Rick Hendrick Wins $75,000 Darrell Waltrip Auction Lot, Then Gets His Tide Ride Helmet as a Gift at MRO Dinner

Darrell Waltrip’s first public appearance since his family announced his diagnosis turned into one of the more emotional nights of the NASCAR offseason. At the Waltrip Brothers’ Checkered Flag Champions Dinner in Nashville on Wednesday, Oct. 28, Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick paid $75,000 for a lot of Waltrip racing memorabilia, and then Waltrip handed him a gift that money couldn’t buy: the helmet from his famous No. 17 “Tide Ride.”

The dinner, hosted by Darrell and his brother Michael Waltrip at The Pinnacle, benefited Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) and raised $750,000, MotorBiscuit reported.

The MRO auction: $75,000 from Rick Hendrick

During the auction, a lot featuring Waltrip’s race-used Budweiser helmet and firesuit from the 1980s went up for bid. According to posts from the X account Braking Bob, cited by EssentiallySports, organizers added four original 1985 Winston checkered flags “to sweeten the pot,” and the package sold to Hendrick for $75,000.

Waltrip won the 1985 Winston Cup championship, the third of his three Cup titles.

The Tide Ride helmet gift

After the auction, Waltrip presented Hendrick with the helmet he wore driving the No. 17 Tide Chevrolet. Waltrip drove that car for Hendrick from 1987 through 1990, winning nine Cup races, EssentiallySports reported. The high point came in 1989, when he finally won the Daytona 500 on his 17th try.

Hendrick already owned Waltrip’s Tide firesuit, which is displayed in the Hendrick Motorsports museum, so the helmet completes the set. Hendrick’s response, as quoted by EssentiallySports:

“This means so much to me. Thank you. We will display this in the museum. We love you. We love you and Stevie and Michael, all the money you’ve raised, the needy, the children, MRO, saving people.”

He then added with a laugh, “It’s hard to get a car salesman not to talk.”

Why the night mattered

Last month, the Waltrip family announced that Darrell had been diagnosed with frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and would step back from the spotlight, according to FanBuzz and EssentiallySports. Wednesday’s dinner was his first appearance since that announcement, MotorBiscuit said.

Waltrip and his wife, Stevie, were instrumental in founding MRO in 1989. The nonprofit supports people in the racing community, including drivers, crews and their families, through chaplaincy, counseling and other care.

The evening also included a nod to broadcasting history: Waltrip, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds shared the stage together, reuniting the original NASCAR on FOX booth. Waltrip joined FOX for its first NASCAR season in 2001 and retired from broadcasting in 2019.

A car for Joey Logano, too

Hendrick wasn’t the only one who went home with a piece of history. Waltrip gave three-time Cup champion Joey Logano his No. 95 Mercury Cyclone, the car Waltrip drove in his early Cup career.

“That car started out as a ‘67 (Ford) Fairlane,” Waltrip explained in a video cited by FanBuzz. “And Mario (Andretti) won the Daytona 500 in it. And then they brought it to Holman and Moody and made it into a ‘69 Mercury.” Waltrip said he paid $12,500 for it. He told Logano on stage, “I know you love it, and I know you’d like to have it… So, I want you to have that car.” The battery was dead, so Logano will have to wait to fire it up.

Michael Waltrip later wrote on Instagram that his “heart is so full of love and happiness,” and thanked guests for their generosity.

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