Kurt Busch Buys Back His 2000 Roush Race Truck at Mecum Nashville

Most people who walk out on a job in 2005 never send their old boss a six-figure payment. Kurt Busch just did, for an old pickup.

Busch was the buyer of the No. 99 Exide Ford F-150 he raced for Roush Racing in the 2000 Craftsman Truck Series. The truck sold for $110,000 at Mecum’s first Nashville sale. It came from the Roush Automotive Collection, which Mecum offered at an auction that, by its own count, generated more than $73 million in sales. motorsportsnewswire

What he actually bought

The Mecum lot listing identifies it as Roush Racing Chassis No. B061/CT12, powered by a Roush Racing 358 CI Ford V-8 engine • Naturally aspirated • 4-speed manual transmission. The cockpit is still period-correct. The listing describes a ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems racing seat and Simpson racing harness, AutoMeter Pro-Comp Ultra-Lite gauges and a “Ford Racing 100 Years” commemorative decal.

For a racing collectible, history matters more than any of that hardware. Busch said so in his own post after the sale: “26 years ago, this truck and I @rfkracing won @Doverspeedway in Sept 2000. Not many have original paint and airbrush detail.” inkl

That last line is the reason for the price. Most race trucks from that period were crashed, re-skinned, re-wrapped or given a new identity for the next season. A chassis with confirmed history, a race win, and its original livery still on the body is a different object from a restored replica. Repainting it would make it look newer and destroy much of what makes it valuable.

From “apologists” to “Jack helped me”

The emotional side of this story starts with how Busch left Roush. In November 2005, after a traffic stop near Phoenix, Roush Racing pulled him from the car. Jack Roush said in a team statement that it came after full review of all the circumstances surrounding Kurt’s Friday night altercation with the Arizona police, and after consultation with our primary sponsors. Team president Geoff Smith was blunter: “we’re officially retiring as Kurt Busch’s apologists, effective today.” jayski racecar

Busch was already heading to Penske for 2006. The relationship ended about as badly as it could have.

Twenty-one years later, Busch’s comments in a video he recorded on a plane while bidding were very different: “It was a little more than I wanted to spend, but it goes to Jack’s pocket and Jack helped me a lot.” Wiring six figures to the team that showed you the door takes a certain kind of peace, and Busch sounded like he’d found it. Yahoo Sports

The motor is the tricky part

Busch isn’t planning to leave it as a static display. He says the truck is headed to @roushyates next to freshen up the motor. That’s the right call. inkl

A race engine that has sat for years isn’t something you just fire up after an oil change. Rubber seals and gaskets dry out. Old fuel turns to varnish. Valve springs that have been compressed for decades may have lost tension. Bearings that ran with racing clearances can be scored by the first dry start. A proper refresh means a teardown and inspection by the shop that knows Ford racing engines best, which is the safest way to make it run again without causing damage.

The trick is doing it without touching the body. New internals make the truck usable for demo laps and events; the original paint is what holds the value. Refresh everything that moves, and keep the sander away from everything you can see.

What it tells the market

The Roush collection did well overall. Mecum reported the Paul Newman-driven 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra “Nobody’s Fool” IMSA Road Race Car sold for $935,000. Tommy Kendall’s 1997 Trans-Am Cobra brought $825,000. The Busch truck is in a lower tier, but it’s an important data point. Truck Series equipment has generally been treated as a lesser class of collectible, and a six-figure result for a rookie-season truck suggests some buyers now value it more seriously. motorsportsnewswire

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There’s a caveat: the high bidder had a strong personal reason to win. Any comparable sale will have to account for the fact that the man who drove it to Victory Lane was bidding.

If you shop historic race vehicles, this truck is the cheat sheet. With historic race vehicles, documentation and untouched originality carry the value. A truck with a known chassis number, a verifiable win and its original paint will hold its price. A refinished truck with uncertain history becomes a decorative piece instead.

Busch has his truck back, Roush has $110,000, and a grudge from 2005 just closed at a profit for everyone involved. What’s the one vehicle you’d overpay to get back, and who would you have to write the check to?

Images Via: Wikipedia

Eve Nowell

Administrator

Eve Nowell writes about cars for Backfire News, and she comes by it honestly—she grew up in a racing family, around engines and pit lanes before she was old enough to drive. That world isn't a beat she picked up; it's just where she's always been. At Backfire News she covers off-roading, classic car culture, motorsports, and the people behind the machines. She writes with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely loves this stuff, but she's a stickler for getting the details right—the kind of writing that holds up with actual gearheads. She's still early in her career and building her own voice, bringing a fresh take to a world she's known her whole life. Her work runs across racing coverage, truck and off-road culture, collector vehicles, and the wider lifestyle that comes with all of it. When she's not writing, she's usually trackside, out in the garage, or chasing down the next story worth telling.

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