Utah Man Smashes Lamborghini He Won, Must Sell to Pay Bills
David Dopp, a truck driver from Utah, has won a $378,000 lime green Lamborghini Murcielago roadster and crashed it less than six hours after he’d gotten it.
The Frito-Lay transportation worker no doubt thought himself very lucky when he won the car in a “Joe Schmo to Lambo” contest sponsored by Maverik convenience stores. Unfortunately, that luck didn’t last long, as his very first joyride resulted in a crash.
The Santaquin man took one sharp curve at about 45 mph in the Lamborghini, then “hit some black ice and spun out,” he told The Associated Press. Fortunately, neither Dopp nor his passenger was seriously hurt.
Although the damage “isn’t super bad,” said Dopp, it was still necessary to take the 640-horsepower vehicle to a specialized Las Vegas body shop for repairs. The oil pan and a tire are punctured, and there are some dents and scratches where the car crashed through fence.
The contest rules stipulated that any winner had to have car insurance before claiming the Lamborghini, which is certainly coming in handy right now.
When she heard the news, Dopp’s wife Annette said, “My heart pretty much fell out,” to KSL-TV of Salt Lake City. “They said they were okay. Then, you know, that feeling when your heart drops and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh. What do we do now?’”
For Dopp, the answer is simple: sell it.
The 34-year-old truck driver realized early on that the high-priced Lamborghini would be much too expensive for him to maintain; he had planned to sell it as soon as he knew he won.
"That's why rich people own them," said Dopp. "The poor people like me don't."
Those rich people realized this fact early on as well, and contacted the family man to attempt to buy the car.
“I already had offers on it. I'm going to sell it," Dopp told AP. "I have bills more important than a Lamborghini. I've got a family to support."