Issue Date: March 16, 2008

NASCAR's lost treasures

Over the years, highly valued helmets, a checkered flag, a cowboy hat and, yes, even a race car have gone MIA. Have you seen them?

By Tim Wendel

NASCAR racing has had some of the most colorful characters in sports. Unfortunately, much of the best NASCAR memorabilia has been lost to time. The family of Benny Parsons, for example, made a public appeal for any of his helmets, trophies or old driving suits. Parsons, like many top drivers from the sport's early days, often lent his treasures to restaurants and businesses, and many items were never recovered.

As in the sports of baseball, football, basketball and hockey, USA WEEKEND Magazine is seeking the great, lost "holy grails" of NASCAR. After having some discussions with racing officials and old-timers, we've come up with a definitive list and, thanks to Tim Trout, the co-author of the "Beckett Racing Collectibles Price Guide," price estimates on what these items would be worth today if found:

5. One of Richard Petty's first cowboy hats ($2,500)
"The King" began his current look during his racing career as a practical move. Tired of switching between baseball caps with logos of his various sponsors, Petty donned a cowboy hat. With this look, he had one of his biggest victories, bringing home the checkered flag for the 200th time at the Firecracker 400 in 1984. Ronald Reagan was there -- the first sitting president at a NASCAR race. The King's cowboy look has lasted to this day, but those original hats are gone.

4. Helmets from Allison-Yarborough fight ($30,000)
A rough-and-tumble element has long been a feature of NASCAR, but seldom has it led to a donnybrook like the one that occurred at the Daytona 500 in 1979. With a huge TV audience tuned in, thanks to a heavy East Coast snow, an early on-track mishap seemed to end any hope of victory for three-time champ Cale Yarborough. But he fought back into contention, and with a single lap left, he was just behind leader Donnie Allison. When Yarborough tried to pass, Allison cut him off. The two cars, going 185 mph, collided, then hit the outside wall before sliding back onto the infield. The collision made Richard Petty the winner.

Brother Bobby Allison drove over later to check on Donnie, who was OK. But a fight with Yarborough broke out. "The three drivers started wrestling around in the infield mud," Joe Garner writes in "Speed, Guts & Glory: 100 Unforgettable Moments in NASCAR History." "Bobby at one point had Yarborough by the throat. And it was all played out for the national TV audience."

3. Tiny Lund's Rolex watch ($50,000)
It's said that DeWayne "Tiny" Lund arrived at Daytona in 1963 with only 18 cents in his pocket and no car to drive. Having made a name for himself in sprint cars, he had just returned to racing after serving in the Army. Lund was trackside on Feb. 14, 1963, when Marvin Panch test-drove an experimental Maserati. It became airborne, flipped over and caught fire. Lund was among the first to reach Panch and pulled him from the flames.

Panch, unable to race, persuaded the Wood brothers to let Lund drive their legendary No. 21 Ford, which had qualified to run in the Daytona 500. In the biggest race of his career, Lund upset the field, running the entire 500 miles on a single set of tires. For his Cinderella victory, he received a gold Rolex watch. He lost it in the mid-1960s. "Somebody told me he lost it pheasant hunting," says Lund's widow, Wanda. "But I won't be surprised if he just gave it away. That's the kind of guy he was. He gave away trophies from many of the races he won. He'd give rides to kids long after the race was over." Lund died in 1975 while racing at Talladega. His widow would love to find the watch and pass it on to their son, Chris.

2. Checkered flag from the first NASCAR race ($500,000)
NASCAR got off to roaring start with the public more than a half-century ago. On Feb. 15, 1948, nearly 15,000 spectators took in the first race at Daytona Beach, Fla., on a course that was partly on white sand, partly on highway. World War II veteran Red Byron, from Anniston, Ala., won the first NASCAR-sanctioned race. Although his name survives as the answer to one of the sport's most frequently asked trivia questions, the final fate of the first checkered flag isn't clear. "That's a real holy grail," says Buz McKim, historian for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, scheduled to open in 2010 in Charlotte. "That flag, most certainly, is long gone."

1. Dale Earnhardt's first race car ($1 million)
Meet the Man in ... Pink? Yep, while the driver most famous for the dark hue of his car was "The Intimidator" -- he once said, "I would hate to have me behind me on the last lap" -- his first car was far from foreboding. At least when it came to the look.

Earnhardt first took to the dirt tracks around Charlotte in a '56 Ford sedan. His father and friends rebuilt the engine. And they intended the paint color to be avocado green, but it turned out pink. Unable to afford another paint job, Earnhardt had no choice but to race the pink car. It was a far cry from the black race car, emblazoned with No. 3 on the hood, that later made him famous, but the pink car became no less of a NASCAR lost treasure. Small-scale models of the '56 Ford still can be found on eBay. But the real deal is gone and, as with these other items, no one knows where it went.

Restored cars fetch big bucks at auction. A '56 Ford Thunderbird goes for $40,000; a Nextel Cup stock car easily commands $100,000. "Dale's car would bring 10 times that amount," Trout says.