The Budweiser rocket car broke the speed of sound at Edwards Air Force Base with the help of four Navy Sidewinder missiles.
It all began with a bright orange 1969 Dodge Daytona.
In 1983, that racecar was the first one ever donated to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum, which sits next to the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Today the Hall is packed with must-see memorabilia for race fans.
Valued at $185,000, the No. 71 Dodge belonged to Bobby Issac. It won the 1970 Winston Cup championship and set 28 records – including a closed course speed mark of 201.104 miles per hour.
“Basically, you could say this is the car that got things started,” says Jim Freeman, executive director of the IMHoF. “And you couldn’t find a better cornerstone to the hall of fame than this. From our standpoint, it’s the most historically significant item we have.”
The hall opened to the public in April of 1983, and 20 years later it has established itself as an integral part of the motorsports world.
Freeman estimates the museum has $8 million worth of memorabilia – both donated and on permanent display – running the gamut from stock cars to Indy cars to go-karts and quarter midgets – even things that fly and float.
