HENDRICK HERITAGE
An Exclusive Look Inside Rick Hendrick’s Amazing Automobile Collection
ick Hendrick collects more than Cup championships these days. Tucked away in a remote corner of the sprawl- ing Hendrick Motorsports campus is
a glistening showroom featuring 150 classic cars and Hendrick, who has been a collector for 32 years, says he has “probably another 75-80” stored outside of this aptly named Heritage Center. T is showplace is more than just a ware-
house, however. Hendrick has staged his cars in museum-like settings that tell his life story. A replica of City Chevrolet, the Charlotte car dealership where Hendrick launched his empire, frames a handful of cars. A replica of the bank where Hendrick’s mother, Mary (who passed away in August), worked and helped Hendrick fi nance his early business endeavors and a drive- in movie theater are just a few more examples of the elaborate and personal staging that make the Heritage Center so unique. Hendrick’s affi nity for automobiles devel-
oped at a young age under the watchful eye of his father, Papa Joe Hendrick. Corvettes might dominate the overall collection — Hendrick has 118 of them — but his most prized possession is a 1931 Chevrolet that the father and son built together. T at is saying something considering that 20 of Hendrick’s Corvettes have won Dun- tov awards, the most prestigious honor among Corvette collectors. “Some of these cars are worth so much more
to me than they are to anybody else. T ere are some cars in here that I would not sell, that mean too much to me. If you said what’s the most valuable car in here, I’d probably say the ’31 Chevrolet. It’s surely not that valuable to anybody else but to me it is,” says Hendrick — who aside from his racing interests serves as the chairman of Hendrick Automotive Group, which operates nearly 60 dealerships across the U.S. Hendrick shared the story behind that car
and other personal favorites recently with NASCAR Illustrated.
—KRIS JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAM CRANSTON OCTOBER 2011 53
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