Bobby Allison’s 200 MPH NASCAR Dodge Daytona Sold For $1.32 Million

The price was as high as its speed!

A 1969 Dodge Daytona NASCAR racing car that was the first to break the 200 mph mark has been sold for $1.32 million at the Mecum Auctions event in Monterey.

The Daytona was specifically designed for NASCAR’s superspeedways with the help of a NASA rocket engineer and Bobby Allison flew around Talladega with it at 200 mph during testing in 1968.

He clocked four laps above 200 mph in the 426 Hemi V8-powered car just weeks before it won its debut race at the track during an event boycotted by most full-time NASCAR drivers over safety concerns.

While the original time sheets were included with the lot, Allison’s test wasn’t certified so he isn’t officially the first NASCAR driver to go 200 mph.

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That would be Buddy Baker, who drove a similar car to 200.447 mph at Talladega on March 24, 1970, which is recognized as the first 200 mph lap on a closed circuit track in any type of car. That Daytona was last sold at a Mecum Auctions event in 2022 for $550,000.

As with many race cars from the era, the Allison Charger Daytona eventually disappeared into storage until it was rediscovered in “barn find” condition and restored with his original livery and a period-correct Dick Landy-built engine.

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The Charger Daytona and related Plymouth Superbird are among the hottest American muscle cars on the collector circuit right now.

A 1969 production model with a Hemi engine and a four-speed manual transmission that was auctioned in 2022 for $1.32 million like Allison’s race car was auctioned again last year for $3.3 million.