“I told him you made my decision for me and I left”: When Richard Childress took the bold step of leaving his job to begin his racing career

Richard Childress once sat with Kyle Petty to discuss everything about NASCAR in the Coffee With Kyle podcast on Motorsports on NBC. There, the owner of Richard Childress Racing touched upon how he had to leave his job to kick-start his racing career.

Childress is the renowned owner of one of NASCAR's elite teams, Richard Childress Racing. The team has been one of the most successful Cup Series teams in the sport and is known for its unstoppable seasons with the late Dale Earnhardt during the 1990s.

While Childress is primarily known for his ownership, the 79-year-old is also a former NASCAR driver. He competed in the Cup Series and Grand National East Series in the 1970s. However, the start of his racing career was far from smooth, as he had to part ways with his job.

Speaking about this in a podcast with Petty, Childress took a trip down memory lane in 2019. Here's what he said [3:00 onwards]:

"Back in the 60s, I worked for Douglas Battery. Never will forget when I went and asked Mr. Douglas, 'Mr. Douglas, I've got a car, i want to go race at Daytona. I need two weeks off. He said well, if you take that time off, we can't let you off work, we got too much going on."

"I said, well, I'm gonna take off, he says if you do that, you're out of work and so that started my racing career. I didn't have a job then. I told him you made my decision for me and I just left," he added.

Richard Childress took part in 285 Cup Series races in over 12 years where he racked up 76 Top 10s. In the Grand National East Series, he took part in 17 races in two years with three Top 10s.

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Richard Childress unraveled how he grew up in childhood

During the conversation in the same podcast, Richard Childress also opened up to reveal how he grew up and moved from Winston-Salem to Welcome.

NASCAR team owner Richard Childress talks with a team member of Cuo series team, Richard Childress Racing - Source: Imagn Images

Here's what he said [0:42 onwards]:

"Well, I grew up in Winston, just a kid moving around with my family. My dad died when I was like seven years old. We just kind of moved around. I lived with my grandfather, he was a preacher. I lived with him for three or four years, so my mother remarried about four years later."

Richard Reed Childress was born on September 21, 1945 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. He runs the Richard Childress Racing in Cup Series, a team that will field three cars in the 2025 Cup Series season.