Ricky Hendrick

Ricky Hendrick
Ricky Hendrick
	Hendrick's 2002 Busch Series car
Born	Joseph Riddick Hendrick IV; April 2, 1980; Charlotte, North Carolina
Died	October 24, 2004 (aged 24); Bull Mountain (near Martinsville), Virginia, United States
Cause of death	Aircraft accident
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
	49 races run over 3 years
Best finish	29th (2002)
First race	1999 Myrtle Beach 250 (Myrtle Beach)
Last race	2002 Mr. Goodcents 300 (Kansas)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
	30 races run over 2 years
Best finish	6th (2001)
First race	2000 Grainger.com 200 (Pikes Peak)
Last race	2001 Auto Club 200 (Fontana)
First win	2001 O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 (Kansas)

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 his career in racing at the age of 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 seven 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. In 1998, he received his first win on May 23, and earned his first pole position on July 18. One year later, he entered the NASCAR Busch Series at Myrtle Beach Speedway, where he qualified fifth and finished 20th.

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 started to compete in all the Truck races. He recorded his first NASCAR career win at Kansas Speedway on July 7, becoming the youngest rookie to win a race. 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.[1]

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. He continued to be employed by Hendrick Motorsports, as the owner of two teams: Brian Vickers in the Nextel Cup Series and Kyle Busch in the Busch Series. Hendrick also founded a motorcycle dealership in Pineville, North Carolina, named Ricky Hendrick's Performance Honda.[1]

Death

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.[2]

After Hendrick died, his fiancée Emily Maynard learned that she was pregnant. Maynard gave birth to their daughter, Josephine Riddick "Ricki" Hendrick, on June 29, 2005, naming the girl after her late fiancé.[3][4]

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	NBSC	Pts
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 20	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH DNQ	DOV	CLT	CAR 37	MEM DNQ	PHO	HOM			92nd	155
2000	JG Motorsports	24		DAY	CAR DNQ	LVS	ATL	DAR DNQ	BRI	TEX	NSV 5	TAL	CAL	RCH 28	NHA DNQ	CLT	DOV	SBO 42	MYB 13	GLN	MLW DNQ	NZH	PPR 26	GTY 38	IRP 36	MCH	BRI DNQ	DAR 29	RCH	DOV	CLT 13	CAR 39	MEM	PHO				49th	876
2000	JG Motorsports	14																																	HOM 39			49th	876
2001	Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	NZH	CLT 18	DOV	KEN 15	MLW	GLN	CHI	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	PHO	CAR	HOM 41		75th	267
2002	Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevy	DAY 27	CAR 21	LVS 37	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH 15	NHA 15	NZH 30	CLT 22	DOV 25	NSH 15	KEN 8	MLW 15	DAY 20	CHI 21	GTY 24	PPR 22	IRP 7	MCH 23	BRI 29	DAR 33	RCH 17	DOV 27	KAN 38	CLT	MEM	ATL	CAR	PHO	HOM	28th	2125

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	NCTC	Pts
2000	Hendrick Motorsports	17	Chevy	DAY	HOM	PHO	MMR	MAR	PIR	GTY	MEM	PPR 6	EVG	TEX	KEN	GLN	MLW	NHA 7	NZH	MCH	IRP 12	NSV 9	CIC	RCH DNQ	DOV 25	TEX 8	CAL	30th	846
2001	Hendrick Motorsports	17	Chevy	DAY 2	HOM 5	MMR 8	MAR 9	GTY 6	DAR 34	PPR 5	DOV 3	TEX 5	MEM 7	MLW 10	KAN 1	KEN 6	NHA 4	IRP 18	NSH 11	CIC 11	NZH 5	RCH 8	SBO 6	TEX 8	LVS 6	PHO 28	CAL 10	6th	3412

References

"Ricky Hendrick". www.rickyhendrick.net. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
"Ten die in crash of Hendrick plane". Usatoday.Com. October 26, 2004. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
Tyler, Marty (2004-10-26). "A True Hero: Ricky Hendrick". CatchFence.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
Hembree, Mike (2005-07-11). "Special delivery for Hendrick family". SceneDaily.com (Street & Smith's Sports Group, Inc.). Archived from the original on January 7, 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-02.

External links

Ricky Hendrick driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Ricky Hendrick owner statistics at Racing-Reference

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[biographyrick.net-1] "Ricky Hendrick". www.rickyhendrick.net. Retrieved 2010-12-13.

[2] "Ten die in crash of Hendrick plane". Usatoday.Com. October 26, 2004. Retrieved August 9, 2012.

[3] Tyler, Marty (2004-10-26). "A True Hero: Ricky Hendrick". CatchFence.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-13.

[4] Hembree, Mike (2005-07-11). "Special delivery for Hendrick family". SceneDaily.com (Street & Smith's Sports Group, Inc.). Archived from the original on January 7, 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-02.