My Experience As Dale Jr.'s Boss - Rick Hendrick on DJD Classics

Alright, so Rick Hendrick, he's in the house, he's at the table, a lot of people excited

about this one.

I'm excited about this one.

Thanks for coming, Rick.

Oh, it's great to be here.

Yeah.

I was wondering why you never asked me.

Are you kidding me?

You're a hard guy to track down, you're busy.

So a lot of places we can go with this.

But one thing that I always feel compelled to tell people about Rick when talking about

our relationship and going to drive for him and why I decided to go to HMS and all those

things is I feel like a lot of people don't know the family connection with Rick and my

grandfather Robert G. And so, you know, people just think that I know Rick from NASCAR and

cup racing and but it goes way beyond that.

So you and my grandfather Robert G on my mom's side.

He was a body man in the business and Uncle Robert G. Jr. works here at Junior Motorsports.

Jimmy G, his brother, my uncle also worked here as well and all those guys are in racing.

Y'all grew up in the same town.

Yep.

We grew up in South Hill, Virginia and when I was 15 years old, I went to Robert's body

shop and he put a scoop on my 65 Chevelle.

A hood scoop.

What'd you want that on there for?

Because it was cool back then.

So he had a body shop.

How old was he then at the time?

I don't know.

You'll have to do the math.

I don't know.

I mean, he was old enough to own a body shop, I guess, right?

Well, it was called a flying A station and a couple of the drag race guys were there

and Robert and you I was almost afraid to go in there to ask him, would he do the scoop

on my hood?

And he did.

And I met him then.

And then when I moved to Charlotte in 1977, Robert was running a dirt car.

He came over and he said, hey, I've got this dirt car.

I won't have that helping me out.

And so we kind of rekindle that relationship and I was involved in his dirt car.

Why would you be afraid to go in there initially?

Was it just in there?

That was a rough crowd, man.

Oh, was it?

I mean, they were, they were, no, it was, I was, I was just younger than they were,

you know, and, and there was kind of a little click there in the, in the, in the town and

you knew that that was he and his posse.

He had a posse.

That's where you got it from.

The original dirty mo posse, that's right.

Why?

So, um, I guess I don't even know how he did, but how did y'all get from South Hill down

to Charlotte?

Well, I went, I moved to Raleigh and I, why'd you go to Raleigh first?

I was going in, going to school, no, I was going to school.

What'd you do?

And what'd you go to school for?

I was a work study deal with Westinghouse.

I'm, I'm actually a tool and die maker.

You didn't know that, did you?

Huh.

And I needed a couple more.

You did what?

Well, yeah.

What, tell us about this.

What?

A tool and die maker, you, you know, it's an engine, kind of an engineering deal and

you design and make special tools and I needed a couple more years to get my engineering degree,

but I, I was peddling cars and working in a service station while I was going to school

and I, I thought I could make more money selling cars.

And I was, well, I started working on them.

I had a, I think I told you, Dale, I have a, I have a $300, an Opel story.

I was working in a station and one of the professors said, Hey, I, you know, I need

you to tune my Jag and I said, I did.

And so a wholesaler comes along and he says, I got this, this Opel I need to put a clutch

in it.

I said, I haven't got time.

I gotta go to school.

He said, I'll take $300 for it.

So I borrowed the money from the guy that owned the service station and then the guy that

owned the Jag came back and said, Hey, I'm looking for a car for my wife.

And I said, I got this Opel and it's got a $800 loan, and I thought he'd give me eight

or 900.

He said, I'll give you 1200 for it.

I said, okay, I need to quit working on the star cell.

This was a professor.

Yeah.

So the, so basically what I'm hearing is that the professor basically taught you out of

school.

No, he didn't.

No, no.

In a way, he did.

He cut you like the deal in itself made you realize that you can make money in other

ways.

Yes.

From a professor, basically.

He has no idea.

He had that type of influence on you.

I haven't called him either to tell him.

Call him in time.

It's worked out fine.

It's worked out okay.

He might want some conversation for that.

Yeah.

So you said it in 1977, Robert reached out.

You had the city Chevrolet store and on independence?

Independence.

The same place has always been.

Same place.

The same city Chevrolet that was on the car in days of thunder, everybody knows very well.

So in 77, I've seen pictures of this car.

My granddaddy Robert G had a dirt car, orange and white, blue 17 on it.

And dad had drove this car.

Daryl Wachter raised this car in Snowball Derby and other places.

But at the time, I think Haywood Plylar was driving the car around Metrolina and different

racetracks.

And so I seen the city Chevrolet on the door of this car.

I've got several pictures of it.

And so you, Robert comes to you, go down to the dealership or something and show up in

your office or what?

Well, there was a guy that we both knew seeing Taylor and he called me and he said, Robert,

Robert wants to see you.

So, you know, we talked on the phone first and then I went over to his house and the

speedway.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

And how'd that conversation go?

He just, it was just old friends and I was intrigued.

What'd you give him?

I gave him a little money and some parts.

Parts?

If they'd have been parts.

How much money?

Yeah.

And I don't remember.

A couple hundred bucks.

It wasn't a lot.

And he put it on the, and that was it?

That was it.

One time deal?

No, no.

We, we, we continued to help him.

He'd call you up and he'd come over with some parts.

I don't tell me.

I think there was a truck involved.

And now we're getting the real, yeah.

Yeah.

There was a truck involved.

But, and then, then I guess he, he talked me into the, the Bush car.

Right.

So that was.

And my first race as partners with him, the first race, your dad won, Charlotte.

Charlotte.

First race.

You got pictures of that.

I thought this stuff's easy, man.

So that was in 1982, I think, maybe, maybe, maybe 83, 82, 83.

83, I think.

So, so feeling the gap between 77 and 83, y'all just running, he's just running that

dirt car with City on the side of it.

Yeah.

And I'm, and I'm racing, I'm racing boats.

Ah.

Oh, that's right.

So.

All right.

What's the boat racing all about?

Yeah.

Why'd you want to race boats?

Well, I grew up on a lake and I always liked fast boats.

So I got into, I got into drag boat racing and first with jet boats and then with hydros

and I went from 100 to 170 and I had a boat that held the world's record at 222.

I didn't drive it, but Jimmy Wright and Richmond drove it and he was killed in the boat.

And so when he was killed, I just stopped and I took, I was storing the boats over

Harry Hyde shop and, and, you know, we were trying to find a sponsor and Max

Mulliman was trying to help me with.

That's a familiar name.

Yeah.

He, he worked on the PSL's and NFL.

He's a great sports guy.

And so he was trying to find a sponsor for the boats and he called me one day and he

said, how would you like to be partners with, you know, CK Spurlock, Kenny Rogers and have

Richard Petty drive the car?

And I thought, uh, what's, what is the trick question?

And cause I knew Harry was there doing nothing.

And so we, we kind of put a deal together the night that Richard got caught with the

big motor, Charlotte.

I was sitting in the, in the garage area with Harry Hyde and we, and Richard comes over

to the car and Harry says, what's the matter, Richard?

He said, well, my motor's checking a little big.

And so, uh, and Harry said, well, it'll be okay.

As soon as it cools off and Richard said, you can take that one to Alaska.

And he goes, check.

So, uh, so that was kind of the start of, of, and he, I was in, uh, Germany.

For a Mercedes trip.

Yeah.

And he, he backed out Richard back.

Richard back.

Yeah.

Dang.

And so Richard backs out of this potential race team to, to drive for you.

And how, so what did you, what was, what was the next decision for you?

You, you had an opportunity, you had an out, but you, you stayed in there.

Well, it was already building cars.

Really?

Yeah.

And I mean, and I think we had five people.

Now you're talking about how cheap you can start a team.

I was renting the transmissions and the gears.

I was renting the equipment in the shop and renting the shop.

Man.

So I started with not a lot, but I thought that we will have STP with Richard.

So we were too far along and to turn back to turn back.

All right.

So there's a picture of you and dad standing in the garage at Charlotte

Merch Speedway dads in this plain blue uniform Wrangler,

but it doesn't have a wrangler.

It's just blue, but it would have probably been a wrangler uniform.

I don't know why they didn't have anything on it, but you're standing there

with him and he was testing your cup car.

Yeah.

So how did that happen?

You call him up and say, I got into a cup car and need some laps.

Yeah.

And I knew him through Robert.

All right.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cause he drove your sportsman car, won the race.

Yeah.

So when he wins the sportsman race, you're like, Hey man, what's your deal?

You got a deal?

No.

Well, how did, how did you get him over?

Cause he's kind of in between rides, not sure exactly what he's going to do.

He isn't with Richard or children's back.

He's, you know, he's not back with children's yet in 84.

What is he testing your car for?

Well, we just asked him to come over and shake the car down.

And so we started talking.

And of course I wanted him to drive the car.

And, you know, but as a startup team, you know, no history, no nothing.

Right.

But, uh, at least we had a relationship.

Sure.

And if you see the picture, I'm, he drove the car, then I drove the car in a suit

with a white shirt and his helmet.

Really?

Yeah.

I've got pictures of that too.

I need those pictures.

Okay.

I'll go.

Cause that, I've not seen that one.

Okay.

So you got in the car and drove it.

Yeah.

How fast were you?

I don't, a little bit faster than your dad.

Bull crap.

That's the way the story goes, right?

That's it.

Yeah.

I'm going to stick with it.

So, so you were, you were trying to recruit him.

I mean, there's no doubt about that.

Oh yeah.

You, you didn't, well, what was you, what would you say your chances worked that

like zero, zero, but you were going to try.

But I'm a car salesman.

I mean, I've got to try, right?

Yeah.

I love that about you.

And there's been deals that you've made over the years and even as recently, I

remember when I was on the phone with you and Dale was out with concussion and you

called and said that Jeff Gordon was going to replace him for a few races.

And I'm like, how did you do that?

And Mr. H says, because I'm a hell of a car salesman.

In the beginnings of your cup team, when you're trying to build it and get guys,

I heard that you'd reached out to Larry Pearson and David Pearson shut it down.

Did you ever reach out to Larry to drive your car?

I didn't.

Maybe Harry did, but I didn't.

Got you.

What, what other drivers have you tried to hire or wanted to hire?

What, what kind of deals maybe that we don't know about it almost came together or?

Yeah, well, I'm trying to, I've got to think now, you know, we're, we're talking

to Tim Richmond and he didn't want to go, he put it off, give me an answer.

And then I hired Bodine.

So you were talking to Tim first.

I was talking to Tim.

Yeah.

First.

And he wouldn't.

He wouldn't commit.

He was.

What was he doing?

I don't even remember.

He was probably with the.

Right.

I think.

Yeah.

So I, the way it happened is I said, Tim, I've got to, got to have an answer.

So Bodine came in and he was sitting in my office and I said, well, I, it was

like 10 o'clock and I said, I can't do anything because Tim's got a, got a

contract in his hand and I've given him the three o'clock and Jeff said, well,

I'm just going to sit here and wait.

Yeah, I would have too.

So I was like, okay, well, I'm, I'm, I want you because if you want to drive it,

I want, gotta want to drive.

What was your sales pitch back then?

What was your go-to point that you were trying to talk these guys into

coming to race for you?

What, what was it?

Why should they go to race for you back then?

You know, I, I, I don't really know other than I told them I was committed

and I'd raced, I grew up racing, uh, modified with my dad and Ray Hendrick

and working on cars.

I had, I was in drag racing and not many drag racing guys have gotten into cup

racing done very well.

But I knew that I probably could hire a, try to hire the right folks, but we

started with five people and Bo Dine, I would Jeff Bo Dine a lot because he

took a chance, uh, and, and, you know, we kind of established ourselves.

We won three races that year, but if we hadn't, we were actually, we're going

to close the shop after the sixth race in Darlington, I think it was we wrecked

and I said, Harry, I can't go any further.

Don't have a sponsor and I can't put my businesses in jeopardy.

And so let's run one more race.

Let's, and that's Harry said, uh, Bo Dine's good at Martinsville.

He went up there and, and won the race.

What was the car, what was the sponsor on the car?

Northwestern?

Northwestern security life.

What is that?

That's an insurance company.

I did, I did business with them in the automobile business.

Yeah.

So, um, why are you chuckling?

Well, cause all his, a lot of his deals are, are, are, you know, he's

very good at business to business, which is critical to take it to

in today's market and trying to, you know, your, your sponsor giving them

real value, um, how much money were you spending a race back then?

You wanted to use, gonna shut the team down.

Well, I think we ran the whole year in 1984 for $800,000.

Yeah.

And that was a lot.

That was a lot.

Yeah.

That was a lot.

A lot to me.

Yeah.

But I had, but I had five, five people and Harry was making $500 a week.

Was he happy with that?

That's what he asked for.

Really?

He wanted to race that back.

How did you get Harry Hyde to settle down?

Cause that guy was like suitcase Jake almost.

He was moving around from team to team.

Of course he did stay with the 71 car for a while in the 70s, but he was

kind of cantankerous, right?

Yeah.

Um, how did you, how'd you, how'd you and him get along?

And how, I know he didn't quite get along with Bodine in the end.

He ended up going and working with Tim, which that was a great marriage.

But yeah, what made Harry Hyde happy?

I think, uh, when he finally got Tim, you know, he was, Tim was, had so much talent.

So did Jeff, but they, they kind of locked horns and so personalities.

Yeah.

And how bad did it get?

Like, what was, oh, I got a real bad because it's okay.

Yeah.

I got, so we were like halfway through the season and I had, and I had already

hired Tim to run the second car.

So I told Harry and Jeff, I said, okay, we got to get through the year.

We've got sponsors.

So you guys need to get along.

You can do it.

So I got all the team together.

And I said, and, and, and Jeff said, well, Harry, uh, I'm going to do my best.

We're going to get along the rest of the year.

And so Harry said, but I knew a prick and a primadonna, but I, but I

love Rick Hendrick more than I hate you.

So I'm going to try to do it.

And I said, well, Harry, wait a minute, let's go outside.

We've got to start all over again.

That's not, that's not the good first step we're doing into salvaging this.

That really wasn't after an hour of me, you know, trying to sell the team and

tell you, we got so much to look forward to, uh, you know, we can, you know,

just, we just got to hold it together.

And I mean, I'd spent a good hour, you know, putting the love on them.

I could just see Mr. H at the time when he goes, you're a prick and a

primadonna and Mr. H is going, I mean, like the, the things that these

drivers and crew chiefs put you through over the years, it's amazing.

You even come up, but I mean, this is one good.

It's torture.

It's really torture.

You're a counselor.

You're a therapist for everybody.

You know, that's right.

Right around this particular time in NASCAR, that dad and Jeff were

running over each other every week.

How did that, I mean, how did that not become worse than it was?

Like it's, I've watched races even recently and where dad would wreck

Bodine and they'd put you on camera and you're like, what, we got to figure

this out.

These guys got to figure this out.

Can't keep tearing race cars up.

And then if you think about a lot of people look at days of thunder and

there's a particular part in the movie where they're tearing up the rental

cars and Bill France brings the drivers in to have a conversation with them in

his office and all that.

That was sort of taken out a little bit out of context, but from that story

of dad and, and Jeff, when they were running over each other, now they

didn't tear up rental cars.

They actually had to ride in a car together, right?

That's right.

Who made that?

Like, so NASCAR Bill France said, y'all going straight in this out.

You're coming to Daytona.

We went to Daytona and you're going to ride in the car together.

He made, well, who did that?

Well, we were, we were having a meeting and it was a short meeting in his

office and in France, what did he say?

He said, he said, boys, who's in the room?

It's Richard Childers and me and your dad and, and Jeff Bodine.

And so, and Bill France.

And he says, I've got videos here and we can look at tapes, but YouTube

monkeys are not going to bank my show.

Yeah.

And he said, so here's the deal.

If he looked around the table, he said, now, Rick, you can go back and sell cars.

Uh, Richard, Richard, you can, I don't know.

You can go back to doing whatever.

And he said, uh, and he told, uh, he told Jeff, he could go back up north.

And he told your dad, he said, I don't know what you do, make a living.

But, you know, if y'all going to be in this sport, this is what's going to happen.

And so, um, he said, now we're going to go eat.

And so your dad said, he said, I can't, I've got plans.

And Bill France said, there's a phone, change your plans.

Dang.

So, and then, uh, so he said, now, Richard.

You and Rick ride together with me and, and Jeff, you and Dale ride together.

And they didn't wreck that.

What did they protest?

Did they, no, nobody, you knew when you walked in there, uh, you didn't have any

options and you didn't get to speak.

Well, they were trying to get out of it.

He tried to get out of it with his other plans, but he, that got shut down.

That shut down real quick.

He wasn't going to protest though, riding together with Jeff.

No, he didn't.

I mean, he, I think he, I think he could tell when the situation was getting kind

of edgy and so, did you or RC go ask the drivers, how did that go?

I mean, did y'all talk?

Well, I mean, like, what happened?

Did you and Richard ever get together before that?

Like, Hey, how do we sort these guys out?

No, we'd look at each other when it would happen and say, Hey, we weren't, you

know, we weren't driving a car.

Really?

And, uh, cause you know, both of us would get upset and, uh, and I told, I told

Jeff, but I'm one time I said, listen, you don't pick up a snake and

shake him by his tail and let him go.

If you're going, you know, you go rub on him, then he's going to wreck you.

So why don't you just quit, but they just couldn't, couldn't do it.

But the bill said, okay, the next race, if you guys even get close to each other,

I won't have to park the cars and come down out of the tower and inspect them.

Cause something must be wrong with them.

And if, and it might be the end of the race, because I don't know if I can get

across the track.

Oh, it was, it was, it was pretty cold.

That's a threat.

That's a big threat.

Well, it, you know, he didn't, he had, he had had enough.

Yeah.

It was getting out of control.

They were wrecking each other in Xfinity races and each other's cars and, and

grandaddy's cars.

So dad and Jeff got along.

That was it.

I guess the car ride thing worked.

Yeah.

I mean, man, I would have thought if they'd come to blows inside the rental

car, but I guess not.

So you talked about driving, uh, the car to test with dad, but you actually ran

in some cup races when, I think when Tim was sick, you got in the car at

r- riverside, right?

Yeah.

Did you run more than one?

I ran two.

I ran, uh, I ran a bush race and, uh, where'd you run a bush race at?

And, uh, uh, rode Atlanta.

You wouldn't, there go them ovals, would you?

No.

Why not?

Well, I'll tell you what, one day you wrote, did you think he was a good

road racer?

Oh, I know.

Well, I was, I was decent.

Yeah.

I qualified my guys.

Didn't you run in the West West, uh, the Southwest tour or something?

Heather was leading by like three seconds.

And they threw a caution and a guy by the name of Ron Horner.

Hey, he was on the show last week.

He spun you out.

Yeah.

And then I gave him a truck to get him in the racing one week.

He told that story actually.

Yeah.

You, you really kind of helped him out later in life.

He didn't talk about the time he wrecked you.

It's funny how they just forget those details.

I don't know what it is.

He acts like he had amnesia.

You driving that car?

Like you were driving that car.

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So you ran Southwest Tour Race at Riverside.

You ran a Cup Race at Riverside.

Were you nervous going into the cup cup car?

You're into big boys.

You're the owner, like the owners are supposed to suit up.

Not really. I actually, I was that to me is so interesting.

Well, I qualified 13th, I think. Yeah.

And then everybody pit and I stayed out.

So I was leading and then when they got ready to restart,

there was all packed behind me. And I thought, I mean,

that's when I got nervous. But I guess one of the things that I remember the most

about that race is Richard Petty was right on me and went into turn nine.

And he got under me.

But then when you come off a nine, you go to the flag stand, it goes back to the

left. So if you're on the outside, if you don't give the guy room, you know,

he's going in the dirt. So I didn't give Richard room.

And I looked in the mirror and he was doing donuts.

I don't know. I haven't told him. I don't know what he remembers out of my opinion.

What do you want? Apologize to it for that?

This is the time to do it right now.

Richard, I'm sorry. I really am.

He's coming on the show here a couple of weeks. Yes.

We may or may not bring that up and see if he remembers.

Well, he and I have talked about what if he had, you know, started racing with me,

but that just STP and curb records, I think.

But I did. I did your one other story about your dad.

So they used to give you a thousand dollars for the fastest time in Charlotte

in the Bush series and the Cup series.

So I went over there in your granddad's car

and I put a 750 carburetor on it.

And so Bobby Allison and your dad and two or four other guys,

and I won top time. I was fastest.

So I'm feeling real good and I go out again and I go into turn one.

I look and all I could see was your dad's eyes and his I could see his face like it was

and I pulled right over and came in and he said,

it came in here. After that, he came in over to me and he said, what happened?

Why'd you quit? I said, I'm not stupid.

I was getting ready to get I was getting ready to get dumped. Good.

But you felt like it was coming. I felt like it was coming. Yeah.

They used to they used to give away cars, give you a car.

If you won the poll, I think it's Charlotte.

And I don't know if Tim was driving for you when this happened,

but they'd give Tim the car for winning the poll.

And the guys that only got the promoters,

like I guess Humpy and them had been driving this car around for like four or

five months and smoking in it and burning up the thing.

Got all kinds of burn marks in the interior and stuff.

And Tim's like, I thought I was getting a brand new car.

He was so ticked off.

They would award their car.

They gave him a basically a rental.

They smelled like a pack of marbles.

Well, Schrader Schrader got a his deal one that good.

So I told Schrader, I said, look, if you win the poll, I'll give you a truck.

And so Schrader won the poll and we had this four,

five hundred dollar truck rusted out smoking, just a junker.

And so we brought it over to the track and gave it to him.

And that was that was funny. You remember, I don't know if you remember this,

but when we always cut up a lot with Schrader.

So I put a sign in the back window to race car.

Driver wanted million dollar guarantee.

And so Rusty Wallace and all the guys, of course, it was kind of, it was, it was funny.

Damn, I had to hurt his feelings a little bit.

We were just cutting.

I wouldn't, it wasn't like real serious.

It would hurt my feelings.

I mean, listen, we've had drivers in this seat,

the old drivers that have been talking about times their teams,

they felt like we're, you know, wronging them or something.

You know, Dave Marcus was talking about, you know,

how he had to quit at a post-race press conference and they're sensitive.

Yeah. No, these guys are so sensitive, way more sensitive than we ever thought.

Right. But you don't understand.

Schrader was adopted by my mom and dad and he. For real?

They loved him. Oh, just not for real.

Okay, right. I thought we were breaking news here.

No, no, no, no, no, no, but, but they, they absolutely loved him.

Yeah. So we, we cut up and played a lot.

He was like a brother. He was like a brother. Yeah.

So one race you ran in, I remember was at Topeka, Kansas, Arca race.

Yeah. I'd been with Schrader for the whole week. He's. Oh, I remember that one.

He's coming on the show to tell us.

Let's see if we're willing to go into details about this.

Well, we won't say it for the Schrader interview, but we will talk about

after I've been with Schrader for the whole week, running around in dirt races

all over the country with him and that culminated with this final race of the week

and Topeka, Kansas, Arca race, dads running, you're running, aren't you running?

Yeah. And Schrader and Daryl Waltrup. Yep.

And so dad showed up on race morning.

Like he's going to start in the back, right?

Not qualified, not practice or nothing.

And I was not feeling good because I'd been with Schrader for a week.

I was sick as a dog, but Rick comes up, I'm standing.

I'm hanging out at this motor coach that was kind of

home base for all the Schrader's bunch.

And so I'm hanging out with him and I haven't seen dad yet.

And but Rick comes up and says, hey,

uh, I want you to sign the sign.

I want you to sign a lifetime contract.

And I was like, yeah, no problem. Let's do it. Yeah.

And, uh, so he got, you get, he grabbed a napkin and wrote

like a short little two sentence contract and we both signed it.

And we should have kept it. I wish I wish we had kept it. Yeah.

And he wanted to give, he wanted to take it and show it to dad.

And did you ever show it to him?

No, because your dad was so hot that morning when he got there, because he heard

the story of what he had done. Who told him all about that?

I don't know. It wasn't me because I'm standing by the car

when the Ford Array started and he walks up to me, you know,

hey, catch you by your collar like that when he's talking to you.

He pulled me, he got real close to me and he said, I'm going to kill Schrader.

And I said, I had nothing to do with it. He said, I'm going to kill him.

And I thought I'm about 10th and he's in the back.

How long is it going to take him to get to me?

Because I'm going to move over, but no, it was, it was, it was, it was funny.

He really was mad, huh?

I always thought he was sort of messing with Schrader like you were.

He was hot. I mean, he was mad.

So him and Schrader didn't talk for probably a year.

What? Yeah.

He over that coincidentally dumped Schrader at Pocono the next race.

Cup race they ran.

Whoa. Yeah. As far as I remember.

Um, I don't know who told him what went on, but somebody did.

But I was only 16.

I think I drove my truck to the airport to get on the plane.

So I thought you were 14.

I had to have my driver's license.

Well, you couldn't go on a club. I remember that.

I know that I couldn't go into particular clubs.

But the Mo Kanzis club.

And I wasn't, I wasn't with them.

Yeah. I mean, I set out in the parking lot at the club

and watched some guys sell guns at the trunk.

Cadillac. Yeah.

That's a totally wrong one about this.

This is where he learned about the, uh, but it was a, yeah.

Aftermarket gun sales.

I was so hungover that I hid from dad for several hours that morning

out on the pits, out in the pits.

This guy was I was sitting in Schrader's pit

and this guy's glue and lug nuts on the tires.

And I'm just sitting on one in tires and it's sun's out

and I'm feeling like crap and dad walked up and looked down at me

and I looked up at him and he didn't say a word.

And I didn't say a word and he just knew.

I knew he knew and he walked away.

And I didn't think he'd be that upset about it.

I think that he, I felt like, damn, you knew this was going to happen.

Right. Why are you surprised?

Schrader wasn't a mystery to anybody.

He even knew what he got.

I honestly believe that Schrader had asked if Kelly could go on the trip

and dad turned that down and said Dale Jr. should go.

And Kelly, Kelly, no, that would have been something.

And so Schrader's like, all right, fine.

And I mean, we went we went to like four or five.

We was at a dirt track every night racing.

It was amazing.

And they drank beer and I'd drink beer with him.

He bum rides, didn't he?

Didn't he get your ride with somebody after the race

and a pickup to get him to the airport or something?

He was it was crazy.

Yeah, it was a wild week.

And that's just that was an average week for Schrader.

I know, right?

But it was the funnest thing ever.

Was he more mad than what he would have been mad at Bodan?

Like, compare the two Schrader or Bodan?

Who gets the worst of it?

You know, I don't. I don't.

That morning, I never saw Dale mad.

Oh, with he whatever it was going on with them to happen on the track.

But this was before the race.

This is family. This is personal. This is personal.

I knew the difference between kind of playing upset and upset.

Yeah, that was tough.

One of the funnest things that I like to talk about when

is the our first meeting at HMS.

He likes this one. I love this one.

This is so good.

I'm going to let you tell it and I'll see if you tell it.

And then you fix it.

We've talked about it.

We've talked about it on the show before and people are surprised.

But I had and you might not know everything, all of it,

but you probably do.

But we went to we had went to Joe Gibbs.

We met with Joe and the owner of the Redskins.

It's not at Snyder is house, right?

Yeah. And they showed us a contract and I've been making.

I think my salary was 600,000 or something at the.

I can't remember. It might have been twice that,

but it wasn't it was comparable to most drivers.

It was in the lower end.

So I was, but I thought that was a lot.

You know, I'm like, man, you know, this is great.

And then when I went and seen this contract that Joe handed to me and Kelly,

it like short circuited my brain.

Like I couldn't believe somebody was wanting to pay me this kind of money.

Right. And so when I went to meet with you,

my heart was my heart was to drive for Rick HMS to me.

All these years had been this perfect, you know,

opportunity and this best team and they just one and one and one and one.

And they had a really amazing reputation, plus the family connection.

I had I was I had been racing for family for all these years.

And that's such a security blanket.

Yeah. And I'm like, man, I kind of have that same security blanket.

If I go drive for Rick, he's like family, he'll take care of me.

Give me the benefit of the doubt and and anyways,

we go to the meeting and and he's got that paper and he slid that thing

across the table and I was like, I ain't looking for that.

I was like, I don't even want to know what it says.

And you really said that to him.

I don't want to see that.

What that says, he said it.

And I said, well, okay, don't look at it.

It was pretty. It was it was actually it was it was everybody was a little nervous,

you know, and I really wanted to drive the car.

And Ricky had told me my son, he's going to drive for us one day.

So I never thought it would happen.

And so I had labored over this contract.

But like with Marshall for like weeks before I was going to show it to him, you know.

And so so we go in the room and sit down.

And I said, well, here's here, Dale, here's here's what we can do for you.

And he said, I don't care about that.

I thought, give it though, OK, let me have it back.

Don't look at it.

But he said, but then it was kind of funny because Marshall was in with us

and Marshall was kind of he was kind of uptight.

And so Dale, when we were talking about it, Dale said,

I thought we had it.

We were all done.

He said, I have I have a couple of things that I want.

I'm thinking of here we go.

This is going to be big.

This is going to be real big.

And he said, I want the skirts on the car paint the same color as the car.

And I was took me about a second to say what?

It still blows my mind.

OK, and I think the helicopter, you want a helicopter for a couple of races?

To Martinsville, Darlington, maybe, I guess, unlike any negotiation you've ever had.

Ever, never, ever.

I mean, don't care about the money.

Don't care about that.

Yeah. And somebody had to eventually look at the paper, though.

But yeah, well, I told I said, you and Kelly sort that out.

Yeah, whatever you all agree to.

I'd already had more money than I knew what to do with.

So like I money wasn't a runny money.

Didn't motivate me and make make me happy.

You know, what made me happy was how my car looks.

Side skirts, the side skirts aren't painted.

The ruins the entire car.

And I drive the car.

I want the thing to look good.

And then and then I never understood drivers

that don't care about what the car looks like.

Oh, we had two sponsors hooked up and so we're in a meeting with them.

And and we go through everything with them, all the big stuff, the numbers and everything.

And they said, oh, there's one more thing we've got to have.

Dale's got to design the car.

They said, what?

No, we can't.

I said, that's the deal.

Dale's got to design the car.

Yeah, that's that's a deal breaker.

And I'm sitting there.

We're looking at all this money and we're going to blow it over.

You've got to.

He's going to design the car.

Yeah, but you did and it looked good.

Yeah, it's all right.

It's all right.

I look back at I remember sending him the paint schemes

and it felt frivolous like sending Rick the ideas that I had.

Right.

I'm like, hey, Rick, you know, I want to involve be involved

and I want to send you some of these and you can show them to whoever.

And I felt it felt frivolous because it was like petty.

It felt petty like he doesn't have something else in his life going on.

The moment he's got to sit there and mess around with paint skis.

That was the most important thing.

Well, in my in my life, that was at the top near the top of the party list.

Had you had problems with side skirts?

I mean, did you ever get your opinion sought out at DEI?

Where did we had black side skirts?

And then I think the last few races, we might have started red.

OK. So, you know, if you really need to know the first time I ever saw this

done really well was when Rusty Wallace started his affinity team.

He had a bright yellow and black number 66 car.

And I think Hank Parker's brother, Catfish drove the car Billy Parker.

But and then eventually Rusty's son drove it.

But this car had these side skirts painted on it.

And it was freaking beautiful.

And it looked like it was so low to the ground compared to the other cars

without side skirts, I said, I'm hooked never for the rest of my life.

I'm going for painted side skirts.

So we'll go ahead.

Well, I was just saying like to I was going.

I'm the one out there driving the car and I felt like,

God, that's kind of a good thing that the driver cares what the car looks like.

Or and it's a motivation.

Like if you like the way the car looks, you're going to want to take that car

and do something good with it. You know, I never understood drivers

that don't have an opinion or a care, I guess, about what the car looks like.

You know, that to me, the design and the beauty of the car, like trying

to win best appearing car and trying to have good craftsmanship

and trying to build a pretty race car from the inside out has always been

something that was important to me.

Well, you did. Jimmy did that.

Yeah, Uncle Robert. Yeah.

With Jimmy Johnson.

Oh, Jimmy Johnson did that with the ally car.

Yeah, he sent me.

Well, he said you worked with him.

Well, I just gave him my opinion.

But if you call a couple of text messages back and forth, working with him.

But he sent me his he's like, hey, man, I'm going to help design this car.

What do you think about X, Y and Z?

And I was like, this is what I would do.

But yeah, so, Jimmy, maybe I rubbed off on this big time, seven time champion.

Listen, you know, we learned from Kuzlowski a few weeks ago

that that Mr.

Pinsky is deeply involved in the paint schemes and the looks.

And we did check off all the paint schemes.

How about that? Yeah.

Did you know that?

I did know that.

So I heard that.

The question is, I'm not so quirky after all.

Right. Well, so how how much paint schemes in the look of your race

cars actually matter to you?

It matters a lot.

I like for the cars to look good.

Yeah. And there's some paint schemes I haven't liked.

But usually it's between the driver and the and the sponsor.

That's what they want.

So so you don't typically get involved.

Have you ever just absolutely killed a paint scheme?

I did say that will never be on my race car.

You have. I have.

What was it?

I wasn't going to ask, but I knew he would.

I knew it. No, no, not going to happen.

Was it recent? No. Was it Dell? No.

Why can't you say if it was so long ago?

I'm just I'm not going.

You don't have to say just not.

Just go start. Start going to drivers.

Well, I do know I came up with a paint scheme for the 48.

The new one.

You did? No, no.

I came up with one and they killed it.

Jimmy killed it. Oh, no.

He said, that's too old fashioned.

Oh, man. That's too conservative.

Really? And that's when you two were bouncing back for.

Yeah. So I actually like the one that came up.

Well, yeah, I think it's a good looking car.

The ally looks good on the.

Yeah.

What was the conversation like when you

sat down with LaTart and told him that he was going to be my crew chief?

Did you sit down with? Yes. All right. Yeah.

Yeah.

He thought he was getting fired.

Do you know that? No, I didn't know that.

That's what he says.

Well, he thought he was getting let go.

If you go back to that particular point in time in that career,

in my career, in his career, when he starts to tell the story,

I'm thinking that he's going to say that

when he heard the news that he was going to be my crew chief,

he was going to be a little disappointed.

Like, oh, man, you know, I'm going from Jeff Gordon to Dale Jr.

And Dale's been struggling.

This is this is going to be a hard, tough hill,

but he was actually relieved because he thought he was going in there

to get let go because he and Jeff hadn't done so well.

But I just felt like he would be exactly what you needed.

Yeah. And boy, was he.

And so, I mean, I think the day after I told him,

he flew up to your house, he drove up to your house and spent the day with.

Yeah. Yeah.

So that's this is you're you're amazing.

See, the charts are amazing, too.

And like you said, he when he heard that news,

he went home and thought about it.

And the next day called me and said, let's get together.

You know, about this deal, we're going to work together.

We're going to do it together because he felt like that it was sort of his last

opportunity, too, because he had kind of failed.

And or this thing that he and Jeff had going on the ground to a halt.

And he looked at me and he kind of said, this is our this is both of our final shot.

You know, we're going to have to work hard and make it work.

I said, you tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it.

You sort of felt like you were at the options as well.

So Rick had delayed and delayed and delayed like

you're sitting across the table and I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable

situation, but I felt like that I had gotten a lot more leeway than a lot of

guys would have in that situation.

We had struggled, we had failed week after week, year after year.

And I was like, man, you know, I don't know how much further Rick can go with

this, the way it's going.

I don't know where the sponsors are mentally over at all.

So I felt like, yeah, when and we had, you know, we'd change things.

We'd change crew chiefs.

We'd change people.

We'd move things around.

But this was a big shift moving me from one shop to the other

with an entirely new group of people.

And I thought, I thought, yeah, this has to work or this is this will be the

this will be the end, but it ended up working out.

How close was he in his assumptions of the situation?

Was he was he sort of out of options?

No, no, we just, I believe, you know, we're all in the people business.

And okay, we're kind of business you're in.

It's got to be, it's got to mesh, it's got to fit.

And you got to get that right combination.

And I could, I could see it and feel it.

It wasn't right.

And I felt like Steve, you could do it.

And they all told me a couple of times that that shop was never as good as the

48 shop 2448.

So I knew I had to get it in his head that he was going to be in that shop

with that team.

And and Steve, he was already there.

And so it just worked out.

Yeah.

And no, but I never, I never thought about this is the end of it.

I thought about it.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to let him fail.

You know, I'm going to, we're going to keep going, changing till we get it right.

Is it because there was a confidence issue going on?

I mean, he pretty much had lost his confidence as a race car driver, right?

I mean, it was building him back up the way he, you know, he used to feel

like he was the best driver on the racetrack.

When you don't feel like that, you've lost an edge.

You're you've lost several tents, right?

Yeah.

Well, we, we, we didn't give him what he needed.

And, and we just, again, the, the combination wasn't there.

But because we started off with a bang, we'd go down to Daytona.

I want everything.

I remember we went to Vegas to test and we were fast and all the cars were fast.

All of us were, but we were, me and Tony Jr.

were really good and Jeff came over and said, dang, he's like, you're impressive.

And I thought, dang, this is awesome.

Like it's working.

And then we went to Daytona and won the shootout and won the qualifying race.

And, uh, you know, we had a great season all the way.

I mean, we weren't winning races, but we were running first and second.

And the points on the end of the points.

I mean, Kyle Bush were first and second.

They were right together.

And, uh, and then he dumped Richmond.

Yeah.

But then we went on one, uh, Michigan and we had a pretty solid year.

It didn't finish out in the playoffs very well or whatever, but started out great.

Yeah.

Then kind of went off the rails.

Yeah.

Why, why did it go off the rails?

The me and Tony Jr. were getting pretty hard on each other, especially on the radio.

And I think, so for me and Tony Jr., that was kind of normal.

We did that all the time back in the bud days.

But when Rick and them heard it, they were like, dang, this is bad.

This guy's, I want, I want, I want to write.

I don't know who won the race, but we, one of my cars won the race.

And here comes the media.

And I thought I wanted to talk about the race that we just won.

No, they were going to talk about Dale and Tony Jr.

You go and add it on the radio and, uh, I don't remember all of it, but, um, it was

just, it was so much focus on you and everybody was expecting, you know, a lot.

Yeah.

DW said, and they were going to win six races the first year.

Oh yeah.

And, and everybody was listening to everything y'all said.

Yeah.

So there's a lot of pressure.

I know.

A lot of pressure on all of us.

One of the worst, you, you're always doing a lot of great deals, but I

think one of the worst deals you ever done was swapping that helmet for that race

car after homestead.

I do think you got the short end of the step.

Why did you do that?

I couldn't believe it.

So he calls me up and he says, Hey, I got a question.

He's like, after the race at homestead, I won't, uh, want the helmet.

I said, great.

Cause I've been thinking about that car.

He goes, that's a deal.

It was like, dang, that was easier than I thought.

Well, I thought you deserved it.

And, uh, and you know, I'm, I'm, I'm happy with the deal.

I got the helmet, you got the car.

So you collect helmets, but also you collect a lot of guitars.

Yeah.

What's about, what's the deal in the guitar collection?

How many you got?

And you're all autographed, right?

By different, I got over 200 now.

Yeah.

Why, what, what, like, what, do you just take a good, if it's autographed by

any singer or is there a particular, no, I love music and I can't sing or can't

play, right?

But in 84, our race in Nashville, we won.

Chad Atkins gave me a special edition guitar.

Yeah.

And then that was the beginning of it.

And then Tim Richmond was friends with Bruce Springsteen.

And so I'd go to the concerts with him and he gave me a guitar.

So that's how it kind of started.

Yeah.

And then we won Richmond with the Rock and Roll 400.

And that was a beautiful guitar.

Dang.

And so, and then through the car collection, guys, you know, they just started coming.

And now it's amazing, the people that have actually played there inside the building,

you know, do you have a Huey Lewis in the news guitar?

I do.

Because Tim and Huey Lewis were pals.

Yeah.

I was listening to Huey Lewis this morning.

But yeah, it's amazing you said that underrated.

I wish he I wish he was still touring.

He can't.

Something happened to his voice.

Yeah.

Where is the next batch of cup owners coming from?

You guys, you know, you and Pinsky and all those guys been on in cars for a long time.

Where's the next group coming from?

You know, I don't know.

I think it could be, I think with what they're getting ready to do with the new car,

it might bring more people in.

And you just never know.

I mean, you think that somebody like maybe some of the drivers like Brad or some of those guys,

yeah, at some point may decide they want to own a team.

Yeah.

What happens to Gibbs, Pinsky, Hendrick, when you guys are going?

How do you position that company and who, you know, to continue?

In our situation, we've got my son-in-law as a president, but also Jeff Gordon as a partner.

So he'll be there to take care of it.

And you and him have just talked about that.

Yeah.

You're like, I don't care what you want to do.

You're doing this.

If he wants to turn it into a boat racing operation, if we get him to come to work.

So you think that, why do you think the new car would create opportunities for new owners?

I think it's going to take, it's kind of a, it's a car that you're going to buy all the pieces from someone else.

Yeah.

You don't need the engineering to build the chassis.

Somebody's going to build the chassis.

So no 15 or 20 or 30 different chassis out there.

And the body's going to be a flange fit body and the components will all be affordable numbered.

And if, if it does what they say, it'll do and you can run in multiple races.

How many automotive stores have you opened up with drivers?

You got one with me, one with Jeff and Jimmy, Terry, the Bonnie, Terry, the Bonnie, who else?

That's it.

Do you have you opened up stores with anybody else that would be?

Oh, Boris said, Boris.

Boris, yes.

Yeah, Boris.

You and Boris are pals.

Yeah.

He came to you with an opportunity or what?

The difference between Boris and all the other guys, he works.

He does work hard.

He's, I went out there one day and he's breaking down tires on a tire machine.

So you're saying that Dale Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, down in town, he's not, he's not breaking down tires and he's not.

Yeah, he does go down and pump the guys up there.

He does.

And it's been a while.

But I do for a visit.

You are due.

Yeah.

You want to go?

Yeah, I'll go with you.

You want to go together?

Yep.

That'll be fun.

What have you learned about eyeing talent in drivers since you started as an owner?

How do you find talent?

What do you look at?

Well, you know, I just look at raw ability and car control.

And, um, and then, you know, have people tell me how you watch this guy, have you watched that guy?

And, uh, and James Finch was my talent scout.

Right.

So you got a scout.

Yeah.

James told you about Chase.

They did.

Yeah.

He's watching Chase down there and the derby in Florida called you up and said, Chase, pretty good.

I needed to look at him.

And so I did.

And, um, and there was a lot of guys that we who told you about Jeff Gordon.

I saw him.

You did.

Yeah.

We're at.

In Atlanta.

It's Fenty.

I was in Atlanta and just, I don't know why I was there on Saturday.

And, uh, and I was, you know, that was one track that had a pedestrian tunnel.

So I'm going through the tunnel and getting ready to go up in the suite.

Cause we had sponsors up above days.

And I see him come down straight away and go in the corner and I thought he, you know,

blown a motor cause the tires were, you could literally see the smoke off the tires.

And so I said, well, watch this guy.

He's going to crash.

And so they said, well, that's, that's, that's that Gordon kid.

And I'd watched him on that Thunder.

Sprint car show deal.

Yeah.

And so, and so I went, this is the weirdest thing.

I went to motor sports.

The next couple, I think it was Monday or Tuesday after the race.

I walk into Jimmy Johnson's office.

The guy that ran it, not the driver, Jimmy and Andy Graves was sitting in there.

And I said, that's a shame that Gordon kid's got a contract with four.

And Andy said, you don't have a contract.

He had, he had one the next day.

So, yeah, but it took a chance with him because we had no sponsor, no nothing.

And just felt that strong about him.

You talked about how Tim was a little hesitant to like to sign the deal

before Jeff came.

How did you get Tim to come drive for you?

Well, Tim wanted to come after the first year.

And so he came in, of course, he and Harry didn't get along the first half of the season.

No, they moved that days of thunder, that story is true.

Well, they went test and then, then they hit on it and man, this second half

of the season, I think he won either set first or second.

What did it take for Harry Hyde to like you then?

You had to, you had to agree with Harry.

You had to, you had to.

He was sounds like Tony senior.

Yeah, like if you didn't have any talent, he'd tell you to your face.

Or Tim Richmond had talent.

Or Harry was a better salesman than Harry.

Harry could manipulate things.

And so he was slick.

He was smart.

And but Tim didn't care.

I mean, I remember at Riverside, Harry said, OK, this mode is fresh.

This mode has got 50 laps.

This one's got 25 more power than this motor.

Tim said, I don't care what you put it with, whatever you want in the car.

Yeah, you know, he didn't care. Sure.

Is that a good comparison, Tony senior with Harry Hyde?

I mean, because like we just people that didn't know him.

I just I love the stories about Harry and I'm still trying to figure out

like what exactly we've asked people that knew him on this show.

Like, you know, what was Harry Hyde really like?

Well, I went over there when my boats were stored and he had this trailer

and house trailer mobile home and he had pictures all in it.

I'd go in and he he'd tell me stories.

He was a storyteller and he told me that I could build a car today,

go to Charlotte and win the race.

And I believe I mean, that's how convincing he was.

But he but Harry was he built this stuff bulletproof.

I mean, it was heavy, but he had helicopter

coolers for all coolers and and his stuff didn't break.

Yeah, when I was a little boy back in 1987, I had a driver that I pulled for.

I liked the underdog and Jimmy Means was an underdog

and ran his own equipment and typically ran in the back half of the field.

But when Tam was out of the car there in the middle of that season,

you put Jimmy in the car.

How did that all come about?

He ran the one race at Charlotte for y'all.

Yeah. And he qualified.

Then he was fourth. Yeah, I think.

And he ran really well. Yeah.

Thank you. Got a wreck early.

Big wreck. Got a bunch of cars.

That was in it.

Well, it was it was it was one of those deals that we just wanted to give him a

chance. Yeah. Well, what did the like just? Hey, we need a driver.

Who do you want to give a chance to? Jimmy Means.

I just think we should give you. How did that happen?

You saw him do something.

Well, Harry, Harry thought he had really out. Wow.

That's cool. That's a hell of a comment.

And then somebody told us, hey, this he's really struggling.

Once you give him a chance. Yeah.

I still give him parts and motor. Yes, you do.

For his XFINITY cars.

Isn't that cool?

You know, that's a common denominator that we get a lot.

Now that we've been talking to people in the sport a long time is that there's

always a a Rick Hendrick helping me out story. Sure.

There it's really it's been happening.

I think it's a testament to what you've done for people in the sport.

And you've got a lot of people drive for you at this point.

Yeah. I don't know who it was.

It was Matthew or Dale, but listed all the drivers that have driven

for Hendrick Motorsports at some point in our notes.

And I couldn't believe how how many people that is.

How many is here?

Jeff Bodine, Dick Brooks, Brett Bodine, Tim Richman, Jim Fitzgerald, yourself.

Jimmy Means, Benny Parsons, Dale Walsh, Rob Moroso, Ken Schrader,

Bobby Hamilton, Tommy Kendall, Kyle Petty, Greg Sack, Stan Barrett,

Jimmy Horton, Ricky Rudd, Hutch Strickland, Sarah O'Vander, Merve,

Jeff Gordon, Alancher, Jr.

Terry Labani, Jeff Purvis, Jack Sprague, Tabadine, Ricky Craven,

Wally Dallinback, Jr.

Randall DeJoy, Ron Hornaday, Jr.

Jerry Nadu, Jimmy Johnson, Joe Nemechek, David Green,

Brian Bickers, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, me, Brad Kosolowski, Mark Martin,

Casey Kane, Rick and Smith, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and William Byron.

If I if I if I math is right, that's 45.

God, I don't remember that.

I don't remember people.

But you know, back back, I guess in the late 80s and 90s,

we decided that we want to run another car.

Yeah. It puts somebody in it. We do it.

A lot of times, too, Rick, in some of those scenarios,

there was some injuries.

D.W. had got hurt at Daytona.

And I think that's how Sarah O'Vander, Merve, Merve, I don't know how you say that.

Sarah O'Vander, he's probably one of the road racer, the greatest rally drivers.

And he drove, he drove the GTP car and he could not be beat until if the car broke,

but he was good. Yeah.

So that was an extra car, I think Craven had some injuries that you had some guys

feeling for. Terry had a few races he missed.

You did. Regan.

I did.

Regan, I'm feeling for you.

A lot of those drivers are one of all races, but still pretty cool list.

And I asked you all the time and we'll let you go after this.

And then sometimes, remember, we did the movie Days of Thunder.

Yeah.

So we'd have to take like six, six cars.

You're not taking.

No, we didn't count those.

Bobby Hamilton and Bobby.

Well, yeah, Bobby's in there.

But I thought, yeah, Bobby Hamilton's in this here list.

I thought, oh, gosh, Tommy Ellis also do movie cars there.

He's not Bristol.

Yeah, he's not in the list.

Is that just cup, by the way?

Just just cup.

Yeah.

So we missed one.

Tommy Ellis, I guess.

So that's when they put a 300,000 camera in their rear bumper.

Yeah.

And I said, you don't want to do that at Bristol.

At Bristol.

And they saw we got to have it.

And I think fifth or sixth lap.

Somebody destroyed it.

They destroyed it.

So you literally entered cars to the race for the movie.

Yeah.

Had to.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

There was a they two cars started at the back of the Daytona 500 that year.

And they were tasked to run just 40 or so laps.

And then they were going to pull in.

But they were out there on the track just getting shots of them.

So and that was that's what made them.

I think that's what made that movie so good is the ability to be able to have like real action.

I think we went to Phoenix and took Bobby Hamilton in a black 51 car.

And I think she's had on the boat.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

That's hysterical.

You know, speaking of days of thunder, it blew our mind that Steve LaTarte had never

watched the movie being that he's such a motor sports guy for all those years.

You know that?

I didn't know that.

That was a one flaw in his whole tenure at Hendrick Motorsports.

He had never seen days of thunder while he worked at.

I might have he might have won a few more races had he watched that movie and known the

connection in the link.

It blew our mind because I mean, it's that's basically the Hendrick Motorsports,

you know, story, even if it's fictitious in the movie.

It's it's it's a lot of it's inspired by you.

And so as Dale Jr. can do as only Dale Jr. can do, he guilted Steve on social media

and, you know, got a junior nation behind it, forced him to watch the movie.

And then he came on the show to give the review of it.

And and he liked it.

Yeah.

He liked it.

So I know now you can rest easy knowing that Steve.

You're friends with Tom Cruise.

You still are today.

Still are.

Yeah.

Why did you get so heavily involved helping them make that movie?

Because y'all had to help them.

Y'all provided a lot of race cars and equipment and y'all were advising and so forth.

And I mean, did you worry about losing a lot of money there?

Well, I the way that happened.

I've been a little nervous.

I didn't have any money.

Well, I did spend a lot of time building cars and so forth.

And we probably put too much effort in trying to help them.

But Tom and I and Paul Newman drove together in the SCCA.

Ah, Tom Cruise raced.

Yeah.

SCCA.

Yeah.

That's going to be the odd history.

Oh, is it awesome?

All right.

We're going to hear that.

I guess that's the history.

And so one day we went to Daytona and just testing, playing around.

And Tom was driving the bush car.

Yeah.

And he said, you know, we need to make a movie about this.

So next thing I knew.

What?

Yeah.

Hey.

And so then Robert Town came to town and went up and talked to your dad and Robert and our still friends.

Who?

Robert Town.

Yeah.

So I was at the farm shop with Kelly when Tom Cruise walked in the door to sit with dad.

And him and dad went into dad's office for about an hour and just sat.

And the rumor is that they tried to talk dad into playing Rowdy Burns through the bad guy.

I don't know that.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I don't know that.

We were hoping.

We were hoping he would confirm that.

We need some facts here.

Well, Rick, I was listening.

I was listening to all those drivers and you've been around this sport for a long time and I asked

you this all the time.

Why are you still doing it?

Like you got all, you could, you're old enough, successful enough.

You got car dealerships just cranking along day after day.

Why don't you go sit on a yacht somewhere and just goof off the rest of your life?

What makes a guy like you or Pinsky or, you know, other guys similar to keep going?

What's the motivation?

For me, it's the people.

It's the people at Motorsports that have been there from the beginning and 35 years.

Um, you know, given the guys are 20 year watches and you've built something.

I didn't with all the people together did that's special and we've kind of built it one brick

at the time from 5,000 square feet and five employees to what it is today.

So 500 employees.

600.

Yeah.

You've gained 100 employees since I started.

Just that you got that money back.

You got that money, but you were able to invest it 100,000 employees.

I have to pay him so much.

That's right.

I want people.

There was a reason he didn't want to look at that piece of paper.

That was 100 employees worth of salaries on that paper.

And I look back at like meeting Chase when he was 14,

meeting William up here when he was about 14.

Yeah.

And seeing those guys come along, seeing the young guys become crew chiefs.

Uh, it's just, it's been, it's just special.

I mean, to me, it's, it, the reason to continue is the people being around them,

watching them, uh, not just exiting and, you know, something that's been special.

Yeah.

Yeah, I've called him one time.

I don't remember what was going on in the sport, but something was happening in the sport

where everybody was, uh, everybody was a little nervous.

And I called him one time and told him to take a million dollars off my salary if he needed to.

That's right.

No, wait.

Nervous about just, there was some economy was economy.

I think it was back in 2009, 2010.

I'll say this, the only driver that ever I've been associated with in all my years that said,

uh, hey, I want you to take a million off of my salary and give it to the guys in the shop.

Don't have to cut anybody's pay.

I'll, I'll give up a million dollars.

Nobody else ever.

What was your response?

Pretty amazing.

I was shocked.

I mean, I just showed you.

He was like, you sure?

It shows you the character he has.

He's like, and his, his relationship with people.

You're doing all right.

He was like a little, he didn't know how to take it.

But if those side skirts changed, then that deal is off.

I want my million dollars.

That's right.

That's, I've always been just fascinated by y'all's, the dynamics of y'all's relationships.

I mean, you know, you told a story about, you know, the actual deal and, you know,

coming to work for Hendrick Motorsport, but you have so many more.

I love the, the story in the general's office, you know, and, you know, when we were up in

Oh golly.

That was a rough start.

That was, I guess that's my point is that you've always, at least to us,

you've always sort of laughed off moments.

None of the, none of the, uh, National Guard General saw me.

Well, tell them real quick.

Well, how could they not see you?

He was sitting on the couch and sitting on the couch and they were,

they were going through.

You had a, you had a four star general and you had a bird colonel that was going through the,

the charts and the program for racing.

And you started snoring, you put your head down and, and the general said,

that's enough of that crap.

We don't want to talk about that.

He was tired too.

Putting him to sleep.

I was freaking out.

I thought, this is it.

You one day on the show, you have to get Kelly and you have to get her to tell the story

about her not going because she had a stomach problem and you called her and said,

hey Kelly, where are you?

And she said, I can't go.

That was to this deal.

And, uh, and you said, if I got to go, you got to go.

And I'm listening to the end of it.

And all of a sudden he said, hello, hello.

Oh, that's so funny.

When, when, uh, when Rick went around, but when we sort of had agreed to terms on the deal

or whatever, signed a contract, Rick, I said, Rick, I said, I ain't,

now you know, I ain't never tucking my shirt in.

I'm not going to be like, you know, the, the, most of the drivers that you've hired.

And, uh, he goes, I, yep, sure.

You got no problem.

Well, I took a shirt in, we go to this deal to meet the generals and at the,

at the, we're in Washington, DC.

If Washington DC, you can see the Washington Monument out their window.

All right.

And he, and I got my shirt tail tucked in and I've got on some nice pants and I'm walking

into the building and I'm, I'm just thinking in my mind like, where's Rick?

And I turned around and Rick's behind me, taking pictures.

That's, yeah.

That's like, I need to document this.

Yeah.

He was the paparazzi at that moment.

He was, he was real proud of himself.

He's like, look what I, look what I got done here.

Yeah.

I had a lot of fun.

I tell you what, those years, uh, for all that we went through and you went through

from a competition standpoint and then to, you know, end up with a tart,

the dynamics of y'all's relationship has always been fascinating.

And you're, listen, I'll go to my grave, talking about how special you are to a lot of people.

And, you know, we're definitely two of them.

Well, listen, I've watched one of the things that amazed me is we were always been real close.

And, uh, so we're down in Key West, you know, he's a bunch of guys and having a good time partying.

And then about a year or so ago, a year ago, he, I look up and he's coming down the dock

with a stroller.

And I thought, man, how times have changed.

I've seen it from the early days to, uh, growing up being a special father, loving his little girl.

And so we're family and, and I treasure that and we'll always be, you guys are special.

Yeah.

Rick and Linda have come by the house.

I took time the other day to come by the house to see Island.

She'll be here in a bit to say, Hey to you.

Cute as a button.

Yes, sir.

All right, man.

Well, we're glad you came.

We'll have to get you back on here and maybe some time next year.

Okay.

We've got more stories to tell.

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