"Loyalty to me means more than anything" - Rick Hendrick discusses the foundation of his business values, inspired by his father

Rick Hendrick shared a lesson he learned from his father growing up. The automotive tycoon said his old man's loyalty to his people inspired him to do the same for his businesses, including a NASCAR race team.

Hendrick is an American businessman who owns Hendrick Motorsports. The race team won 14 NASCAR Cup Series championships with iconic drivers such as Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

Speaking with Kelley Earnhardt-Miller, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s sister, on the Business of Motorsports podcast, Hendrick was asked who gave him advice and what it was. The 75-year-old then told the story of how his father, Joseph Hendrick Jr., taught him about loyalty.

"When I was about 15 years old, I wanted a Chevelle and I saw it at a dealership in Raleigh, I asked him [Joseph Hendrick, Jr.] to help me buy it," Hendrick shared. [50:55]

However, his father didn't want to buy the car from Raleigh, North Carolina. Instead, he wanted to stay loyal to a local dealership in South Hill, Virginia.

"He said, 'Well, let me tell you something, I'm not going to buy the car there. Mr. Watkins, the dealership here in South Hill, we've been on the farmer plan all of my life, and I buy a truck, I buy a car, and that end of the year, if I can't make the payment, he'll roll it over to the next year.'"

Hendrick added:

"He said, 'I'm not going to do business with anybody else but him.' So loyalty to me means more than anything."

Today, apart from a NASCAR race team, Rick Hendrick owns the Hendrick Automotive Group, a US-based automotive retail organization. He has an estimated net worth of around $1 billion, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

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Rick Hendrick shares how his wife persuaded him to sell 'brand new' house to start over

On the same podcast episode, Rick Hendrick told host Kelley Earnhardt-Miller how he started his business in the automotive industry. He said his wife Linda persuaded him to sell their brand-new Virginia house and cars to start over in Bennettsville.

Hendrick shared:

"Linda said, 'Hey, if you don't do it, you'll regret it, and if it doesn't work, we'll start over.' So [we] sold the house, sold the cars, all we had when we moved to Bennettsville was a bean bag and we bought a $28,000 house in Bennettsville, and back against the wall, and it was nowhere to go but up." [3:05]

The businessman used the money to purchase a Chevrolet dealership in Bennettsville. General Motors, Chevrolet's parent company, expected him to sell 200 cars annually but he sold a thousand units in the first year.

"If I had taken a mediocre deal, it wouldn't have looked so good than taking something totally broken and fixing it," he added. [5:08]

Rick Hendrick and his wife Linda (Source: Imagn)

After moving from Bennettsville to Charlotte, Robert Gee, Dale Jr.'s grandfather, called Rick Hendrick to put his name on the renowned car builder's dirt car. Hendrick later returned the favor when he asked Gee to build a NASCAR race team with him.

The partnership marked the beginning of the Hendrick and Earnhardt relationship, with Dale Jr. previously driving for Hendrick Motorsports.