$ POR

1999 Chevy Monte Carlo SS "Pepsi Joy of Cola Busch Car" - SOLD

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Description:

This is the Gordon-Evernham Motorsports (GEM) team car that Jeff Gordon also drove for the Pepsi "Joy of Cola" television ad. The car comes with documentation from Pepsi Entertainment Sales that it was driven by Jeff in the popular Pepsi TV commercial with Halle Eisenberg where she drives by Jeff on her bicycle. The commercial was shot at California Speedway in Fontana, CA and the car was put on display at the Speedway that year during the races held there. This is a complete, running, Busch Series race car with very good to excellent paint and is very clean throughout. The decals that would normally be the Nascar contingency sponsors are actually "tounge & cheek" versions of those decals since Pepsi wasn't going to give those companies free advertising! The car comes with video's of the TV commercial and the aforementioned documentation of Jeff's usage by Pepsi Entertainment Sales who owned the car through November of 2003 when it was finally sold to a private collector. The car starts easily and is remarkably driveable, even for loading and unloading off the trailer. It makes all the right sounds for entertaining crowds and annoying the neighbors! The TV commercial can be seen on YouTube @ www.youtube.com/watch?v=V84u_4adOQc

History

The short history of Jeff's Busch team (he spent very little time in the Busch series) made tracking down the exact history difficult, but here is what we know. In 1999, the GEM team was created for Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick's son Ricky. The team ran a very limited 6 race schedule with Pepsi sponsorship for Jeff and 2 races with DuPont sponsorship for Ricky. Jeff won the Outback Steakhouse 200 that year. Ray Evernham then sold his interst in the team to Rick Hendrick for 2000 but stayed on as crew chief. Jeff ran 5 events under the JG Motorsports banner that year, winning his very last race, the Hot Wheels 300, in Homestead and then elected to retire from Busch Grand National competition. Rick Hendrick Sr. assumed ownership of the team and the Pepsi sponsorship moved to Jeff's Winston Cup team for select events thereafter. It is belived that this particular car is the one that Ricky Hendrick crashed in Rockingham's turn 3 in the K-mart 200 on Oct. 3rd 1999 since it appears to have had the front clip replaced. After rebuild it would then be relegated to back up status and show car duties like the TV commercial.

Competition History

Not Raced since retired from Busch series
Performance Data