J.R. Hendrick, III

Born in 1949 in Warrenton, North Carolina, Joseph Riddick "Rick" Hendrick was raised on his family's farm near the small Virginia community of Palmer Springs. His father was a tobacco farmer who built the family home using wood he cut from their property. The farm included livestock, a meat house, and a large garden that provided much of the food for the families who lived there.

As soon as Hendrick and his younger brother were able, they helped their father on the farm. Each had a quarter-acre of tobacco to tend. At year's end, they got to keep the proceeds from the sale of their tobacco. When he was older, Hendrick worked on the interstate construction project as a mechanic's assistant during the summers. He used part of his pay from that job to hire someone else to work his place in the tobacco fields.

The rural community that surrounded Hendrick in his youth gave him a sense of belonging and security. His family regularly attended a 25-member church, where Hendrick's mother taught Sunday school and his father served as the Sunday school superintendent. "When someone in our community hurt, we all hurt," he says. "If there was a fire, we all went over to help that neighbor rebuild. And when you needed help, you gratefully accepted it. That's given me a great foundation for how I live my life and treat the people with whom I work with today."

On weekends, Hendrick's father enjoyed racing cars. From the time he was a toddler, Hendrick loved cars and often worked on engines as a teenager. In school, Hendrick's passion for cars greatly overshadowed his interest in academics. Hendrick took several automotive mechanics classes in addition to playing football, basketball, and baseball. His talent in baseball snagged him an offer to play in the minor leagues, but he opted instead to enroll in a five-year work-study program at Westinghouse Electric Company in Raleigh, North Carolina. While in the Westinghouse program, he worked at a service station fixing up old cars and selling them in his spare time.

Some local car dealers soon recognized his talent for selecting good used cars in need of repair, combined with his mechanical ability to overhaul them and his ability to resell them. He began working at the International Sports Car Center and, at the age of 23, was named general sales manager of the entire new car import operation.

In 1973, Hendrick bought a struggling Chevrolet dealership in rural Bennettsville, South Carolina. Its previous owner had never made a profit and didn't even have a showroom. "I knew I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, but it wasn't without risk," says Hendrick. "I was married with a new baby girl, and Linda and I had a comfortable, secure life in Raleigh." To raise the capital needed for the dealership, Hendrick sold everything he owned, his house, his furniture, and his cars.

At the import operation in Raleigh, Hendrick had 30 salespeople and 100 employees. His small dealership in Bennettsville had only nine employees and was located in a poor rural area. Through hard work and dedication, Hendrick's dealership increased annual sales from 250 vehicles to nearly 1,000. The franchise soon became the most profitable in the area. His success in Bennettsville, combined with success in his next dealership, City Chevrolet in Charlotte, was a precursor to the Hendrick Automotive Group, which was founded in 1976.

As his automotive business prospered, Hendrick enjoyed an equal amount of success in the realm of car racing. In 1984, he founded All-Star Racing and entered the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Later called Hendrick Motorsports, the organization supports five full-time teams in NASCAR's top two divisions: the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series. Highly successful in this arena, Hendrick Motorsports has garnered nine NASCAR championships. Hendrick leads all other team owners in modern-era victories and is second on NASCAR's all-time cup win list behind Petty Enterprises.

Considering his dual careers, Hendrick says, "I started with nothing but a dream, but I was able to take the two things I had loved all my life and roll them into nice businesses. It's been very rewarding." But for all his success, Hendrick has had to face formidable challenges. In 1996, he contracted leukemia and was given a 50 percent chance of living the next three years. At times, Hendrick's treatments rendered him unable to work. In those days, his brother, John, with whom he always had a very close relationship, filled in for him as CEO of Hendrick Motorsports. Fortunately, Hendrick recovered and has been in remission since 1998.

In 2004, a plane owned by Hendrick Motorsports crashed into mountainous terrain en route to a race in Virginia, killing all 10 passengers on board, including Hendrick's friends and colleagues as well as his son, Ricky; his brother, John; and John's twin daughters, Kimberly and Jennifer. "If you had told me I'd have to go through such heartbreak, I would have told you I couldn't live through it," he says of the tragedy. "But you do what you have to do to get through each day. For me, it is like losing a leg and having to learn to walk again with a wooden leg. You do it, but you never walk the same way again. The day after my son's funeral, we learned that his fiancé was expecting. I now have a granddaughter, so part of my son lives on in her. That has been a real miracle for us."