MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 25, 2016) – Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick is now NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rick Hendrick.
The 66-year-old founder of Hendrick Motorsports and co-owner of JR Motorsports was one of five NASCAR luminaries to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame when the results were announced this evening. Joining Hendrick in the Class of 2017 were Richard Childress, Mark Martin, Raymond Parks and Benny Parsons.
Hendrick’s contributions to NASCAR go without question. His teams have won 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships over the 33 seasons he’s had teams competing. In those 33 seasons, his cars and drivers have won a record 242 races in 3,603 starts, with 995 top-five and 1,660 top-10 finishes. His cars have completed more than 1 million laps in competition, and completed more than 1.3 million miles, leading more than 65,000 laps in the process – all at the Sprint Cup Series level.
Hendrick has also made at least one start in all three of NASCAR’s national series, including two starts in the NSCS. Both of those came at the now-defunct Riverside International Raceway in California, and his best finish was 15th in 1988. He was also an accomplished road racer, competing in several prototype races during his driving career.
Hendrick, born in Virginia, is the architect of an automotive empire that includes Hendrick Automotive Group, which includes nearly 143 franchises and more than 10,000 employees across 14 states. At the age of 25, Hendrick became the youngest Chevrolet dealer in the United States after purchasing a franchise in Bennettsville, S.C.
After being diagnosed with leukemia, from which he is in full remission, Hendrick and his wife Linda founded the non-profit Hendrick Marrow Program to raise money and increase awareness for the Be The Match Registry of marrow donors. Like his father, Papa Joe Hendrick, before him, Hendrick is a recipient of the Order of the Long-Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian award.