Rossi’s 100th Indy 500 winner sells for $1.1m-plus at auction

The Dallara DW12 chassis Alexander Rossi drove to victory at the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 went for $1,127,500 on Saturday at the Mecum Auctions event held in Monterey.

Chassis No. 037, owned by former Bryan Herta Autosport partner David Bowen, was among the featured race cars to go under the gavel during Monterey Car Week. According to Mecum, Rossi’s Andretti-Herta Autosport entry, which was powered by Honda’s 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 engine, ranked seventh on its list of top 10 auction sales at the event. Among the race cars offered by Mecum, it ranked No. 2.

The 1989 24 Hours of Daytona-winning Jim Busby Racing Porsche 962 driven by Derek Bell, Bob Wollek, and John Andretti, was No. 4 overall for Mecum at $2,200,000.

The conditions attached to the 2016 Indy 500 winner could have played a factor in its sale price being slightly lower than the minimum estimate of $1,175,000 suggested by Mecum prior to the auction.

According to the pre-event details listed by the auction house, “The Dallara chassis is under a transferrable signed loan agreement with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum to be on display through December 31, 2018. An optional engine lease can be activated at the discretion of the buyer in a separate agreement with Honda Performance Development starting after September 2020.”