"Rick Hendrick and I made a pact" - When Richard Childress fondly looked back on his "great relationship" with HMS boss

Ahead of his Hall of Fame induction in 2017, legendary NASCAR owner Richard Childress opened up on his relationship with Rick Hendrick. The RCR boss was given the honor alongside the HMS boss that year. Both old-school owners joined the sport in the '80s.

Over the years, they established their respective organizations as two of the most legendary teams in NASCAR history. It's worth mentioning that Dale Earnhardt Sr., and Jeff Gordon, two of the greatest drivers to have ever raced in the sport, both raced for both RCR and HMS.

In 2017, the two owners were inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, before which Childress and Hendrick looked back on their friendship, rivalry, and their relationship as team owners. Childress recalled (via NBC),

"I remember Rick and I sitting in with Bill Jr. and Bodine and Earnhardt at Daytona after the melees that we had then and Rick and I made a pact. These guys are drivers. You and I are aren’t drivers. We’ll do our best to keep them straightened out. We’ve had a great relationship and still do,"

Recalling a day when their cars were torn to pieces, Rick Hendrick said he and Richard Childress were walking down the pit road, shaking their heads. He said that Childress is someone who, if treated with respect, would do likewise. Hendrick added that he and the RCR owner became friends and understood each other while maintaining a drive to beat each other as rivals.

Speaking about Richard Childress' pairing with the great Dale Earnhardt Sr., Hendrick said:

“He and Dale Earnhardt, they were the standard. When I first started, I didn’t think anybody would ever beat them. When Jeff (Gordon) came along and started running really well, he was challenging them. It kind of got to be a little bit of a deal between Jeff and Dale. It was very, very, very competitive, but Richard and I … (remained) good friends.’"

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Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress shook hands for a joint venture with Chevy in 2021

In 2021, Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress announced a new alliance with their common OEM, Chevrolet. This new alliance allowed the two legendary NASCAR organizations to work together to improve the Chevrolet engine under the hood of the racecars.

Speaking about this joint venture between HMS and RCR, the newly promoted vice president of HMS, Jeff Andrews claimed that this collaboration was on the cards for almost two years. Andrews said(via hendrickmotorsports),

"The day was going to come when we really needed to figure out how to get these two programs together. (There’s) a tremendous amount of talent and people, and a tremendous amount of equipment and resources between the two programs."

The Hendrick Motorsports executive added that the goal of the collaboration was to produce the "ultimate powertrain" for Chevrolet in NASCAR.

Having said that, it's worth mentioning that since this collaboration was announced, only one Chevy driver, Kyle Larson in 2021, has won the Cup title. Instead, it has been three Ford titles since then, Joey Logano in 2022, Ryan Blaney in 2023, and Joey Logano more recently again in 2024.