Richard Childress

Childress in 2008

Born

September 21, 1945 (age 71)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.

Achievements

1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 Winston Cup Series Champion car owner
2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 Busch 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 Inductee (2017)

Monster Energy 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 Childress (born September 21, 1945) 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 replacement drivers. Childress started his first race as a replacement. 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.

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Wikipedia