jack the car up. So the jack is sitting on the hole. They could look forever, they're never going to find it," Darrell Waltrip said(0:28).

Junior responded, sharing his belief about what would make him think a crew chief isn't trying hard.

I always believe that if your crew chief isn't trying... if that car isn't illegal, then he ain't trying hard enough" (0:41).

It's worth mentioning that Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Sr. shared a bittersweet relationship. Their rivalry culminated in the 1980s but over time, their bond deepened and the bitterness faded.