“She helped me get 90-day loans”: Rick Hendrick pulls back the curtain on how his mother contributed to his Billionaire status

Rick Hendrick, the owner of NASCAR's winningest organization, Hendrick Motorsports, revealed his mother Mary's contribution to his Billionaire status today. Mr. Hendrick had humble beginnings, but his life drastically changed after he moved from Raleigh to Bennettsville to up his car dealership game.

The HMS owner has had a passion for automobiles since childhood. He began working at a used car dealership where his skills in persuading customers to buy cars gave him success. Thus, he soon became the general sales manager for his boss Mike Leith.

However, the thirst to achieve bigger milestones instigated Hendrick to move to Bennettsville. After selling all his assets, the HMS boss bought a struggling Chevrolet franchise, becoming the youngest Chevy dealer in the United States. The gamble massively paid off, courtesy of Hendrick's undeniable selling skills.

It's worth mentioning that Rick Hendrick's five-point mantra -communication, recognition, celebrating improvement, people over profits, and refusing to lose -significantly contributed to his success and still does.

However, if not for his mother Mary, who worked at a local bank and helped her son acquire 90-day loans to finance automobile purchases, things might've been different concerning HMS.

Hendrick recalled when Mary helped him big-time and said (via Dirty Mo Media).

"My mom worked in a bank and she helped me get 90-day loans when I was buying cars when I was in school and selling them, pedaling them. I can't tell you how many times she did that." (50:39).

Hendrick then shed light on his father Joseph's advice which made him realize later in life that he took things for 'granted.' He explained loyalty, citing the example of a car dealership that let the Hendricks buy cars or tractors and pay at their convenience because the owner trusted the family.

The HMS owner then elaborated on another example that built his mature character at an early age.

"I remember the time they said, 'You got to take care of your neighbor and you take care of your people on the farm. People that worked on the farm, I saw them when they couldn't afford to step up and do things. I'd have to say the two of them at a very early age, because when I look back now, I remember those things that I took for granted when they were telling me," Hendrick said (51:41).

Today, Hendrick boasts a net worth of $1 billion (via Celebrity Net Worth).

How Rick Hendrick's HMS rose from almost shutting down to becoming NASCAR's winningest team

After setting up his first dealership in 1976, Rick Hendrick entered the NASCAR Winston Series in 1984 with his newly-formed team All-Star Racing. However, a couple of months into the sport the funds dried, with no sponsor willing to back the one-car team.

Hendrick was ready to shut down operations but because of crew chief Harry Hyde's suggestion, the former agreed to give one more shot. With Geoff Bodine behind the wheel of the #5 Chevy, All-Star Racing won the race and even led the penultimate 49 laps.

The victory attracted sponsors' interest and the team, rebadged to HMS in 1985, never shut down.

"That was a pivotal race. We had decided to shut the doors because we didn't have a sponsor and couldn't go any further. Harry (Hyde) said, 'Hey, Geoff (Bodine) is good at Martinsville (Speedway). Let's go to that race. We won that and got a sponsor, Northwestern Security Life and then Levi Garrett came on. It was that close to this place not being here," Rick Hendrick said via HMS official release.

Rick Hendrick's winningest NASCAR team HMS has 16 driver championships, 339 wins, and 298 poles. Jimmie Johnson has the most championships for the team at seven, while Jeff Gordon is second with four titles.