It is common for a car dealer to let someone take a new car out for a test drive.

It is uncommon, however, to have that car come back covered in dust and bugs, with a busted right-side mirror and a scrape along one rear fender. That’s not to mention a couple hundred miles more on the odometer plus eyewitnesses who report the car was repeatedly being topped out at 130 miles per hour.

“When I found out what happened, I called the guy I loaned it to,” said Philip Alderman, the owner of Colonial Chevrolet-Buick in Talladega.

“I asked what kind of insurance he had, and he said, `Man, I’m so sorry. I had no idea that fool (the driver) would smack that car into the wall like that.”

The “guy” to whom Alderman lent the car - a 2006 black Monte Carlo - was Rick Humphries, the general manager of Talladega Superspeedway.

The “fool” who smacked the car into the wall was Dale Earnhardt Jr., doing a little “ride and drive” that allowed guest passengers to take a few laps around the newly resurfaced track at Talladega last month.

That’s why Alderman was not really unhappy with the condition in which the Monte Carlo was returned. In fact, he’s turned it into the centerpiece of his dealership showroom.

“We didn’t even wash it,” Alderman said. “We’re willing to sell it, as is. Rick had Dale sign the dashboard and the sticker, and we laminated all the articles and pictures of the trips Dale took in the car around the speedway.

“For $125, I could have it fixed up as good as new. I haven’t done it. I’m thinking about putting it up on eBay for auction.”

He believes he can auction off the car for more than the usual value of a 2006 Monte Carlo. The current sticker price of the Earnhardt car is $29,405.

More at Birmingham News

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