Hendrick Follows Passion to Success

Rick Hendrick is not your typical used-car salesman.

Sure, he probably could sell air conditioners in Iceland, but it takes more than marketing skills to become a giant among auto dealers and the owner of a motor sports empire that has won eight NASCAR titles--five Winston Cup, three truck--in the last seven seasons.

It takes a passion for what you’re doing and an unwavering determination to carry out the vision.

Hendrick has both--along with a gift for making people feel comfortable. He inspires those around him to accomplish goals and to reach beyond them. And he makes it seem easy.

In 1983, after winning three drag boat championships, Hendrick shifted his racing interest to stock cars. His dream began to take shape in a ramshackle garage in Harrisburg, N.C., less than a mile from Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

There, Hendrick learned the nuances of Winston Cup racing from the late Harry Hyde, one of the sport’s wiliest crew chiefs. It’s no accident the site of Hendrick’s original shop is home to an 86,000 square-foot workshop recently completed for the Winston Cup teams of champion Jeff Gordon and rookie Jimmie Johnson.

The structure overlooks the rest of the sprawling Hendrick Motor sports complex, which is also home for two-time points champion Terry Labonte and Jerry Nadeau in Winston Cup and the newly formed Busch Series teams of three-time truck champion Jack Sprague and Hendrick’s 21-year-old son, Ricky.

Hendrick Motor sports occupies 70 acres and 13 buildings. Hendrick’s infectious work ethic motivates 250 employees spread among his six teams, engine shop, chassis shop, research and development department and the administrative and marketing arms.

Hendrick reached 103 victories last season when Gordon increased his career total to 58. Only Petty Enterprises has more wins, with 271. And Hendrick has become an innovator along the way, setting up the model for other multicar operations. He has learned to follow his instincts--and he gets positive vibes from the new Gordon/Johnson combination.

“I was told that I would never win a championship running multiple teams, but you have to take advantage of the opportunities when the guys are available,” Hendrick said. “The success of the truck teams with two units with a rookie and a veteran together--one team, two cars--was a pilot for us.

“We knew [Johnson] was going to go somewhere, he wasn’t going to wait, and it was an opportunity for us. We figured a veteran like Jeff would make a great role model for Jimmie. I believe Jimmie has the whole package. He has what it takes to be a champion.”

Hendrick has that same feeling for all of his drivers. He takes it as a personal attack when critics accuse him of playing favorites with Gordon’s team. He says all his teams receive identical equipment, and he shares his crews’ disappointment when they struggle.

“My job is to identify weaknesses,” Hendrick said. “The successful things just happen by themselves. We want to identify problems and work on fixing them. I’m kind of the Roto-Rooter man in that I clean up the mess.

“It tears my heart out that the fans don’t feel like I give [equal consideration] to the other teams. I thought about opening my books to the media to do an audit and see how much we spend on engines and how much we spend on cars. I think if I wasn’t giving them good stuff or as good of stuff, you would hear rumblings from those guys that we weren’t.”

That’s not the case. Three of his crew chiefs--Tony Furr with Nadeau, Jim Long with Labonte and Chad Knaus with Johnson--are former Hendrick employees, and they knew they could come home again.

It’s because Hendrick doesn’t just invest money in his teams. He invests himself. His success is proof of the return.