I suggested to Brian that he let me speak to this issue and then maybe we can let it drop. That's why he deleted his post.
As an advisor to Brian regarding the discussions over the sale of this car for the last week I can tell you the following facts......
He most emphatically did NOT want to sell the car.
He was advised by those that know him to do just that, sell it. Circumstances and timing are always different and he ultimately made absolutely the right decision for his family at this time. We who know him applaud him for that.
As to the actual price of the car, I'm not going to go there, but I will say this, MSRP is meaningless in this situation. The market is defined by who will buy the car. It's a race car, the season for this car starts in under a month, almost everyone involved in the series has their equipment lined up. So the market for the car turned out to be a very, very small group of people. As luck would have it I had invited Skip Thomas to be a speaker at our XMas party last weekend. So Brian had a chance to sit and talk with Skip for several hours within 48 hours after winning the car. Skip's advice was as they say, priceless. He was able to not only value the car but to refer Brian to possible buyers and to vouch for those buyers.
The net result, the car will be in the hands of one of our VCA guys, racing in Viper Days, not sitting in a collectors garage. AND, Brian was able to negotiate some aspects of the deal that were very important to him and that let him keep some involvement with the car in the future.
Please, let's just leave it at this.