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"Rick Hendrick's Cup Debut"

Posted by nascarman on April 6, 2017

Viewed 4600 times Tweet By 1987, 38 year-old Rick Hendrick owned 26 car dealerships and racing teams across various series. His NASCAR team had won the Daytona 500 and employed Geoff Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, and Tim Richmond. With a business empire built on racing, it was at this point that Rick Hendrick decided he wanted to compete on the race track.







In the spring of 1987, Hendrick began taking racing lessons at the Road Atlanta Driver Training Center under chief instructor and SCCA racer Jim Fitzgerald. To thank his friend and mentor, Hendrick entered a fifth car in the June Cup race at Riverside for Fitzgerald who finished 17th. At the time, the 65 year-old Fitzgerald was the oldest driver to start a Cup race. That same month, Hendrick co-drove with Tom Cruise in an IMSA Firestone Firehawk sports car race at Road Atlanta. The star-studded pair finished 14th. In August, Rick returned to Road Atlanta to run in the Busch Series race at the 2.5 mile road course. Hendrick qualified 6th, but finished 24th after blowing a clutch. He wasn't a slow driver and his racing career meant alot to him.



"My love for racing got me in the automobile business,'' Hendrick said. "This will be like a page of my life that's missing.''



While Rick did some lower series racing, his Cup team was in trouble. As Tim Richmond's health deteriorated, Richmond made the decision to resign from the team, unable to compete any longer. With the team missing a driver, the decision was made that Rick Hendrick would drive Richmond's #25 Folgers Chevrolet at Riverside in November.





Jim Fitzgerald's car in June



To prepare, Hendrick attended the Jim Russell School of Motor Racing at Riverside. Jim Fitzgerald and Tim Richmond were also said to have been teaching their former owner. Richmond had won the past two races at the California track. Hendrick also tested the Folgers car at Charlotte in October and at Riverside the week before the race. Rick's speeds in testing were reportedly fast enough to have qualified 12th in the race the year before. He would be driving the exact car that won the past two races and set the track record a year before. Despite the car, Rick never expected to emulate the success Richmond did.



"I've got about as much chance of winning the pole as there is of a total eclipse of the sun,'' Hendrick said the week prior to the race. But his speed wasn't bad. Hendrick qualified 21st fastest at a speed of 114.664 mph. For comparison, Tim Richmond set the track record in that car a year prior at 118.247 mph. Hendrick outqualified notable drivers such as Davey Allison, Morgan Shepherd, and Darrell Waltrip who spun on his qualifying lap. All of his drivers were excited to compete with the man who signed their checks.



"All of us on the team are all excited, maybe I should say concerned, to have Rick in the field," Geoff Bodine said. "We just hope he doesn't get into an accident or get hurt, but he's been around racing enough to know how to take care of himself. He's a competitor, though. I noticed he swapped a little paint with Dale (Earnhardt) out there during practice."







The race itself was a struggle for Hendrick. TBS installed an onboard camera in the Folgers car for the race which saw Hendrick plagued by several flat tires. After 75 laps, Rick fell out of the race with a broken bell housing. The owner-driver finished 33rd in his first start. Despite the lackluster result, the race was a chance for Hendrick to learn exactly what his drivers experienced.



"The only way I knew I had a flat tire," Hendrick explained, "was the car was sideways going down the straightaway, so I knew I had a problem. The car gets loose and you don't know whether it's oil or speedy dry. I've seen Geoff and them come in and say 'We got a flat, which side I don't know,' so now I know there's no way to know."



While Hendrick struggled in California, a tragedy on the other side of the country hit him as well. After falling out of the event, Rick was informed that his close friend Jim Fitzgerald was killed in the SCCA Trans-Am race in St. Petersburg, Florida. The death of the 65 year-old racer hit Hendrick hard and Rick's racing career came to a crossroads.



"You know it can happen,'' he said, "but this hit me hard because Jim and I were close.'' It was reported that Mrs. Hendrick was insistant that Rick quit driving.



"I don't have anything to prove,'' Hendrick said. "My family and friends were excited about me driving, but I don't want to put them through too much.''



Despite the personal doubt, Hendrick returned to the cockpit at Riverside in 1988. This time, he qualified an impressive 13th at 116.741 mph, slightly faster than his driver Geoff Bodine. He piloted an R&D car built by Gary Nelson.



"I hope he doesn't put the boss into the wall with some of his new ideas," Hendrick joked about Gary Nelson. To properly test the ideas, it was decided that Rick would share the car with a professional road racer, Elliott Forbes-Robinson. After the driver change, the racer known as EFR drove the car to a 15th place finish. It was the last time either Forbes-Robinson or Hendrick would ever race a Cup car.



Rick Hendrick's short-lived Cup career is just a neat little aspect of the hall of famer's career. While he is known as one of the most successful owners in NASCAR history, he knows what it's like to be behind the wheel as well.





Sources:

*Glick, Shav. "Earnhardt is Seeking His First Riverside Win." Los Angeles Times. November 5, 1987.

*Glick, Shav. "Owner/Driver Hendrick Among the Qualifiers." Los Angeles Times. November 7, 1987.

*Potter, Jerry. "Hendrick Takes Wheel for Sunday Drive." USA Today. November 6, 1987.

*Potter, Jerry. "Hendrick Might Quit." USA Today. November 13, 1987.

*Potter, Jerry. "Owner Tries Driving Again." USA Today. June 10, 1988.

*racing-reference

*Inside Winston Cup Segment, November 1987



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