"I lost my son and my brother": Rick Hendrick opens up on overcoming the biggest setback of his life

Rick Hendrick recently opened up on overcoming challenges in his life. During a recent appearance on the Dirty Mo Media podcast, NASCAR's most successful team owner was asked about the challenges he faced and how he dealt with them.

It's worth mentioning that Hendrick has faced a few major setbacks. For instance, his team, Hendrick Motorsports, came days away from being closed down in the 1980s. In the late 1990s, he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. But the biggest challenge he faced, in his own words, came in 2004.

"I think probably the toughest one was when we had the plane crash and I lost my son and my brother and his kids and Randy Dorton and all the people. It was a tough deal for us. I didn't know what way we'll come back but we came back and came through that and plowed on. And we've had years where we were faced with no sponsors or sponsors pulling out and then you're left with a big hole. But it somehow works out, somehow through all the years, just keeping the faith and digging in, it's worked out," Rick Hendrick said. [34:00]

He deemed it as the reason why he has been in business for four decades. Hendrick also remarked that everyone in NASCAR is always coming in or going out because of the economy, which increased the dependence on sponsorships.

Hendrick said that was one of the biggest hurdles that he and everybody in the sport has to deal with. Because of this, he expressed his gratitude for the B2B relationships he's had over the years.

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Rick Hendrick believes the work environment in his team is unique

During his conversation with Kelley Earnhardt on the Dirty Mo Media podcast, Rick Hendrick claimed that in his opinion, HMS is a unique workplace compared to the rest. Hendrick said that after talking to people who left his team or those who came back, he's come to learn that HMS is 'different.'

"We do look after our people. Again, it's insurance, it's taking care of their kids with going to college with some deals there. I think that we are a big family. We talk about it and we do celebrate those in motorsports, we do every 20 years and we'll have 8-10-12 people and when I hear them tell their stories and we video it and present their watches in front of everybody and that to me means a lot," Hendrick mentioned. [32:30]

He claimed that in terms of employees coming or leaving, they don't have a lot of turnover. Hendrick added that he treats the people who work with him 'like family', one which celebrates milestones together, the most recent of which was their 40th-anniversary celebration.

The HMS boss said it was 'a big blow out' and that in his team, they try to get the work done while having fun and 'a winning culture.'