_{*Quick Summary: The author writes about Ricky Hendrick’s final late model win, and his changing involvement with Ricky’s racing.*}

It’s been a few years since I’ve posted a recap of Ricky Hendrick’s Late Model race wins. This is his last Late Model win, but I’ll post other things about him in the future. It’s kind of hard for me to go through these times in my head and come up with the right words. It was such a special time – truly the best. When I start to write these recaps and look through the photos, the emotions come back, I start thinking about how bad I miss him, and sometimes I get sidetracked. Saudade… Well, here goes:

13 years ago today at Concord Motorsport Park, Ricky Hendrick won his fifth, and final NASCAR Winston Racing Series Late Model Stock race. This would be his first, and last, for sponsor DuPont. At this point, we were well aware Ricky was moving on to the Busch Series with Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham, and most of us were not going with him. It caused us to focus on the present, and continue to give him 100% to make sure his memories with us were top notch. Having said that, you could see by the looks on our faces in the photos we felt bittersweet about this win. This win would be another with Ricky’s parents Rick and Linda present, and that made the victory extra special for them. It’s especially nice to know Rick felt well enough to make it to the race.

It was around this time I had a big choice to make. I was able to move with Ricky to the Busch Series if I wanted to. I tried out for the Busch Series pit crew and showed some promise as a tire carrier, the same over-the-wall position I held with Ricky’s Late Model team. In order to make the transition, I was going to have to leave the guys I’d come to love, admire, and respect, along with my boss, friend, and mentor Papa Joe Hendrick. I thought about it long and hard. Really hard. There’s no telling where I’d be now if I’d made a different decision. I decided to stay with Papa Joe, a decision made somewhat easier with the knowledge my long time friend Robert Thorpe was going with Ricky as a transporter driver. Having Robert there was just like having family close by for Ricky, and one thing is for sure – the time I spent with Papa Joe was worth any sacrifice. I knew he needed me more than Ricky did, so I made the hard decision to let Ricky go on to the next level alone. Sometimes I still re-think it.

Ricky’s next win would be his final win in the Truck Series at Kansas in 2001.

Here are the other Late Model Stock wins if you’re interested: 1st win / 2nd win / 3rd win / 4th win

Here are the photos from the 5th win: