Champion NASCAR Dodge Charger Headed to Auction

After a handful of top five finishes, #22 Dodge Charger from Fitz Motorsports is ready to serve as one incredible show car.

If you have ever wondered what happens to NASCAR race cars like the Dodge Charger shown here once their racing days are done, here is your answer. When NASCAR teams upgrade to new cars, they generally sell their old cars to teams from another racing series, but others are retired from racing altogether.

The #22 Dodge Charger of Fitz Motorsports had a pretty successful 2007 campaign with various drivers including Mike Bliss, Robby Gordon, David Stremme and Patrick Carpenter before being retired. After leaving the racing world, this Supercuts-sponsored stock car served as a recruiting tool for Chrysler’s auto workers union, but later this month, it will roll onto the Mecum auction block in Las Vegas and when the final gavel sounds, someone will be the proud new owner of this decommissioned NASCAR race car.

NASCAR 

The listing on the Mecum website for this 2007 Dodge Charger from Fitz Motorsports includes the following information.

• Driven by Mike Bliss, Robby Gordon and Reed Sorenson
• Multiple Top 10 finishes in 2007
• Nascar Nationwide series car in Supercuts no. 22 sponsorship livery
• After the car was retired it was displayed as a show car for recruiting for Chrysler U.A.W.
• High horsepower Mopar V8 engine
• Four-speed transmission
• Weld racing wheels with Goodyear Eagle tires
• Wilwood brakes

That is all of the information provided, so we don’t know if this car has one of the race-ready engines and there is no picture of the engine, but we would guess that the Mopar V8 is not an actual NASCAR engine. In most cases, these retired race cars have engines dressed up to look like NASCAR engines, but they are generally far less powerful. The transmission, wheels and brakes are likely all NASCAR-spec, but that really doesn’t matter, as the odds are pretty good that whoever buys this car wont plan to go racing with it.

Really, all this car is good for is loading and unloading to go to car shows, as it isn’t street legal, either, but there is no question that owning a retired NASCAR stock car is pretty awesome.

Racing Record

We did some research on the Fitz Motorsports #22 Dodge Charger and found that during the 2007 schedule, it had a handful of different drivers that didn’t include Sorenson, but both Gordon and Bliss spent time in this car. Other names from NASCAR such as Stremme and Carpenter also took turns in the #22 Supercuts car, both of whom turned in solid efforts.

The best finish for this car came in the 2007 NAPA Auto Parts 200 and the Sam’s Town 250. In the NAPA race, Carpenter finished second and in the Sam’s Town race, Bliss finished second. Bliss also finished fourth and fifth in two other races while Stremme turned in a fifth place finish early in the season.

In total, this Dodge Charger had five top five finishes and ten top ten finishes in 2007 and if you have some money to spend on a car that you cannot drive on the street, you could take this car home later this month.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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