Background and career
Joseph Riddick "Ricky" Hendrick IV (April 2, 1980 – October 24, 2004) was an American stock car racing driver and partial owner at Hendrick Motorsports, a NASCAR team that his father Rick Hendrick founded. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 2, 1980, and began racing in Go Karts at a young age, then the Legends Series at fifteen. He competed in both the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series before his death from an airplane accident on October 24, 2004. He was killed with nine other family members and friends during the accident.
Hendrick began his racing career at the age of 15 in the Legends Series Summer Shootout with support from his grandfather Papa Joe Hendrick. In 1995, he won five races and finished second in the overall standings, and in 1996, he added one more victory and recorded multiple top-five finishes. Hendrick moved into late models and won three NASCAR Winston Late Model Series races in 1998 and one in 1999; during this period (1997–2000) his late model team was crew-chiefed by longtime Hendrick Motorsports fabricator and mechanic Frank Edwards. Hendrick competed in two ARCA Menards Series races — October 4, 2000, at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the 2001 Daytona event in February. Hendrick continued to run late models in 2000 while adding select NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts in the No. 17 GMAC/Quaker State Chevrolet Silverado. He also made starts in the No. 24 Busch Series car but was involved in several accidents and suffered concussions. In 2001, Hendrick ran the full Truck Series schedule. He earned his first NASCAR win at Kansas Speedway on July 7 — at the time, the youngest Truck Series race winner — and posted 19 top-ten finishes, then a rookie record. He finished second in Rookie of the Year to Travis Kvapil.
In 2002, Hendrick moved to the Busch Series with crew chief Lance McGrew driving the No. 5 GMAC Financial Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Hendrick suffered an accident in the third race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that resulted in a broken shoulder. He required surgery and missed six races before returning to competition in May. Hendrick announced his retirement from driving on October 10, 2002, citing lingering effects of the shoulder injury he suffered at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In a 2024 retrospective interview, his former crew chief Lance McGrew recalled that Hendrick experienced fear while driving after the accident and described him as having "some PTSD". Hendrick continued working with Hendrick Motorsports after retiring from driving and subsequently served as a team owner for cars driven by Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch in the Busch Series. Hendrick also founded a motorcycle dealership in Pineville, North Carolina, named Ricky Hendrick's Performance Honda.
After retiring from driving, Hendrick remained at Hendrick Motorsports as a Busch Series team owner; his No. 5 team won the 2003 championship with Brian Vickers and fielded Kyle Busch in 2004. In April 2003, he launched Ricky Hendrick’s Performance Honda Suzuki Aprilia in Pineville, North Carolina. In January 2006, Carolinas HealthCare System announced a US$3 million commitment from the Rick and Linda Hendrick family to benefit the new Levine Children’s Hospital; in recognition, the hospital dedicated its pediatric intensive care centers as the Ricky Hendrick Centers for Intensive Care.
From 2005 to 2008, the Ricky Hendrick Charity Ride (later the **Ricky Hendrick Memorial Charity Ride**) was held annually as a motorcycle benefit in the Charlotte area: April 17, 2005; April 23, 2006; May 6, 2007; and August 24, 2008. The inaugural event supported Nazareth Children’s Home and The Family Center; by 2007–2008, proceeds benefited the Hendrick Foundation for Children and went toward the Levine Children’s Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center.
On October 24, 2004, Hendrick was one of ten people killed when a Beechcraft King Air 200 operated for Hendrick Motorsports crashed into Bull Mountain near Martinsville, Virginia, while en route to the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the accident to flight-crew errors during an instrument approach in instrument meteorological conditions.
