Childress Traveled Long, Winding Road
Thirty years ago, Richard Childress was campaigning a year-old Chevrolet in NASCAR. He and one mechanic and one helper worked on it in a tiny garage in Winston-Salem during the week, then Childress raced it on Sundays.
Today, the man who masterminded Dale Earnhardt’s career sits in a luxurious wood-paneled office in the heart of a racing complex of 12 buildings with nearly 400,000 square feet of shop space. They occupy about 35 acres. The Nextel Cup administration building, where Childress oversees the operation when he isn’t at a race or off hunting in Alaska or Africa, is 86,000 square feet alone. Instead of two employees, there are 280.
The office, with big-game prizes on the wall looking down on a room with cushy leather chairs, is about as big as Childress’ original Winston-Salem workshop on Waughtown Street.
One of the most popular tourist stops in North Carolina is the RCR Racing Museum here in Welcome, a tiny hamlet a few miles from Winston-Salem. It once was the race shop, but it has been converted into a 47,000 square-foot collection of racing memorabilia, showcasing nearly 50 race cars, including more than two dozen No. 3 Chevrolets driven by Earnhardt.
Not too many miles away, along the banks of the Yadkin river, Childress Vineyards has 60 acres of grapes that will produce 10 wines.
When the cars roll out this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Childress will have four for the Nextel (formerly Winston) Cup series -- Kevin Harvick’s No. 29, Robby Gordon’s No. 31, Johnny Sauter’s No. 30, and Mike Skinner’s No. 33. Childress also will have two cars in the Busch series, for Ron Hornaday, No. 2, and Harvick, No. 21.
Later in the year, Kerry Earnhardt, Dale’s oldest son, will drive five Nextel Cup races and rookie Clint Bowyer will drive in selected Busch races.
“How did it all happen?” the 58-year-old Childress mused as he repeated a reporter’s question.
“It took a lot of luck, a lot of hard work and help from good friends like Big Bill France and Junior Johnson,” he said slowly. “And, of course, it didn’t hurt having Dale join me in 1981.”
Together, Childress and Earnhardt won 67 races and six Winston Cup championships before Earnhardt’s death during the 2001 Daytona 500.
Public perception is that Earnhardt’s driving skills made Childress a millionaire, but their admiration was mutual. Childress took an abrasive and aggressive driver whose role model, his father, had been known as Ironhead, and honed him into a national icon.
“When I was driving and doing most of the work on the car myself, I got a lot of help from Junior,” Childress said. “He would give me used parts and a lot of advice on keeping my car running.
“Financially, my big break came when most of the drivers boycotted the Talladega race in 1969 and Big Bill said he’d pay me to drive. I was there for a Grand Touring race on Saturday and hadn’t even thought about running in the Sunday race.
“All I had in the bank at that time was $12,000 and when the race was over and France gave me $15,000, I thought I had enough money to last me the rest of my life.”
Childress made surprising use of his windfall. Instead of putting it all into a new race car, he used most of it to buy land, an investment that has repaid him many times over.
His next big break was Johnson’s recommending that he get out of the driver’s seat and hire a young fellow from Kannapolis, N.C., named Earnhardt. Dale had won the Winston Cup championship in 1980, driving for Rod Osterlund, but when the team was sold the following year, Earnhardt was without a ride. Childress took Johnson’s advice and hired the rambunctious youngster.
“Dale not only brought his great talent, but he also brought along sponsorship from Wrangler jeans,” Childress said. “After that first year, though, I told Dale he needed to drive for a stronger team and he went with Bud Moore. I hired Ricky Rudd and he won my first Winston Cup race for me at Riverside in 1983.”
That was a landmark victory for Childress. He had been in 285 races as a driver between 1969 and 1981 without winning and had gone 53 races as a car owner before Rudd straightened out Riverside’s twisting turns in the Budweiser 400.
Earnhardt returned to RCR in 1984 and the makings of a legend, and a dynasty, were underway.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster from Day 1,” said Childress, who often says he would give up everything to have Earnhardt back. “I don’t know of any sport that has such great highs and lows. I guess that’s why it is so special.”
Childress’ devotion to the memory of his friend, hunting partner and driver is spelled out in the museum, a panoply of No. 3 Chevrolets. The entrance to the gift shop is filled by the Wrangler jeans car that won the 1987 Winston Cup, alongside a bronze casing taken from a winner’s circle photo of Childress and Earnhardt.
Impressive in its detail is an 18-wheel transporter rig painted in the No. 3 GM Goodwrench scheme from 2001, with a car on the lift as if getting ready for the Daytona 500.
In the center section of the museum is the Conservation Gallery, showcasing many of Childress’ North American hunting trophies. There are displays for four conservation groups -- Ducks Unlimited, North Carolina Wildlife Habitat, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and National Wild Turkey Federation. A dollar from each museum admission goes to these four conservation groups.
Over the holidays, Childress and others in NASCAR visited U.S. troops in Iraq.
“When we went in and they handed us a flak jacket and a helmet, you knew then it was serious and we were right in the middle of the whole thing,” he said.
“One of the neatest things we did was fly the Black Hawk helicopters right over Baghdad city and go into a lot of places.
“I think reality set in on all of us when they put two coffins on the airplane and we carried them back to Kuwait City with us. That [let us know] this thing was for real.”
Childress sees only good things in NASCAR’s future, as it makes the transition from Winston to Nextel.
“I don’t see any boundaries, as long as we keep putting on good racing,” he said. “Even though we use a common template for our chassis, fans can still identify with the make of their cars. That is one of the healthy sides to our sport. The names of the cars are identifiable.
“There are some very capable young people running the business, taking us to a new level. Brian France [recently named chief executive of NASCAR] and his staff have a lot of things in the works, especially in ways to keep them interested in Nextel Cup away from the track.”
Childress is just as pleased, maybe more so, when he talks about his new winery.
“Did you know that before Prohibition, North Carolina produced more wine than any other state in the country?” he said, sounding as if he thought he and his Tar Heel state might someday challenge California.
Sad Day for CART
CART loyalists, who have stuck together through a mutual dislike of Tony George and his Indy Racing League even as many of their favorites jumped ship in the open-wheel struggle, must have felt as if they’d been punched in the stomach when venerable Pat Patrick, one of the founders and most devoted of all CART team owners, announced that he, too, was moving to the IRL.
When he said, “This makes me very sad, but I finally accepted this is the way it has to be,” it had to be difficult for hard-core CART fans to swallow.
Supercross
The six-race West Coast swing of the AMA THQ Supercross season ends Saturday when the high-flying motorcycle racers perform in San Francisco.
Kevin Windham’s victory before a sellout crowd last Saturday night at Angel Stadium moved him closer to series leader Chad Reed. Reed, winner of three events, has 119 points to 96 for Windham and 92 each for David Vuillemin and Mike La Rocco.
Windham will move even closer if he gets back the 10 points he was docked for rough riding at Phoenix. The ruling is under appeal.
*
Next Week’s Races
BUSCH SERIES
Hershey’s Kisses 300
* When: Feb. 13, qualifying (Speed Channel, 7:15 a.m.); Feb. 14, race (Channel 4, 9 a.m.).
* Where: Daytona International Speedway.
* Race distance: 300 miles, 120 laps.
* 2003 winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
* Next race: Rockingham 200, Feb. 21, Rockingham, N.C.
*
CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS
Florida Dodge Dealers 250
* When: Wednesday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 3:30 p.m.); Feb. 13, race (Speed Channel, 5 p.m.).
* Where: Daytona International Speedway.
* Race distance: 250 miles, 100 laps.
* 2003 winner: Rick Crawford.
* Next race: Rockingham 200, Feb. 21, Rockingham, N.C.
*
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP
Daytona 500
* When: Sunday, qualifying (Channel 4, 9 a.m.); Thursday, twin 125-mile qualifying races (TNT, 10 a.m.); Feb. 15, race (Channel 4, 10:30 a.m.).
* Where: Daytona International Speedway
(tri-oval, 2.5 miles, 31 degrees banking in turns, 18 degrees in tri-oval); Daytona Beach, Fla.
* Race distance: 500 miles, 200 laps.
* 2003 winner: Michael Waltrip.
* Next race: Subway 400, Feb. 22, Rockingham, N.C.