2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee profile: Richard Childress

Richard Childress

Born: Sept. 21, 1945, Winston-Salem.

Family: Wife Judy, daughter Tina Dillon, son-in-law Mike Dillon, grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon.

Career highlights: Childress’ drivers have won 13 championships: Six in what is now the top-level Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, four in the Xfinity Series, two in the Camping World Truck Series and one in ARCA. .... His cars have amassed 2,588 major series starts with 105 victories; 1,177 Xfinity starts with 77 wins; and 322 truck starts with 31 triumphs.

Childress himself drove in 285 top-level races from 1969-81. He never won, but posted 76 top-10 finishes with a best of fifth. ... Childress gave up the cockpit in 1981 to team with Dale Earnhardt for 11 races and he next fielded Ricky Rudd in 1982 and ’83. ... Rudd gave him his first big-time victory, in 1983.

Earnhardt returned to the Childress operation in ’84 and the pairing proved to be one of the greatest in NASCAR history, winning six championships and 67 races before Earnhardt lost his life in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. ... They made the black No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet famous internationally. ... Drivers Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, Robby Gordon, Paul Menard also have won major events with Childress.

In recent years Childress has proudly fielded cars for his grandsons, Austin in the top series and Ty in Xfinity. Austin gave his grandfather a truck series title in 2011 and the Xfinity circuit crown in 2013.

Reflections

Retired Observer motorsports writer Tom Higgins on Richard Childress:

I first saw him: I don’t recall exactly, but probably on the weekend of Sept. 13-14, 1969, at Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR president and speedway founder Big Bill France enticed Childress and others to help him foil a boycott of the race by the top stars.

Childress’ Camaro, a Grand American Division car, was sidelined after 80 of the 184 laps with a broken axle and he finished 23rd. He was listed as earning only $1,175 in the race won by essentially unknown Richard Brickhouse.

But an appreciative France rewarded Childress with about 10 times that amount, and he used the money to greatly expand his racing operation.

What people might not know about him: Childress is an outdoors enthusiast, and has hunted worldwide, including in Africa and above the Arctic Circle. His museum in the racing complex at Welcome, N.C., includes a wildlife wing holding some of his and hunting buddy Earnhardt’s trophies. … Also, Childress is involved in ownership of a beautiful winery and vineyard near Welcome. Besides his residence on the Yadkin River in Davidson County, Childress has a mountaintop home in Montana with a magnificent view of the Yellowstone River.

Most memorable quote: “When Dale was killed at Daytona I considered leaving the sport all the way up to two nights later. Then I remembered sitting around a campfire with him on a hunting trip in the mountains of Montana. I had nearly fallen over a cliff earlier that day when my horse lost its footing. We agreed that night to go on racing if something happened to the other.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2017 at 3:46 PM with the headline "2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee profile: Richard Childress."