Hendrick Motorsports: Glance at team history

Updated: October 26, 2004, 1:12 AM ET
Associated Press

A plane owned by Hendrick Motorsports, a top-level NASCAR team, crashed Sunday en route to a race in Martinsville, Va. A glance at the Hendrick history:

Rick Hendrick

Rick Hendrick
Hendrick
Founder of Hendrick Motorsports, one of the premiere teams in NASCAR's top series. Fields Nextel Cup cars for Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers. Celebrating his 20th year in NASCAR this season. Has five series championships, three truck series titles, and one Busch series crown. Just the second team owner in NASCAR's modern era to win 100 or more Cup races.

Employs more than 400 workers at his Charlotte, N.C.-based Motorsports compound, which includes race shops and a 15,000-square-foot museum and team store.

Also owns numerous car dealerships, and was accused in relation to a bribery and kickback scandal involving American Honda Motor Co. Pleaded guilty in 1997 to a single count of mail fraud involving the payment of $20,000 to a Honda executive.

Was fined $250,000, but avoided jail time because he was battling a near-fatal case of leukemia. Was ordered to stay in his Charlotte home, and avoid the car business and his race team for a year.

Days before Christmas 2000, Hendrick was one of 59 people to receive a pardon from President Clinton.

Hendrick team, family killed in crash

  • Hendrick's brother, John, president of Hendrick Motorsports and also a car dealer. His twin daughters Kimberly and Jennifer were also on the plane.

  • Hendrick's son, Ricky, who drove a Busch series car for his father until a shoulder injury sustained in a racing accident caused him to retire in 2002 at age 22. Hendrick helped his son secure a motorcycle dealership, and was grooming him to take a larger role with the race teams. Ricky owned the Busch series car Brian Vickers drove to the series championship last season, and Kyle Busch currently pilots.

  • Randy Dorton, chief engine builder at Hendrick Motorsports. Widely regarded as one of the best of the business, several NASCAR teams lease the engines Dorton builds.

  • Jeff Turner, general manager of Hendrick Motorsports.


    Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press

    • SPONSORED HEADLINES

    ESPN TOP HEADLINES

    MOST SENT STORIES ON ESPN.COM

    ESPN Conversations

    comments

    ALSO SEE