Ricky Hendrick

Template:Short description Template:Infobox NASCAR driver Joseph Riddick "Ricky" Hendrick IV (April 2, 1980 – October 24, 2004) was an American stock car racing driver and partial owner at Hendrick Motorsports, a NASCAR team that his father Rick Hendrick founded. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 2, 1980, and began racing in Go Karts at a young age, then the Legends Series at fifteen. He competed in both the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series before his death from an airplane accident on October 24, 2004. He was killed with nine other family members and friends during the accident.

Racing career

Hendrick began his career in auto racing at the age of 15 by racing in the Legends Series Summer Shootout. He won 5 races in 1995 and 1 in 1996. <ref>https://rickyhendrickracing.com/home/racing-stats/</ref> In 1998, he won three NASCAR Winston Late Model Series races and one in 1999.

Ricky competed in two ARCA Menards Series races, October 4, 2000 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the 2001 Daytona race in February. <ref>https://rickyhendrickracing.com/home/racing-stats/</ref>

Hendrick continued to run the series in 2000, with the addition of competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series piloting the No. 17 GMAC/Quaker State Chevrolet Silverado. While running races in the No. 24 Busch Series car, he was involved in multiple accidents and suffered from concussions.

In 2001, he competed in the full NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. He recorded his first NASCAR career win at Kansas Speedway on July 7, becoming the youngest Truck Series driver to win a race at that time. Hendrick was also able to accomplish 19 top ten finishes, the most by a rookie at that time. However, at the end of the season, he finished second in the Rookie of the Year Standings, with Travis Kvapil winning the award.<ref name="biographyrick.net">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Hendrickricky.jpg

Hendrick's Busch Series car in 2002.

In 2002, he moved to the Busch Series with crew chief Lance McGrew driving the No. 5 GMAC Financial Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Hendrick suffered an accident in the third race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that resulted in a broken shoulder. He required surgery and missed 3 months of racing before he returned in May and finished 15th at Richmond. Hendrick decided to retire from driving in October of the same year due to mental health and physical concerns. He continued to be employed by Hendrick Motorsports, as the owner of two teams: Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch in the Busch Series. Hendrick also founded a motorcycle dealership in Pineville, North Carolina, named Ricky Hendrick's Performance Honda.<ref name=biographyrick.net />

Death

Template:See also On October 24, 2004, around 12:30 p.m. EDT, Hendrick died in a plane crash near Martinsville, Virginia, killing him and nine others. The plane, on its way to the Martinsville Speedway for the Subway 500, crashed on Bull Mountain due to pilot error in heavy fog.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Only days after he died, his fiancée Emily Maynard learned that she was pregnant with his child. Maynard gave birth to their daughter, Josephine Riddick "Ricki" Hendrick, on June 29, 2005, naming the girl after her late fiancé.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	Template:Tooltip	Pts	Ref
1999	Gordon/Evernham Motorsports	24	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	TEX	NSV	BRI	TAL	CAL	NHA	RCH	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB Template:Small	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH Template:Small	DOV	CLT	CAR Template:Small	MEM Template:Small	PHO	HOM			92nd	155	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2000	JG Motorsports			DAY	CAR Template:Small	LVS	ATL	DAR Template:Small	BRI	TEX	NSV Template:Small	TAL	CAL	RCH Template:Small	NHA Template:Small	CLT	DOV	SBO Template:Small	MYB Template:Small	GLN	MLW Template:Small	NZH	PPR Template:Small	GTY Template:Small	IRP Template:Small	MCH	BRI Template:Small	DAR Template:Small	RCH	DOV	CLT Template:Small	CAR Template:Small	MEM	PHO				49th	876	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
		14																																	HOM Template:Small
2001	Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	NZH	CLT Template:Small	DOV	KEN Template:Small	MLW	GLN	CHI	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	PHO	CAR	HOM Template:Small		75th	267	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2002		5		DAY Template:Small	CAR Template:Small	LVS Template:Small	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH Template:Small	NHA Template:Small	NZH Template:Small	CLT Template:Small	DOV Template:Small	NSH Template:Small	KEN Template:Small	MLW Template:Small	DAY Template:Small	CHI Template:Small	GTY Template:Small	PPR Template:Small	IRP Template:Small	MCH Template:Small	BRI Template:Small	DAR Template:Small	RCH Template:Small	DOV Template:Small	KAN Template:Small	CLT	MEM	ATL	CAR	PHO	HOM	28th	2125	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Template:Tooltip	Pts	Ref
2000	Hendrick Motorsports	17	Chevy	DAY	HOM	PHO	MMR	MAR	PIR	GTY	MEM	PPR Template:Small	EVG	TEX	KEN	GLN	MLW	NHA Template:Small	NZH	MCH	IRP Template:Small	NSV Template:Small	CIC	RCH Template:Small	DOV Template:Small	TEX Template:Small	CAL	30th	846	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2001				DAY Template:Small	HOM Template:Small	MMR Template:Small	MAR Template:Small	GTY Template:Small	DAR Template:Small	PPR Template:Small	DOV Template:Small	TEX Template:Small	MEM Template:Small	MLW Template:Small	KAN Template:Small	KEN Template:Small	NHA Template:Small	IRP Template:Small	NSH Template:Small	CIC Template:Small	NZH Template:Small	RCH Template:Small	SBO Template:Small	TEX Template:Small	LVS Template:Small	PHO Template:Small	CAL Template:Small	6th	3412	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• Template:Racing-Reference driver
• Template:Racing-Reference owner