Over the years there have been many “collectible” dedications to the greats of NASCAR, but this isn’t exactly a dinner plate you can easily hang on your wall but something a little better. What we have here is a more appropriate way to remember one of the biggest legends in NASCAR history – enter the Dale Earnhardt Intimidator Camaro.

The last time the Earnhardt Camaro was in production was 2001 before his death that same year. They were his idea, but built by a company in Georgia. His original vision was to build the cars in-house, and now they are. “We had to find a compromise on what to do. We could built something with a crazy amount of power but a lot of Earnhardt’s fans are blue collar workers we don’t want to make this an elitist’s car,” said Sam Jackson the lead designer.

The Camaros feature an Edelbrock supercharger with 11 pounds of boost creating 704 horsepower, a slew of suspension upgrades like subframe connectors and adjustable sway bars, and a dual pump fuel system. The exhaust is from Kooks, a one-piece race-inspired shifter handle and knob grace the console, and even the car cover is from a company that had previously catered only to NASCAR teams.

Unveiled on Friday, April 29^th, the first ten are each dedicated to Earnhardt’s top ten career accomplishments: 1979 Rookie of the Year, 1980 Winston Cup Champion, 1986 Winston Cup Champion, 1987 Winston Cup Champion, 1990 Winston Cup Champion, 1991 Winston Cup Champion, 1993 Winston Cup Champion, 1994 Winston Cup Champion, 4 Time IROC Champion and 2001 Most Popular Driver. Each will have the Certificate of Authenticity included.

The initial group of ten carry a price tag of $85,993, and all but the tenth have already been pre-sold. The 2001 Most Popular Driver car will be given away as the prize in a raffle to benefit the Dale Earnhardt Foundation. Regular production versions will carry a price tag of $79,993, and DEI hasn’t yet determined whether the cars will be built to order or available “off the shelf” – that will depend on consumer demand.

The Camaro isn’t a one time deal; the dealership and DEI hope to make this a model that gets bigger and better every year. “We have already started talking about what to do for next year’s model,” said Jackson. Jackson told us that in 2001 DEI frankly didn’t have the time to mess with building a street car, but now things have changed. With many racing teams changing and shifting operations they have begun looking for other ways to turn wrenches. Now they want this car to be the start to something in creating more and more pieces i- house.  “So far it is still a learning process. We hope to be like a Yenko, Roush or Shelby, but we can’t be there overnight,” said Jackson.

Photos by DEI and Jesse Kiser