"I sold everything I could sell": When Richard Childress shared how he risked everything to put Dale Earnhardt in his car

In 2016, Richard Childress opened up about his toughest days when he had to sell everything off to sustain Richard Childress Racing and run Dale Earnhardt in the NASCAR Cup Series. Childress, who was retired by then, brought Earnhardt in to put him in RCR's #3 entry for the 1981 season.

Childress founded RCR in 1969 when he was a driver. However, things changed for him drastically in 1981 when he decided to retire and gave away his ride to Earnhardt. The reason? That year, Rod Osterlund sold his NASCAR team to JD Stacey, and in Osterlund's team, Earnhardt was a driver.

However, Earnhardt, who was the defending champion that year, did not want to drive for Stacy. Childress saw this as an opportunity and brought Earnhardt to RCR. He then put him in the #3 car with the help of Wrangler Jeans' sponsorship and wanted to run him for 11 races that season. However, the financial condition of Childress was far from worse, as he was broke, and had $75,000 in debt.

“I was maxed out," Childress told Fox Sports. "I did everything I could do on my home, I sold everything I thought I had that I could sell, just to run Dale those (11) races,” Childress said. “I had borrowed some money from folks and everything just to run those (11) races. And when it was over, Ed Bowman (president of primary sponsor Wrangler jeans) called me and said, ‘Come on over and have lunch.’"

"I told him exactly where we were. I was somewhere around $75,000 in debt. I was really in the hole. So about a week later, he called me and said, ‘I want you to come over again. I want to talk to you.’ I came over (to Wrangler headquarters in Greensboro) and he handed me a check for $50,000. So that really helped me going into the following year," Richard Childress added.

Richard Childress was able to run Dale Earnhardt for the 11 races that year, where the latter claimed two Top 5s, sand ix Top 10s, and finished the season in seventh place. Dale Earnhardt moved to Bud Moore Engineering in 1982 and raced there until 1983.

Earnhardt returned to Richard Childress Racing in 1984 and raced for the outfit until his untimely death in 2001. The seven-time Cup Series champion suffered a fatal crash during the 2001 Daytona 500 and breathed his last.

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Dale Earnhardt's legacy with Richard Childress Racing

NASCAR Cup Series car owner Richard Childress drives the car of his late driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. - Source: Imagn

Dale Earnhardt's return to RCR marked a significant milestone in both Richard Childress and NASCAR's history. Regarded as one of the most successful driver and team combinations, Childress and Earnhardt wreaked havoc with their partnership in the 1980s and 1990s.

Earnhardt marked his return to the Welcome-based outfit with two victories, and there was no looking back. Except for 1997, the NASCAR champion won at least one race every year till the time he completed his career with RCR.

Dale Earnhardt claimed his first championship with RCR and his second in his career in 1986, followed by another one in 1987. He repeated the feat in 1990 and repeated it in 1991. With five championships under his belt, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Childress Racing became a synonym for success.

Earnhardt claimed his sixth Cup Series title in 1993, followed by the seventh and final title in 1994. Besides these, he finished runners-up in 1989, 1995 and 2000. His seven Cup Series championships put him at the very top of NASCAR alongside Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson.