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Rick & Mary Hendrick <br> Jeff Gordon
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NEXTEL Cup <br> Busch Series
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5 NEXTEL Cup <br> 1 Busch Series <br> 3 Craftsman Truck Series
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#5, #24, #25, #44, #48 (NEXTEL Cup) <br> #5, #48, #57 (Busch Series)
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Kyle Busch (#5-NEXTEL & Busch, 57-Busch) <br> Jeff Gordon (#24) <br> Brian Vickers (#25, 57-Busch) <br> Jimmie Johnson (#48-NEXTEL & Busch, 5-Busch)<br> Terry Labonte (#44) <br> Adrian Fernandez (#5-Busch)
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Alan Gustafon (#5-NEXTEL)<br> Steve Letarte (#24-NEXTEL)<br> Lance McGrew (#25-NEXTEL)<br> Peter Sospenzo (#44-NEXTEL)<br> Chad Knaus (#48-NEXTEL & Busch)<br> Chad Walter (#5-Busch)<br> Jim Long (#57-Busch)
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Kellogg's (#5-NEXTEL, #44) <br> Dupont (#24) <br> GMAC (#25) <br> Lowe's (#48, #5-Busch)
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CarQuest (#5-NEXTEL)<br> Pepsi / Nicorette (#24)<br> Ditechcom (#25)<br> Pizza Hut (#44)
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Concord, North Carolina
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Hendrick Motorsports
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is a group of
NASCAR racing teams started by
Rick Hendrick in 1984 under the name "''All Star Racing''." The company sponsors both
Nextel Cup and
Busch Series drivers. All cars are made by
Chevrolet . Hendrick Motorsports has garnered five NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now NEXTEL Cup) championships, three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series titles and one NASCAR Busch Series crown, making it one of stock-car racing’s premier organizations.
All Hendrick race cars are constructed start-to-finish at the 62 acre (250,000 m&
2) complex in
Charlotte ,
North Carolina , and more than 700 engines are built or re-built on-site each year, with the team leasing some of those to other NASCAR outfits. The first to implement professional pit crews, HMS employs on-site fitness trainers and operates a fully equipped gym to assure that personnel are in shape and ready for race day.
More than 400 employees call Hendrick Motorsports home, and day-to-day activities include management of the company's website, its 15,000 square foot (1,400 m&
2) museum and team store, marketing, public relations, sponsor services, licensing, show cars, and merchandising.
Hendrick Motorsports originally debuted in
1984 with the #5
Northwestern Security Life Chevy , driven by
Geoff Bodine . Running all 30 races, Bodine and the team won three times and finished 9th in points that year. They improved in
1985 , finishing 5th in points despite not winning a single race in a car sponsored by
Levi Garrett . The team also briefly became a two-car team when
Dick Brooks drove the #1
Exxon Chevy at
Charlotte Motor Speedway and finished 10th.
Moving to a multi-car team full-time in
198 , Bodine won twice and posted an eighth place finish in the points standings. His little brother,
Brett , raced as a teammate to him at the
World 600 that year, finishing 17th. Bodine went winless again in
1987 , finishing 13th in points. Bodine won one race apiece over the next two years, before leaving for
Junior Johnson in
1990 .
Ricky Rudd took his place, winning once and finishing 7th in points. For
1991 , the team received sponsorship from
Tide as part of the car's merger with
Darrell Waltrip 's old team. Winning one race that year, Rudd finished a career high second in the points standings. The most notorious part of that year was at
Sears Point Raceway , when on the final lap, second-place Rudd spun out leader
Davey Allison on the last turn and went on to win.
NASCAR penalized the team for rough driving and awarded Allison the win. Rudd kept his streak of one win a year over the next two years, then left to form his own team, taking Tide with him.
His replacement was 1984 Winston Cup champion
Terry Labonte . The car received sponsorship from
Kellogg's . Labonte won three races each in
1994 and
1996 , and defeated teammate
Jeff Gordon for the
1996 Winston Cup championship by 37 points. After that, Labonte's won four races from
1997 -
1999 .
2000 was a very difficult year for the team as two long streaks that defined Labonte's career came to an end. In the
Pepsi 400 , Labonte crashed his car and broke his leg. At first, it appeared that Labonte could be able to drive a couple of laps in the start of the race to earn points, but after an accident at
New Hampshire International Speedway damaged his
Inner Ear , Labonte was not capable of driving, and he ended up missing two races, bringing his streak of most consecutive races to an abrupt end.
Todd Bodine and
Ron Hornaday subbed for Labonte. The other streak broken was his 6-year winning streak, as he failed to visit Victory Lane at all that year.
After a couple of low-key years, Labonte regained flashes of his old self in
2003 , when he finished 10th in the points standings. In 2003, he also won a pole at Richmond International Raceway in the spring event. More importantly, Labonte finally revisited victory lane after a 4-year drought, winning what turned out to be the final
Southern 500 at
Darlington Raceway . The already-popular victory became even more memorable when the flagman dropped the checkered flag on the racetrack for Labonte to wave around in his victory lap. After slipping to 26th in points in
2004 , Labonte announced his semi-retirement. He would drive a limited schedule for two years before retiring officially after
2006 . Hendrick tabbed
Kyle Busch as his replacement. So far, Busch has one
Pole Position , six top-5s, and nine top-10 finishes to his credit, and won the battle for
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Rookie Of The Year . Recently, he took the checkered flag for the
Sony HD 500 at
California Speedway for his first win, and in doing so became the youngest driver to ever win a Nextel Cup race at the age of 20 years, 4 months, and 2 days, beating the old record held by
Donald Thompson by 4 days.
During its 13-year history, the #24 car has been driven only by
Jeff Gordon and has only been sponsored by
DuPont . All three debuted in the
1992 Hooters 500 , qualifying 21st and finishing 31st following a crash. Almost symbolically, that race was the last for 7-time champion
Richard Petty . The team went full-time in
1993 , armed with crew chief
Ray Evernham . Gordon won the pole position at the fall race at
Charlotte Motor Speedway , had eleven top-10s, and finished 14th in points, while also winning rookie of the year honors.
In 1994, Gordon lived up to his promising amateur season, winning the
Coca-Cola 600 . After this victory, he became so excited he cried in Victory Lane. He would also win the inaugural
Brickyard 400 . When that season was completed Gordon improved to eighth in the points. Despite all of this, Gordon struggled with DNF's, mostly due to crashes. Gordon would go on to win the
1995 Winston Cup Championship, but many considered it a fluke, despite the fact he won seven races. He followed that up with ten more wins in
1996 , but finished runner-up to teammate
Terry Labonte for the championship. However in this year, Gordon won at North Wilkesboro Speedway, the last year and last time that NASCAR would ever visit to the track that had been used for races for the past 50 years
Around this time, fans began booing Gordon constantly at the racetrack because of his dominance, while others booed him for being open about his
Christianity . Nevertheless, Gordon won back-to-back championships in 1997 and
1998 , tying
Richard Petty 's modern era record for most victories in a season with 13 in the latter year. But
1999 marked the one of the toughest seasons he ever had to endure. He started out in typical style, winning the
Daytona 500 , but the team struggled with consistency, and would seemingly have a great finish one week, then would have DNF's or other struggles the following week. In
September of that year, long-time crew chief
Ray Evernham , who had guided Gordon to so many victories and championships, shocked the sport when he announced he was leaving the team to help develop
Dodge 's return to NASCAR. He was replaced by
Brian Whitesell . To the surprise of many, Gordon won the first two races after Evernham's departure at
Martinsville and Charlotte. At the end of the season, Gordon, in addition to signing a lifetime contract with the team that gave him part ownership, had seven victories and was 6th in points. In addition to his post-Evernham victories, Gordon's most impressive win came at Sears Point, when he was able to complete the gruelling track despite feeling quite ill.
For 2000, Whitesell moved to a new position with the organization, and he was replaced by the long-time crew chief for
Petty Enterprises ,
Robbie Loomis . The chemistry was not evident at first, as Gordon went winless for a long time before picking up his 50th career victory at
Talladega . Gordon won two more races that season and was 9th in points at the end. He bounced back in
2001 , when he picked up 7 victories and won his 4th championship.
2002 brought about some big changes as he not only became car-owner for
Jimmie Johnson 's team, but ended up filing for
Divorce from his wife Brooke. He went winless the entire season until the
Sharpie 500 at
Bristol in
August . Despite just three wins, he finished 4th in points.
In 2004, Gordon stayed in the Top 5 in points for nearly the entire year. By the time the
Chase For The Cup started, he had not only won 5 races, but taken the lead away from teammate
Jimmie Johnson . However, Gordon did not finish as high in as many races as he had before the Chase, and fell behind Johnson and
Kurt Busch by the season finale
Ford 400 . Despite finishing 3rd in the race, Busch won the championship by 16 points over him. Johnson also finished 8 points ahead of Gordon in the season standings, placing him in third. With a fast start in 2005, it looked like he would have another successful season, as Gordon won three of the first nine races of the season. Soon, though, his season would fall into a downward spiral as he was caught in a bad and possibly costly slump. At one point, the four-time champion finished 30th or lower six out of eight races, and he dropped to 15th in the points standings. Gordon would be unable to make up this deficit before the cutoff point for The Chase, the first time in his NASCAR Cup career where he was not at least eligible to win the trophy.
Car #25 was owned for many years by Hendrick's father, "Papa" Joe Hendrick. It debuted in 1986 with the
Folgers sponsorship and
Tim Richmond driving. Richmond, who was teamed with veteran crew chief
Harry Hyde , won 7 times that year and finished 3rd in points. He missed the beginning of the 1987 season due to
AIDS , but he claimed it was
Pneumonia .
Benny Parsons and
Rick Hendrick himself filled in. Richmond returned midway through the season, and won twice, but it was obvious he wasn't going to get better anytime soon.
For
1988 ,
Ken Schrader took over the ride. He won two pole positions, won the
Talladega Diehard 500 , and finished 5th in the points. He won 4 more poles in 1989, and picked up a victory at the fall race at
Charlotte . He didn't win in
1990 , but he won the pole for the Daytona 500 for the third year in a row. He won two more races in 1991, and finished 9th in points. His only highlight after that was a career-best 4th in points in 1994. After that year,
Budweiser replaced
Kodiak as the sponsor. After
!996 , Schrader left the team, and was replaced by
Ricky Craven . He missed two races in 1997 after suffering a
Concussion at
Texas . He would be filled in by
Jack Sprague and
Todd Bodine . Despite this he won the
Winston Open and finished 19th in points. In 1998, he realized he returned to the sport too soon when he was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome. He sat out several races with
Randy LaJoie and
Wally Dallenbach Jr. filling in. He turned at his home track at
New Hampshire and won the pole, but he struggled, and was soon out of the car. Dallenbach replaced him full time.
Dallenbach had a career year in 1999, putting together 6-top finishes and was 18th in points at the end of the year. But early in 1999, Hendrick tabbed . He had ten top-10 finishes and improved three positions in points the next year, this time with the
UAW-Delphi sponsorship. After 11 races in
2002 , he was replaced by
Joe Nemechek who posted three top-five finishes. Nemecheck won at
Richmond in
2003 , before leaving for
MB2/MBV Motorsports at the end of the year.
Rookie
Brian Vickers took over the next season getting sponsorship from
GMAC and
Ditech . He was the pick by many to win Rookie of the Year honors, but finished second to
Kasey Kahne . Vickers earned two poles and finished 25th in points. During the year, "Papa" Joe passed away, to the sadness of many fans. Vickers has come close to winning several times in 2005, and finished 17th in points.
What is now the #44 car debuted in
2003 as car #60 with
NetZero as sponsor, and
David Green driving. The car was originally formed as a partnership with
Gene Haas and his
Haas CNC Racing team, but the team evolved into Hendrick's
R & D team. It debuted at the
Pepsi 400 , qualifying 21st and finishing 32nd. Green ran one more race that year, before Brian Vickers ran it at the fall Charlotte race.
Kyle Busch took it over the following season, this time as the #84
CarQuest Chevy . He made his debut at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway , qualifying 18th but finishing 41st after being involved in an accident on lap 12. Despite failing to qualify for several attempts, he made my five more starts that year, his best finish was 24th at
California Speedway .
In
2005 In NASCAR , Busch and
Terry Labonte switched rides, with Busch moving to the #5 and Labonte moving to Busch's old ride, which changed its number to 44. Sponsored by
Kellogg's and
Pizza Hut , Labonte was to drive the car in a limited schedule over the next two years before retiring. He stayed with the team much of the season until
Jason Leffler was released by
Joe Gibbs Racing mid-season, and he agreed to drive the #11
FedEx Chevrolet as part of a three-driver group. Labonte will split his 2006 season between the 44 car and
Hall Of Fame Racing .
The Car #48 began in
2000 before it even hit the track. Hendrick signed
Jimmie Johnson to drive a car. At the time Johnson was a first-year
Busch Series driver driving for an underfunded team. He made his debut at the fall race at
Lowe's Motor Speedway in the #48
Lowe's Chevy , qualifying 15th and finished 39th after crashing on lap 193. After two more races, Johnson moved full time in
2002 , winning 3 times and runner up to
Ryan Newman for Rookie of the Year, and even became the first rookie to ever lead the points standings. He won three more races in
2003 and finished second to
Matt Kenseth in the championship standings.
Johnson led most of the
2004 season's points, but suffered bad luck before the
Chase For The Cup , falling to second behind Jeff Gordon. After falling to 9th during the Chase, he rebounded with four consecutive wins, vaulting him up to 2nd. Despite this, he would lose the championship by 8 points to
Kurt Busch in the closest final championship margin in
NEXTEL Cup history.
Johnson has led most of the
2005 season, but lost it to
Tony Stewart after the
Allstate 400 At The Brickyard when he suffered a hard crash. He won three races this year in 2005 and finished fifth in points.
On February 19, 2006 Johnson went on to win his 1st and only
Daytona 500 win, despite his Crew Chief
Chad Knaus had been suspended from
NASCAR for a suspected rule infraction during qualifing sessions leading up to the 500. Knaus has finished a 4 race suspension from
NASCAR . He came back as crew chief of the 48 at the Bristol race.
On October 24, 2004, ten people associated with Hendrick Motorsports lost their lives in a plane crash while en route from
Concord, North Carolina , to a small airport near the
Martinsville Speedway . The plane crashed in heavy fog into Bull Mountain, seven miles from the Blue Ridge Regional Airport in Spencer,
Virginia . While NASCAR officials learned of the crash during that day's Subway 500 race in Martinsville, they withheld that information from drivers until the end of the race. Hendrick driver
Jimmie Johnson won the race.
All ten aboard the
Beechcraft King Air 200 died:
- John Hendrick, president of Hendrick Motorsports; Rick Hendrick's brother
- Ricky Hendrick , Rick Hendrick's son
- Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick, John Hendrick's twin daughters
- Jeff Turner, general manager of Hendrick Motorsports
- Randy Dorton , chief engine builder
- Joe Jackson, DuPont executive
- Scott Lathram, pilot for NASCAR driver Tony Stewart
- pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison
For the balance of the 2004 season, all of the Hendrick Motorsports cars and the #0
Haas CNC car showed pictures of the ten Hendrick members on the hood.
On February 7, 2006 a lawsuit was filed against Hendrick Motorsports by the widows of two men killed in the plane crash that killed 10 people. Dianne Dorton claimed "conscious and intentional disregard" for the life of her Husband,
Randy Dorton . Dorton was the head engine builder for Hendrick Motorsports. The lawsuit places partial blame on John Hendrick, the President of Hendrick motorsports. Her claim is based on a conversation with her husband shortly before the crash, as well as a conversation between John Hendrick and pilot Richard Tracy.
Dorton called his wife the morning of the crash. He told his wife that they were supposed to fly in a helicopter but the helicopter was delayed due to bad weather, and that they were going to fly in a Hendrick motorsports plane instead. Dorton waited in the Hendrick Hangar for over an hour. He called Dianne and told her he didn't think they would go, only to call back 47 minutes later to tell her "we're going."
Pilot Richard Tracy allegedly suggested to Danville instead of the Blue Ridge Airport, but Hendrick refused because Danville is further way and he didn't want to be late for the race. The grounded helicopter pilot was in on the conversation and could be called to testify.
These are portions of the pre-flight check between pilot, co-pilot and air traffic control:
"Wouldn't be going to Martinsville, would you?" air traffic control (ATC) asked.
"Yepper," replied the pilot. "Uh, let me seem I'm probably going to have, one, two, three, four, let's put six souls onboard."
"Visibility is unreliable," said ATC.
"Alrighty," the pilot responded.
Later, upon approach to Blue Ridge airport, there is more of the pilot's conversation with ATC.
"There's good visibility below," said ATC.
"51, 501 Romeo, Hotel, we're going missed," said the plane's copilot.
"Say that again," replied ATC.
"We're going missed at this time," the copilot responded.
A short time later the plane crashed into Bull Mountain killing all 10 aboard.
In a separate lawsuit Scott Lathram's widow Tracy claims that at least 27 other aircraft scratched plans to land at the Blue Ridge airport on Oct. 24 because of bad weather. Lathram was a helicopter pilot for
NASCAR driver
Tony Stewart .
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On February 6, 2006 the
National Transportation Safety Board ruled that flight crew error caused the plane crash. According to the NTSB, the crew failed to properly execute the published instrument approach procedure at Blue Ridge Airport.
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- Budweiser - Sponsored the #25 car for many years and for the early years of the Craftsman Truck Series programs
- Coca Cola - Was on the decklid of Jeff Gordon's car until deal with Pepsi
- Michael Holigan - #25 car in 2000
- Valvoline - Before deal with Quaker State
- 2001 Jeff Gordon
- 1998 Jeff Gordon
- 1997 Jeff Gordon
- 1996 Terry Labonte
- 1995 Jeff Gordon
- 2001 Jack Sprague
- 1999 Jack Sprague
- 1997 Jack Sprague
