Thieves Steal $375,000 NASCAR Race Car From Hotel Parking Lot, Driver Left With No Car To Race!


When NASCAR driver Travis Kvapil received a call from his teammates about a “problem” with their race car, he automatically assumed it would be one of those mechanical problems that all race cars experience. Imagine his dismay when he was later informed that the car in which he was supposed to race next weekend was nowhere to be found! Now, cars getting stolen is a common occurrence in the United States — but this is perhaps the first time that someone had managed to decamp with a race car.

According to Fox News, the NASCAR race car was stolen from the parking lot of a hotel in which several of Kvapil’s teammates were staying. The incident happened in the town of Morrow in Georgia, 15 miles south of Atlanta. Now, if you thought that the stolen NASCAR race car was driven off by the thief, that is not what actually happened. According to Morrow police Detective Sgt. Larry Oglesby, the NASCAR race car was inside a trailer hitched to a Ford F-350 pickup truck that was parked in the parking lot. The thief walked into the hotel in the early hours of Friday morning and drove away with the pickup truck without realizing the fact that there was a $375,000 NASCAR sports car inside the trailer! Oglesby added that the thief assumed that the trailer might have been full of lawn equipment or something he could sell off without gaining much attention.

Police officials have, in the meantime, managed to recover surveillance camera images from the parking area and are trying to identify the thief, reports Alabama.com. Officials add that the video shows someone driving off with the pickup truck at around 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning. In case you are in the area, the police wants you to lookout for a white color, 2014 model Ford F-350 pick up truck.

Meanwhile, Travis Kvapil had no choice but to withdraw from a QuikTrip 500 scheduled at the Atlanta Motor Speedway this Sunday. He will be looking to participate in another race scheduled for March 8 at Las Vegas.

In an official statement from NASCAR, Kvapil expressed his disappointment over the circumstances which led to his exit from the race this weekend.

“Real setback for Team Xtreme, (team owner) John Cohen and all the guys that worked so hard to get us here coming off a decent Daytona race. This is a big setback for this little team.”

Travis Kvapil, however, did not sound very drastic in his tweets. In fact, he showed remarkable sense of humor and took this adverse development in its stride.

Meanwhile, if you come across an abandoned 26-foot trailer, you know who to inform! Have you ever heard of a NASCAR race car or any other race vehicle getting stolen, before this bizarre event happened?

[Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images]

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