Richard Childress

Richard Childress
Childress in 2010
Born	Richard Reed Childress (1945-09-21) September 21, 1945 Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.
Achievements	1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 Winston Cup Series Champion car owner 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2013 Busch Series, 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion car owner 1995, 2011 Camping World Truck Series Champion truck owner 2011 ARCA Racing Series Champion car owner
Awards	NASCAR Hall of Fame (2017)
NASCAR Cup Series career
285 races run over 12 years
Best finish	5th (1975)
First race	1969 Talladega 500 (Talladega)
Last race	1981 Winston Western 500 (Riverside)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 76 0
NASCAR Grand National East Series career
17 races run over 2 years
Best finish	9th (1972)
First race	1972 Hickory 276 (Hickory)
Last race	1973 Buddy Shuman 100 (Hickory)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0
Statistics current as of October 30, 2013.

Richard Reed Childress (born September 21, 1945) is an American former race car driver in NASCAR. As the owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), he became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina. In 2004, he opened a vineyard in the Yadkin Valley AVA near Lexington. Childress sat on the board of directors at the National Rifle Association of America until 2019.

Driving career

Childress's 1976 No. 3 Kansas Jack Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna

Childress's career in NASCAR started in 1969 when a drivers' strike at Talladega Superspeedway left NASCAR president William France Sr. looking for replacement drivers. By 1971, Childress was racing as an independent driver, using the number 96. He changed to number 3 in 1976 as a tribute to Junior Johnson. Although he never won as a driver, he nonetheless proved to be capable and consistent behind the wheel, registering six top-5 finishes, seventy-six top-10 finishes, and five Top 10 point finishes, with a career-best ranking of fifth in 1975. He did, however, win the unofficial invitational Metrolina 200 in 1974.

Ownership of Richard Childress Racing

Main article: Richard Childress Racing

Childress working the pits in 1986

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 Company, chose to retire and put Earnhardt behind the wheel of his No. 3 car, complete with Wrangler Jeans sponsorship. That first alliance with Earnhardt lasted for a single season. Ricky Rudd was hired in 1982 and drove for two years, giving the Childress team its 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. Earnhardt won championships in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994. In the mid-1990s, Childress began expanding his racing team, fielding entries in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series. They won the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series championship with driver Mike Skinner in the series's first season. Childress expanded to a two-car operation in the NASCAR Cup Series, with Skinner driving the No. 31. In the early 2000s he added a third car, No. 30, 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 Grand National Series Owner's 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's grandson Austin Dillon driving the No. 3.

Childress's current full-time drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series are:

• Austin Dillon No. 3
• Kyle Busch No. 8

His drivers in the Xfinity Series are:

• Jesse Love No. 2
• Austin Hill No. 21

Personal life

A section of Interstate 85 between exit 96 and exit 102 has been declared the Richard Childress Freeway.

In 2008, Richard and his wife Judy established The Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma with the mission to lead national efforts to reduce death and disability following injury to children less than 18 years old. The Childress Institute is focused on funding research and medical education throughout the U.S. to improve treatment, as well as raising public awareness.

Childress has a number of racers in his family. His son-in-law is RCR general manager Mike Dillon, long-time Nationwide Series driver who made one Sprint Cup start (1998 California 500) in an RCR car. Austin and Ty Dillon (sons of Mike, grandchildren of Richard) are NASCAR drivers.

In 2017 he was elevated from Second Vice President to First Vice President of the National Rifle Association, which in accordance with NRA tradition would mean he could have expected to serve as the organization's president from 2019 to 2021. However, in 2018 Oliver North was designated to take over as president. In August 2019, amidst controversy surrounding payments being made by the NRA to a law firm, Childress stepped down from the board.

Childress is also a member of the board of directors for Ammo Inc., which contributed 1 million rounds of ammunition to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Controversies

Alleged favoritism towards Earnhardt and Harvick

In the 1980s, RCR fielded only one car - the #3 of Dale Earnhardt, who won 6 of his 7 championships with the team. During the late 1980s and mid 1990s, RCR fielded a part-time #31 for research-and-development purposes. By the mid-1990s, the #31 became a full-time car with Mike Skinner driving. Although the team was fully sponsored by Lowe's, there were claims that RCR weren't putting as many resources into the #31 as they were into the #3, giving Earnhardt an insurmountable competition advantage over his teammate. On a number of occasions, Skinner came close to winning races in the Cup Series in the #31, but lost each time - a couple of times to his teammate. Skinner ultimately never won a Cup race.

During the 2003 Pontiac Excitement 400, there was a feud between RCR drivers Kevin Harvick and Jeff Green. In 2001, Green helped RCR start what eventually became the No. 27 Chevrolet team in the Cup series. Back then, the No. 27 was No. 30 and it was sponsored by AOL, with Green as the driver. Harvick and Green had a Busch Series rivalry, but rejected notions that they couldn't get along. During the race, Harvick wrecked Green with 128 laps to go, taking Green out of the race. An upset Green replied by confronting Harvick's crew chief Todd Berrier in the No. 29 pit stall, leading Richard Childress to restrain him. Green later said to the media, "It's tough to be teammates when it seems like there is only one car at RCR." Green was fired the next day by Childress, who said that change was needed after the relationship had gone awry.

Kyle Busch

Childress was involved in a physical altercation with fellow Camping World Truck Series owner and current driver Kyle Busch following the Truck race on June 4, 2011. Joey Coulter, driver of Childress's No. 22 Chevrolet Silverado, battled tightly for position with the No. 18 Toyota Tundra of Busch. Coulter would eventually hold off Busch, taking fifth place in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250. Once the race had concluded, Busch purposely bumped into Coulter's truck on the cool-down lap. Childress reportedly approached Busch in the garage area, took off his jewelry and proceeded to punch Busch in the face. The fight was broken up and insults were exchanged before Childress put Busch in a headlock and hit him again.

Two days later, NASCAR fined Childress $150,000 and placed him on probation through the end of the year. Busch was not fined or disciplined. NASCAR President Mike Helton stated that..."[Busch] did nothing that would have warranted the actions of Richard Childress."

On September 13, 2022, a press conference was held to announce that Kyle Busch had entered into an agreement with Richard Childress Racing to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the 2023 season. In reference to the infamous confrontation, Childress presented Busch with a Rolex watch as a signing bonus, telling him "hold my watch" in reference to the words he told his grandson Austin Dillon before the incident.

2010 New Hampshire controversy

In 2010 at the Sylvania 300, Clint Bowyer won the race in Childress's No. 33 Cheerios car. However, his car failed inspection twice for not meeting specifications. Two days later, NASCAR penalized Bowyer's team with a 6-week crew chief suspension, a 150-point deduction and a $150,000 fine for crew chief Shane Wilson. NASCAR executive Robin Pemberton said the only reason the win wasn't also taken away from Childress's team was that Mike Helton considered the team punished enough.

The penalty dropped Bowyer back to 12th in points, 185 points behind then championship leader Denny Hamlin. Childress appealed the decision, which reduced the suspension to four races and $100,000, but the 150-point deduction was upheld. The penalty eliminated any shot Bowyer had at the Cup series championship that year. Childress was pleased that the penalties had been reduced, claiming that chief appellate officer John Middlebrook was fair in the appeal.

Childress maintains that the car failed inspection because it had been damaged by a pushing truck that pushed the car into victory lane when it ran out of gas.

Tire deflations

Following the 2015 Auto Club 400, NASCAR officials received rumors that teams were purposely deflating their tires. Deflation of the tires provides more control and grip on the track. Officials confiscated the tires of several teams including the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing car driven by Ryan Newman. Two weeks later, NASCAR penalized Childress's team with a $125,000 fine and a six-race suspension for No. 31 crew chief Luke Lambert, and other key players. Newman was also stripped of 75 driver and owner points, which would have dropped him from eighth in the standings to 26th.

Childress and Newman appealed to the National Motorsports Appeal Panel, with their hearing scheduled for April 16. The panel slightly reduced the penalties: the $125,000 fine for Lambert was reduced to $75,000, and the point deduction was reduced to 50, but the suspensions were upheld. Childress then went to the Final Appeals Board, which upheld the revised penalties, leaving Lambert and key players suspended. Newman dropped from eighth to 18th in the standings as a result.

Awards

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2016.

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.)

Grand National Series

NASCAR Grand National 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	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	NGNC	Pts	Ref
1969	Richard Childress Racing	13	Chevy	MGR	MGY	RSD	DAY	DAY	DAY	CAR	AUG	BRI	ATL	CLB	HCY	GPS	RCH	NWS	MAR	AWS	DAR	BLV	LGY	CLT	MGR	SMR	MCH	KPT	GPS	NCF	DAY	DOV	TPN	TRN	BLV	BRI	NSV	SMR	ATL	MCH	SBO	BGS	AWS	DAR	HCY	RCH	TAL 23	CLB	MAR	NWS	CLT	SVH	AUG	CAR	JFC	MGR	TWS	NA	0
1971	Garn Racing	96	Chevy	RSD	DAY	DAY	DAY	ONT	RCH	CAR	HCY	BRI	ATL	CLB	GPS	SMR	NWS	MAR	DAR	SBO 21	TAL	ASH	KPT 22	CLT	DOV 18	MCH	RSD	HOU	GPS 23	DAY	BRI DNQ	AST 28	ISP 31	TRN 36	NSV 21	ATL	BGS 21	ONA	MCH	TAL	CLB 27	HCY	DAR	MAR DNQ	CLT				RCH 20	NWS	TWS							46th	601
	Faustina Racing	5	Plymouth																																											DOV 30	CAR	MGR

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup 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	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1972	Richard Childress Racing	96	Chevy	RSD	DAY	RCH 29	ONT DNQ	CAR 37	ATL	BRI 18	DAR	NWS 27	MAR 29	TAL DNQ	CLT	DOV 37			TWS 31	DAY	BRI 26	TRN 18	ATL	TAL	MCH	NSV 16	DAR	RCH 25	DOV 33	MAR 33	NWS 25	CLT	CAR	TWS	37th	1521.25
	Warren Racing		Plymouth														MCH 19	RSD
1973	Garn Racing		Chevy	RSD	DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR 9	BRI 20	ATL 13	NWS 16	DAR 4	MAR 24	TAL 22	NSV 23	CLT 11	DOV 18	TWS 35		MCH 14	DAY 27	BRI 25	ATL 23	TAL 31	NSV 20	DAR 40	RCH 12	DOV 16	NWS 17	MAR 25	CLT 18	CAR 14				15th	5169.5
		98																RSD 17
1974		96		RSD	DAY 40	RCH 16	CAR 36	BRI 20	ATL 27	DAR 39	NWS 22	MAR 10	TAL 11	NSV 26	DOV 21	CLT 34	RSD 15	MCH 6	DAY 23	BRI 24	NSV 23	ATL 11	POC 12	TAL 13	MCH 27	DAR 18	RCH 24	DOV 18	NWS 7	MAR 24	CLT 41	CAR 24	ONT 12		16th	735.44
1975		88		RSD 11																															5th	3818
		96			DAY 18	RCH 9	CAR 6	BRI 9	ATL 15	NWS 17	DAR 22	MAR 9	TAL 10	NSV 16	DOV 16	CLT 23	RSD 9	MCH 10	DAY 13	NSV 6	POC 5	TAL 13	MCH 31	DAR 7	DOV 6	NWS 8	MAR 4	CLT 8	RCH 21	CAR 21	BRI 13	ATL 12	ONT 10
1976	Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevy	RSD 7	DAY 9	CAR 23	RCH 6	BRI 20	ATL 11	NWS 9	DAR 9	MAR 8	TAL 24	NSV 17	DOV 10	CLT 17	RSD 11	MCH 18	DAY 12	NSV 28	POC 9	TAL 8	MCH 13	BRI 10	DAR 36	RCH 25	DOV 20	MAR 10	NWS 23	CLT 15	CAR 27	ATL 25	ONT 36		11th	3428
1977				RSD 6	DAY 23	RCH 10	CAR 17	ATL 19	NWS 8	DAR 17	BRI 8	MAR 10	TAL 21	NSV 26	DOV 21	CLT 14	RSD 8	MCH 34	DAY 19	NSV 27	POC 17	TAL 20	MCH 33	BRI 8	DAR 8	RCH 26	DOV 7	MAR 15	NWS 6	CLT 16	CAR 18	ATL 21	ONT 10		9th	3463
1978				RSD 20		RCH 8	CAR 8																		DAR 27										10th	3566
			Olds		DAY 13			ATL 15	BRI 6	DAR 28	NWS 10	MAR 8	TAL 9	DOV 33	CLT 20	NSV 8	RSD 15	MCH 10	DAY 24	NSV 3	POC 24	TAL 25	MCH 31	BRI 7		RCH 11	DOV 12	MAR 12	NWS 14	CLT 9	CAR 10	ATL 30	ONT 11
1979				RSD 15	DAY 17			ATL 20					TAL 24			CLT 10	TWS 7	RSD 6	MCH 23	DAY 37			TAL 10	MCH 10											8th	3735
			Chevy			CAR 5	RCH 26		NWS 7	BRI 11	DAR 16	MAR 14		NSV 6	DOV 29						NSV 7	POC 12			BRI 11	DAR 29	RCH 15	DOV 13	MAR 13	CLT 14	NWS 10	CAR 7	ATL 15	ONT 16
1980				RSD 6			CAR 14				NWS 11	MAR 11		NSV 29	DOV 8		TWS 6	RSD 18	MCH 14		NSV 9	POC 9		MCH 27	BRI 9	DAR 12	RCH 11	DOV 37	NWS 19	MAR 25	CLT 11	CAR 7	ATL 9	ONT 21	10th	3742
			Olds		DAY 13	RCH 22		ATL 13	BRI 29	DAR 21			TAL 12			CLT 11				DAY 8			TAL 6
1981			Chevy	RSD 4																															25th	2144
			Pontiac		DAY 38	RCH 13	CAR 22	ATL 17	BRI 16	NWS 17	DAR 31	MAR 22	TAL 13	NSV 13	DOV 17	CLT 19	TWS 14	RSD 18	MCH 19	DAY 21	NSV 17	POC 23	TAL 26	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL
	Junior Johnson & Associates	41	Buick																															RSD 39

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1973	Garn Racing	Chevy	DNQ
1974			36	40
1975			36	18
1976	Richard Childress Racing	Chevy	36	9
1977			32	23
1978		Olds	19	13
1979			31	17
1980			22	13
1981		Pontiac	18	38

See also

• Childress Vineyards
• List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

References

Further reading

• "No. 3 to return full time to Nationwide". ESPN. Associated Press. November 4, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2013.

External links

• Official website
• Richard Childress owner statistics at Racing-Reference
• Richard Childress driver statistics at Racing-Reference