Rick Hendrick made his fortune in the car business.
He owns one of the largest automotive dealer groups in
the country with 70 dealerships under the Hendrick
banner.
Born Joseph Riddick Hendrick, III in 1949 in
Warrenton, North Carolina, Hendrick grew up working on
the family’s tobacco farm just south of the Virginia
state line.
He got his start in the car business in Raleigh while
attending North Carolina State University and working as
an intern at Westinghouse Electric. In his spare time he
would buy used cars that were in need of repair, fix
them, clean them up and sell them from an old gas
station.
Hendrick later partnered with a Raleigh car dealer to
open International Sports Car Center where he soon
became general manager. His early success caught the
attention of Chevrolet executives who tapped him to take
over a struggling Chevrolet dealership in the small town
of Bennettsville, South Carolina in 1976.
The dealership was unprofitable when Hendrick sold
everything he had to buy it, but Chevrolet promised that
if he would turn it around they would help him buy more
dealerships.
With just 9 employees Hendrick took a dealership that
had been selling just 20 cars a month to one that was
selling 80 a month.
Chevrolet soon made good on their promise by
arranging for Hendrick to purchase City Chevrolet in the
busy city of Charlotte.
With the money he made in the car business Rick
Hendrick founded All Star Racing -- which would later
become Hendrick Motorsports -- in 1984.