For Rick Hendrick, October 24 will always be a painful reminder of the tragedy that took away his son, Ricky Hendrick. 20 years ago while driving home from a visit to his mother, he received a call from HMS Vice President Ken Howes, who told him that a plane carrying his son, brother, nieces, and friends had gone missing. In the afternoon, the Hendrick household was tense and worried when NASCAR president Mike Helton called to deliver the fateful news, that they’d found the wreck and there were no survivors.

Ricky was on his way to the Martinsville Speedway for the Subway 500 when the plane crashed into the side of Bull Mountain due to fog, resulting in the death of 10 people on board, including Mr. H’s son. Two decades later as the Hendrick Motorsports team united in honor of those who perished, Rick Hendrick remembered his late son and how he recovered from the tragedy to rebuild HMS.

A tragedy that shook Hendrick Motorsports to its core

On a beautiful fall afternoon, family, friends, and Hendrick Motorsports employees gathered together at the memorial fountain on the team’s campus to remember those they lost in the plane crash 20 years ago. One by one, the names of all the victims were called, including Rick’s brother, John Hendrick, and his twin daughters Jennifer and Kimberly, general manager Jeff Turner, chief engine builder Randy Dorton, Tony Stewart’s helicopter pilot Scott Lathram, DuPoint executive Joe Jackson and the team owner’s son Ricky Hendrick.

Bouquets were placed, words were shared and Rick’s wife, Linda Hendrick addressed the crowd gathered at the team’s campus. “Looking back 20 years I remember how much support and love all of you gave to us and continue to. I thank you for that. Thank you for who you are. They say that it’s not what you go through in life, it’s how you get through it. I think there’s a lot of truth to that. There are many choices we can make when we feel like we don’t know which way to go and our life is turned upside down. Nothing is ever hopeless. We always have hope,” she said.

Rick Hendrick also thanked people for their support and said, “I want to thank all of the families and all of our extended families (employees) for loving these people and supporting these folks and remembering what a treasure each one was. Never to be replaced and never to be forgotten but to always be loved and remembered.”

Ricky was the HMS heir in waiting. Two years before his demise, he had given up his driving aspirations to learn how to lead the organization from his father. A former Truck and Xfinity Series driver, he had all the qualities to spearhead the HMS team one day.

Rick Hendrick told the Charlotte Observer,  “He would have done a better job at this than I did. Ricky stepped out of the car in ‘03 when he had a wreck in Vegas, and it tore everything in his shoulder and pinched some nerves in his neck. … He said: ‘I think I need to get out of the car and put Brian Vickers in.’ And Brian won the [Xfinity]championship.”

Having started his auto racing career at the age of 15, Ricky won three NASCAR Winston Late Model Series races in 1998 and one in 1999. After a stint in the ARCA Menards Series races, he began competing full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2001. That year he showed his credentials by winning at Kansas Speedway, becoming the youngest Truck Series driver to win a race at that time.

In 2002, he moved to the Busch Series and drove the No.5 GMAC Financial Chevrolet Monte Carlo. However, an accident in the third race of the season at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway left him requiring shoulder surgery and he missed three months of action, before returning at Richmond.

In October, he decided to call time on his racing career after raising concerns about his physical and mental health. However, he continued to be associated with the Hendrick Motorsports team as owner of two Busch Series cars run by Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch.

Talking about the fateful day, Rick Hendrick emotionally recalled, “That day, my brother, my son, my two nieces — it wiped out our family. And Jeff Turner (then the general manager at Hendrick Motorsports). And Randy Dorton, who had been one of the main staples of this company. If you ever lose a child, you’ll know. It’s nothing as horrible as that is. … It’s a small fraternity that you don’t want to be in.”

With the final Round of Eight playoff race at Martinsville Speedway, the stakes will be higher than ever, particularly for the three HMS drivers vying for the title. However, Kyle Larson believes they will have an additional source of motivation going into the Xfinity 500, saying, “The first win there is talked about a lot, but the tragedy, I feel like, is not mentioned often, at least personally to me. But it’s always on everybody’s minds anytime we get ready to go to Martinsville. I’m sure all of that makes us want to win there or have a good run there, even more than other tracks probably.”

When the team was on the verge of shutting down in its first year of operations, the track proved to be the turning point in ensuring they continued to move forward after Geoff Bodine won the race on April 29th, 1984. While there is triumph associated with the venue, it’s also a reminder of a tragic loss.

Ten years ago, when reflecting on the heartbreaking incident, Hendrick mentioned, “You blame yourself a lot. Then you blame the sport. Then you blame everything, “The first thing I always do is … If I had been on that plane that day, Ricky wouldn’t have been on it. We wouldn’t have taken that plane. You start playing [mind] games with yourself.” Following the tragedy, Rick Hendrick had the massive task of picking himself up and rebuilding the team.

Rick Hendrick reflects on rebuilding HMS after tragedy

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Against all odds. That’s the best way to describe how Rick Hendrick managed to rebuild NASCAR’s winningest team in the wake of a tragedy that wiped out six members of his family and employees. In the aftermath of the crash, NASCAR officials withheld the information from the drivers until the Subway 500 ended, with Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson winning the race. For the rest of the 2024 season, all the HMS cars and the No. 0 Haas CNC Racing vehicle featured pictures of the victims on their hoods, accompanied by the phrase, “Always in our hearts.”

Reflecting on that difficult time, team owner Rick Hendrick told The Charlotte Observer, “I don’t even remember much about the first week (after the plane crash) I didn’t know if I could come back. One day, I said, ‘I’ve gotta go over and talk to the people (at Hendrick Motorsports). It was emotional. And I knew then that they would want us to go on — all these people that worked so hard to build what was here. And I made a commitment to them that we would fight on. That’s what those on that plane would want us to do.”

Fast forward to today, and Hendrick Motorsports has firmly established itself as the most successful team in NASCAR history. Earlier this year, the team secured a 1-2 finish at the 2024 Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, with William Byron securing his third win of the season, followed by Kyle Larson.

With both drivers above the elimination cutline hoping for a spot at Phoenix Raceway, could they honor the legacy of the crash’s victims by replicating the result at the 2024 Xfinity 500? Time will tell. But it will be a fitting way to pay tribute to those who lost their lives with a victory in the final playoff race of the season.