Rick Hendrick Won’t Be Driving C8 Corvette #1 After Dropping $3M on It

By Brett Foote - January 27, 2020

NASCAR legend and Corvette fanatic drops record cash to add C8 0001 to his already incredible collection.

Rick Hendrick is no stranger to Corvettes. After all, this is a man who owns one of the world’s largest and most valuable private Corvette collections. So it wasn’t really a surprise that the CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group and Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports also put in the winning bid on C8 Corvette VIN 0001 at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction. Bringing home the first mid-engine Corvette ever produced wasn’t a bargain proposition, however, as a flurry of bids drove the price all the way up to a staggering sum of $3 million.

Following his latest acquisition, Hendrick spoke with the Detroit Free Press to discuss the crazy scene that mobs of people witnessed both in person and on television. “I’ve been going to those auctions for 25 to 30 years and I’ve bought a lot of No. 1s at auction for charity,” Hendrick said. “But nothing like this car. This had bidders from all over the world. It was so much drama. When you have the CEO of General Motors on the stage, that’s a big deal. This is a car many people had their eye on. I was hoping I could get it and it didn’t get out of my price range.”

Yes, apparently even Rick Hendrick operates on a budget. He did admit that $3 million was in the neighborhood of his personal “limit” for C8 #1, which is pretty interesting. Now, this historical car will join his 120+ Corvette (and 210 total car) collection in Concord, North Carolina. But like those many incredibly rare cars, this one won’t exactly be seen tooling around the Queen City. “I won’t ever drive it,” Hendrick revealed. “I’ll put it away.”

Not that this little fact should surprise anyone. C8 #1 is obviously a valuable and historically significant car. And it’s not like Hendrick has a shortage of cars to choose from if he wants to take a drive. He already owns the first ’55, ’56, ’57, and ’89 ZR1 ever produced. So we can’t blame him there. Now, Hendrick has yet another #1 to add to his collection, and the warm and fuzzy feeling that every penny of the $3 million he dropped on it is going to benefit The Detroit Children’s Fund.