"I remember screaming, I'm done" - Rodney Childers opens up about the darkest days before NASCAR fame

Kevin Harvick's longtime crew chief, Rodney Childers, recently opened up about his switch from being a race car driver to a crew chief. The Stewart-Haas Racing crew chief reflected on the tragic deaths in NASCAR that led him to announce his retirement as a driver.

The now 48-year-old Childers started his career in go-karts. After winning five national titles, he transitioned to Late Models and later competed in the NASCAR All-Pro Series and the Hooters Pro Cup Series between 1999 and 2002.

During this period, NASCAR was deeply affected by the deaths of several drivers, including Dale Earnhardt, Adam Petty, and Kenny Irwin Jr. Rodney Childers said that these tragic losses took a mental toll, forcing him to hang up his racing boots. Speaking to Kevin Harvick on Fox Sports, the #4 SHR crew chief said:

"Looking back on a lot of turning points was when Dale Sr. got killed, Kenny Irwin got killed, Adam Petty got killed. A lot of that stuff started stacking up on me for a while... mentally. My goal was always to be a race car driver and then these people start getting killed and I had a hard time with that. I remember screaming at home one day 'I'm done!, I'm done! I'm done!'" [from 23:10]

Childers also shed light on the mechanical issues that led to many deaths during the dark period. He said:

"It was hard for me to accept, you know how emotional I am. I raced every weekend against Adam Petty and that one probably hit me the most. During that time there was a lot of problems with carburetor linkage and then I was running the All Pro car, two different people that year their carburetor linkage got hung up and neither one of guys got to race again." he added.

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Rodney Childers reflects on financial struggles halting his racing career

Rodney Childers, who is a NASCAR Cup championship-winning crew chief, also reflected on the financial struggles that changed his career trajectory. He explained that the lack of results in the Pro series also hindered his progress to higher categories.

The 48-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina native also revealed that his parents never had to fund his career, except for his first go-kart and occasionally his racing gear. Here's what he told Kevin Harvick:

"I wasn't going anywhere. It all went so fast for a long period of time, I was winning everything that I went. And then it just kind of shut off. My whole career my parents never had to pay for anything." [from 24:16]

Rodney Childers mentioned that he started feeling guilty for asking for money from his parents during this period as he couln't repay them. He said:

"It finally got to a point that I had to ask my dad to pay for tires on a Hooters Pro Cup car. Then I would give him back any purse that we won. That killed me to ask him for that, I never really got to repay him. It just started eating me alive, honestly."

Rodney Childers retired from racing in 2003 and joined Penske-Jasper Racing as a mechanic, quickly rising to the position of car chief. He transitioned to crew chief in 2005, then moved on to Evernham Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing before joining forces with Kevin Harvick in 2014.