Just when we think auction houses have run out of unique items to offer, they keep on finding more. The latest comes from the world of drag racing. Yep, drag racing.
Fans of the sport will recognize the legendary name of Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. If you don’t, here’s a little perspective. Have you heard of NASCAR’s Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt? Have you heard of Indy Car’s Mario Andretti or Bobby Unser? In the world of drag racing, Prudhomme exceeded all of their achievements. Are you ready for this? The Snake won 9 out of every 10 races he entered in a period from 1962 through 1964. Nobody denies that Pruhomme was a great quarter mile drag racer but the car he won most of those races with, the famous Greer-Black-Pruhomme dragster is also given much of the credit.
Well, on May 21 of this year, Bonham’s will be offering a carved ruby and gold mini-dragster model of Pruhomme’s car, made to scale. The car is made with solid ruby panels, tires made of Obsidian, a gold vermeil engine, along with a wind screen made of polished rock crystal. The piece is one of a kind and is in recognition of the amazing career of Prudhomme, the car itself, and serves as a salute to the history of Southern California drag racing. It was carved by Luis Alberto Quispe Aparicio.
The ruby dragster scale model is being offered as part of Bonham’s Gems, Minerals & Lapidary Works of Art auction in L.A. If you want to walk away with this gem of a piece gentlemen, you had better start your engines. It is expected to bring somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000.
While Prudhomme may have gained more fame racing his 1970 Plymouth Duster nicknamed the Mongoose, the classic car for the early 60’s will always have a plce in drag racing history.
Things get revved up starting on May 17th with an auction preview in Los Angeles.
