2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray #1 drives up on the block at the 2014 Barrett-Jackson Auction. Photo Courtesy Drew Phillips, Autoblog.com

It was a Corvette weekend at the annual Barrett-Jackson, one of the nation’s biggest classic car auctions, as bidders ran up big winning bids for both new and old versions of the 2-seater often referred to as “America’s sports car.”

Less than a week after the all-new, 2014 Chevrolet Corvette – the “C7” to insiders and aficionados – made its splashy debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, NASCAR team owner and Atlanta Chevy dealer Rick Hendrick won the bidding for the Corvette Stingray number one for a bid of $1.1 million.

(Back from the brink – the inside story of the 2014 Chevy Corvette Stingray. Click Here.)

The money will go to the Detroit-based College for Creative Studies which runs one of the world’s most highly respected automotive design programs – and where several of the stylists who worked on the Corvette program were trained.

GM CEO Dan Akerson auction off his 1958 Corvette to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.

A winning $270,000 bid, meanwhile, was gaveled down for another Corvette auctioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Auction, one of a series of classic car events that took place across the Phoenix and Scottsdale region this past weekend.

That blue 1958 hardtop convertible Corvette was owned by General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, and like the new 2014 sports car, the executive donated the proceeds from the sale of his first-generation ‘Vette to charity.  In this case, the funds will assist Habitat for Humanity which is helping rebuild a crumbling neighborhood not far from General Motors’ headquarters in Detroit.

Akerson’s Corvette was one of just 9,168 sold that year, and only 510 was painted in Regal Turquoise – even fewer equipped with the removable hardtop.  With its 245-horsepower V-8 it was one of the era’s faster production cars.

But it pales in comparison to the new C7 Corvette which is being billed as the fastest and most powerful “base” model ever to boast the nameplate. Its new 6.2-liter LT1 V-8 will make 450 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque and the sports car is expected to turn 0 to 60 times in less than 4 seconds once numbers are finalized mid-year.

(For more details on the C7, the most technically advanced Corvette ever, Click Here.)

NASCAR team owner Hendricks brought a big checkbook with him to the Barrett-Jackson this year. Along with the new Corvette, which will have a VIN – or Vehicle Identification Number – ending in 0001 – he spent another $1.0 million for a 1968 Owens/Corning L88 Corvette race car.

Yet another ‘Vette rolled across the auction block for charity, this one a 2013 Corvette 427 Convertible Collector’s Edition model owned by TV celebrity chef Guy Fieri. With a 507-hp LS7 engine and painted in black with custom yellow racing stripes, the sale will support the Guy Fieri Foundation for Inspiration and Imagination.