Rodney Childers boasts a dazzling resume. The legendary crew chief has led racers to 40 NASCAR Cup Series wins. His most notable achievements were with Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, with whom he clinched the 2014 Cup Series championship. He led Harvick to five Championship 4 appearances between 2014-19. However, Childers had a spectacular history before his crew chief role as well.

Childers soared to prominence in Late Model Stock racing in the late 1990s. And one racetrack helped the NASCAR veteran stamp his excellence as a driver – Tri-County Speedway. The same venue granted him the highest honor recently – yet Childers was sad because his health stood in the way.

A sick Rodney Childers responds with pride

What can be worse than your ailing health butting in the way of a very special day? Nothing, as Rodney Childers would heavily agree. Tri-County Speedway in Hudson, North Carolina had been his go-to racetrack since 1997, and he left a mighty mark there. The 4/10-mile clay oval witnessed Childers rise to glory in 1998, as he partnered up with Clay Rogers to win 18 races and a championship. His achievements at the track have been hailed several times – Josh Berry sported a throwback scheme on the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford last year. Recently, however, the racetrack from his youth also tipped its hat to him.

Tri-County Speedway held its Hall of Fame awards ceremony on Saturday night. Among the winners were Rodney Childers, who sprung to success from the Late Model track. However, the veteran crew chief could not be present to accept the award in person. Instead, his sons filled in – and Childers’ sadness was visible in his post on X. “I never pictured waking up sick as a dog and a 102 fever on the day this was all supposed to happen. 🤦🏻‍♂️ I appreciate @katrinachilders and the boys still going, and I hate I won’t be there..Thank you to everyone Tri-County Speedway . Today is a huge honor no matter what.”

Rodney Childers’ twin sons Gavin and Broder were there to collect their father’s award. Gavin Childers posted a string of Instagram stories to commemorate the occasion. One picture shows him holding the Class of 2024 honorary plaque, and Gavin wrote, “Congrats Dad!” In the next slide, the two brothers are proudly posing with their dad’s prize. In the third and last slide, we could see a young Childers in his Late Model Racing days on a screen, positioned next to other Hall of Famers: Karen Schulz, Doug Houser, and Tres Wilson.

His star-studded career is worthy of many more such honoring ceremonies. Tri-County was not the only Late Model track where Rodney Childers dazzled.

Living up to the challenge

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NASCAR fans know Rodney Childers mainly for the iconic 2014 Cup Series season. He led Kevin Harvick to five race wins to clinch the championship. However, diehard fans would know about what 1998 meant to Childers. On one of his Friday nights racing at Tri-County Speedway, one of Shane Huffman’s men threw a challenge. He mocked Childers’ talents and said he was not brave enough to face Hickory Motor Speedway. Not one to back out, the young Childers was fast in practice and qualified third for the main event. Huffman started from the pole – however, Childers and his spotter noticed that there was something wrong with their rival’s car.

Rodney Childers recollected the experience in 2022. “We followed Shane for a long time, and about every lap his right-rear tire would smoke just a little bit off Turn 4. My spotter kept saying, ‘I know you see it. His right-rear is smoking.’ I knew at that point that I had him because I was just riding and could still keep up with him.” Childers passed Huffman on a restart and led the rest of the race till the end to grab a hefty paycheck. “I learned a ton that day. It was a cool race, it was a lot of laps, it was something that a lot of us hadn’t done before in a late model. Obviously winning $10,000 was a huge deal back then. It was a big day, for sure.”

Evidently, Rodney Childers’ Late Model fame parallels his NASCAR fame. Hopefully, he will not be sick for the next honorary ceremony.