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Richard Childress


Stock Car Racing

Richard Childress
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Wikipedia: Richard Childress

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Born: September 21, 1945
Hometown: Welcome & Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

Former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and six-time Winston Cup Champion as owner of Richard Childress Racing. Grandfather of NASCAR drivers Austin Dillon & Ty Dillon.

Biography

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Richard Childress page on 14 August 2018, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Richard Childress is a former NASCAR driver and the current team owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR). As a business entrepreneur, Childress became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina. A 2003/2004 business venture was the opening of a vineyard in the Yadkin Valley AVA, an American Viticultural Area located in North Carolina. Childress was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is on the Board of Directors to the National Rifle Association. His grandsons Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon are NASCAR competitors.

Childress' career in NASCAR's top levels started auspiciously when a drivers' strike at Talladega Superspeedway left NASCAR President William France Sr. looking for scab drivers. Childress started his first race as a scab. By 1971, Childress began racing on the top level as an independent driver, using the number 96. He changed to number 3 in 1976 as a tribute to Junior Johnson's past as a driver. Although he never won as a driver, he proved to be average behind the wheel registering six top-5, seventy-six top-10 finishes, with a career-best of third in 1978.

He retired from driving in 1981 after Rod Osterlund sold his NASCAR team to J.D. Stacy, and Osterlund's driver, Dale Earnhardt, did not want to drive for Stacy. Childress, with recommendations from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, chose to retire and put Earnhardt behind the wheel of his No. 3 car, complete with Wrangler Jeans sponsorship. That first alliance lasted for the season. Ricky Rudd was hired in 1982 and drove for two years, giving Childress his first career victory in June 1983 at Riverside. Earnhardt returned for the 1984 season, and together with Childress formed one of the most potent combinations in NASCAR history. They won championships in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994. In the mid-1990s, Childress began expanding his racing empire, fielding entries in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series. The team won the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series championship with driver Mike Skinner in the series' first season. He expanded to a two-car operation in what is now known as the Sprint Cup, with driver Skinner driving the No. 31. In the first part of the 2000s, he expanded to three cars, with the No. 30 car driven by Jeff Green.

Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Childress promoted Busch driver Kevin Harvick to drive the renumbered No. 29. Harvick would win in only his third start, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. With Harvick having won the Busch Series championship in 2001 and 2006, RCR became the first team in NASCAR history to win all three of NASCAR's national championship series. RCR also won the Busch Series owners championships in 2003 with Kevin Harvick and Johnny Sauter and in 2007 with Scott Wimmer and Jeff Burton. RCR won the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship, both with Childress' grandson Austin Dillon driving the No. 3.


Article Index

DateArticleAuthor/Source
3 August 2003NASCAR Winston Cup Series: Brickyard 400Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
11 May 2004NASCAR Media Conference: Most Memorable MomentsRichard Childress
Rick Crawford
Jonathan Gibson
Jeff Hammond
Larry McReynolds
Rusty Wallace
Humpy Wheeler
Robert Yates
17 February 2007NASCAR Busch Series: Orbitz 300Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
18 February 2007NASCAR Nextel Cup Series: Daytona 500Todd Berrier
Jeff Burton
Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Mark Martin
David Ragan
17 November 2007NASCAR Busch Series: Ford 300Jeff Burton
Richard Childress
Pat Smith
Scott Wimmer
16 March 2008NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Food City 500Jeff Burton
Richard Childress
Scott Miller
3 May 2008NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowry 400Clint Bowyer
Richard Childress
Gil Martin
11 October 2008NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Bank of America 500Jeff Burton
Richard Childress
Scott Miller
15 November 2008NASCAR Nationwide Series: Ford 300Clint Bowyer
Richard Childress
Dan Deeringhoff
7 February 2009NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Budweiser ShootoutTodd Berrier
Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
6 February 2010NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Budweiser ShootoutRichard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
25 April 2010NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Aaron's 499Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
23 May 2010NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: Dale Earnhardt (Part 6/6)Richard Childress
Kelley Earnhardt
Kerry Earnhardt
Taylor Earnhardt
Teresa Earnhardt
Mike Helton
23 May 2010NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction CeremonyRichard Childress
Rick Hendrick
Darrell Waltrip
15 August 2010NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Carfax 400Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
17 August 2010NASCAR Media ConferenceRichard Childress
Kevin Harvick
19 September 2010NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Sylvania 300Clint Bowyer
Richard Childress
Shane Wilson
31 October 2010NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: AMP Energy Juice 500Clint Bowyer
Richard Childress
Scott Miller
17 November 2010NASCAR Media ConferenceRichard Childress
Joe Gibbs
Rick Hendrick
17 February 2011NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Gatorade Duel 2Todd Berrier
Jeff Burton
Richard Childress
27 March 2011NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Auto Club 400Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
3 April 2011NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Goody's Fast Relief 500Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
29 May 2011NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Coca-Cola 600Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
31 July 2011NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Brickyard 400 presented by BigMachineRecords.comRichard Childress
Slugger Labbe
John Menard
Paul Menard
10 September 2011NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Wonderful Pistachios 400Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
23 October 2011NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Good Sam Club 500Clint Bowyer
Richard Childress
Shane Wilson
18 November 2011NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Ford 200Richard Childress
Austin Dillon
Danny Stockman
11 November 2012NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Advocare 500Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
16 February 2013NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: The Sprint UnlimitedRichard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
27 April 2013NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Toyota Owners 400Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
26 May 2013NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Coca-Cola 600Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
22 July 2013NASCAR Media ConferenceRichard Childress
6 October 2013NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Hollywood Casino 400Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
10 November 2013NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: AdvoCare 500Richard Childress
Kevin Harvick
Gil Martin
15 November 2013NASCAR Media ConferenceRichard Childress
Joe Gibbs
Rick Hendrick
16 November 2013NASCAR Nationwide Series: Ford EcoBoost 300Richard Childress
Austin Dillon
Danny Stockman
15 June 2016In Honor of 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Richard ChildressCongressional Record: Rep. Richard Hudson


Merchandise

Type & Item #NameDetails
Collector Card - 1992 Maxx 102Richard Childress#3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet





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