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A full year has passed since Ricky Hendrick, then preparing for his first season as a Busch Series car owner, refused to buckle about wanting Brian Vickers to drive the No. 5 GMAC Chevrolet.
Instead of deferring to boss/father Rick Hendrick, the younger Hendrick showed there was more than one family member with an eye for talent.
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| Brian Vickers says he and Ricky Hendrick's relationship is similar to Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick's.(AP) |
"My father already had someone else on his mind, and he was getting pretty close to the contract," said Ricky Hendrick, who had driven the No. 5 before retiring in September 2002 because of a shoulder injury. "It came down to the point, just to end the conversation, I pretty much told him, 'Hey, this is my car, this is my deal. If you want me to be a part of it, this is what I want I'm going to do. If not, if you want to choose your own driver, then you can go ahead -- it's your deal.'
"Either I was going to get written out of the will and lose my job, or he was going to go with it. Luckily, he went with it."
Vickers, who joined Hendrick Motorsports in December 2002, always will remember that Ricky Hendrick fought for him against one of racing's heavyweights.
"That was the day Ricky became a car owner," Vickers said after clinching the 2003 Busch Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "It may say on the piece of paper, and his Dad may claim, that Ricky's the car owner ... (but) he stood up to his father -- which is probably the hardest thing that a man can ever do -- and said that this is the way I want it.
"Not that his father isn't great man, but I'm proud of Ricky and what he has accomplished this year as a car owner."
While it's unfair and premature to compare the Hendrick-Vickers duo to Hendrick-Gordon -- a team that has won four Winston Cup titles -- this year's Busch Series-winning owner and driver should be forces on the NASCAR scene for years to come.
"I think at the time we sat down and signed the contract, (the hopes were) consecutive Top 10s, race as hard as you can, get some Top 5s and we were praying for a win," Hendrick said of his teaming with Vickers.
"We didn't know he was going to come this strong. I think by the third race we felt like, 'OK, this is a different program than we were expecting, so let's keep going.'"
Vickers had three wins and 21 Top 10s in 2003 and finished just 14 points ahead of David Green, who also had been considered to drive the No. 5.
"I thought he had the talent to get the job done," Ricky Hendrick said of Vickers. "He had the whole package for the (Hendricks) organization."
Vickers, who had been driving for a team owned by his father, will race in both the Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series full time next season.
"There was no way we could have the continued support and knowledge of an organization like Hendrick Motorsports," Vickers said of the family-owned business, "much less the experience and knowledge of Rick Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick, Papa Joe (Hendrick) and all the people there."
While currently content to work for and assist his father (a leukemia victim in remission), 23-year-old Ricky Hendrick definitely wants to make his own name in racing.
With Vickers, who's close in age and has a similar racing background, the younger Hendrick might have found a long-term partner.
"I feel like we have a great business relationship," Vickers said, "similar to Mr. Hendrick and Jeff Gordon."
What a difference a year makes.
