He lives in North Carolina and when he's not preoccupied with his NASCAR Winston Cup racing team, he finds equal enjoyment in the prize-winning Black Angus bulls he's bred.
His prize-winning day in racing, however, came November 1983 when Bud Moore passed the contract of a young, talented driver to him. The driver, as everyone knew, had loads of talent and potential but in the previous two seasons he was bleeding his team dry. The kid just pushed the cars -- and himself -- too hard.
Since that day, however, this very driver who cost his first owners so dearly has made his present owner rich. And he has a bundle of Winston Cup series points titles to prove it.
Today, the team is based out of a tiny North Carolina town with the overtly friendly name of Welcome. And while his driver is the one who gets the glory, this fellow is the man who provides the tools, the cars, and in many ways, the drive for success itself.
The owner was born in the town of Winston-Salem, a pleasant community north of Charlotte and just a short drive south of Mount Airy, the place that inspired Andy Griffith's Mayberry. He came up the hard way with no one giving him anything he didn't earn.
"My daddy died when I was 5," he once said in an interview. "From then on, I considered myself a man. Had to. There was nobody to go home to and whine that 'Johnny whipped my ass today.' I had to fight my own battles. Hell, I've worked all my life. I couldn't even pay for my lunch at school, and there were no free lunches in those days. I worked, cleaning up the lunchroom and sweeping the halls, to earn my lunch."
When he was in his early teens, he was introduced to racing as a snack vendor at a local stock car track. And like many in this part of the country, he also tried his hand at "running shine." For those of you who live in cities where the liquor always comes in bottles with fancy labels, "running shine" is exactly what led to the world of stock car racing today. Mountain men brewing their moonshine needed a way to get the goods from their secret locations to road houses and bars. So, they employed brash, bold young men to drive cars loaded with the stuff.
The danger, of course, was getting caught by federal agents and local police. So the drivers souped up their shine cars constantly, always looking for that edge that would allow them to escape a jail sentence. As a result, when these men were not running shine, they like to spend their afternoons testing one another on dirt roads and anyplace else they could find to run. Their children, many of whom also ran shine, became NASCAR drivers. Even the greatest of all-time, Richard Petty, had a grandfather who ran shine.
The owner we are talking about here, however, quit running shine when he reach 20 -- it was just too dangerous for his tastes -- and became a driver on the Modified circuit and ultimately, the GN series, instead.
He had his share of successes as a driver, as well as his share of defeats. But he stuck with this sport. He could see the day coming when it would no longer be just a place for rednecks to watch cars crash and guzzle beer.
In the late 1970s, his fascination of building cars and trying new parts blossomed to the point where he realized the best future for him would come as an owner, not a driver.
"We'd mortgaged our house and mortgaged our shop to get more money to put into the cars, and by the end of '81, I was $75,000 more in debt than when I'd started," he said.
But as it is the way with so many things in life, his luck was about to change when he partnered up with his now famous driver.
The driver with all those points championships, by the way, is Dale Earnhardt, the Intimidator himself.
And our fellow from Welcome, N.C.? Richard Childress, one of the most successful team owners ever in the sport.
LATEST HASH UP: To all of you who were so certain that Mark McGwire or Ken Griffey Jr. would so easily break Roger Maris' record, Hash up! Hash up! Hash up!
Hitting a home run is one of the hardest things to do in sports, despite what you may have heard about juiced balls, corked bats and short fences. And hitting 61 gets a helluva lot harder when the media turns its brutal eye on your every move. Even Maris himself complained loudly about the way he was being hounded when he chased Babe Ruth's record.
SOOOOOOOO: Comin' at ya with some pepper. Best college football team so far -- Florida State. Team playing the best baseball right now -- the Yankees. Most likely to lose his job -- Marv Albert. Least likely to win the Super Bowl in January -- the New Orleans Saints. Most disappointing team in college hoops this season -- Duke (just too much pressure, and too many great expectations, on all those young faces).
Most likely retired boxer to try a comeback -- Riddick Bowe. Most obnoxious tennis player in the world -- Martina "I am so good I can never get better" Hingis. Hottest golfer out there right now -- Greg Norman.
Mike, I am really disappointed. Why haven't you done any new columns in a while?
From Gary at an aol kind of place.
Sorry, bud. Totally beyond my control. This is not my day job, which has been rather hectic lately, and then we had a death in the family that took a week to clear. We are back now and hopefully will continue our biweekly column on a regular basis.
Who do you really think will break Maris' record -- Junior or Mac?
From Tim-meister who's sprung his mindspring.
Neither, Tim. I still consider that record unbreakable because when a player nears it, the media feeding frenzy will prevent him from relaxing to the point where he can break it.
What do you mean we won't be in the Super Bowl?
From M. Ditka, now living on Da.Saints.com.
Heck, Iron Man. Can't ya take a frigging joke? Go have yourself a king cake and some red beans and rice, son.
Yep, there is no other like Richard Childress. So let's see how much you know about the man who made him so rich, Dale Earnhardt.
1) Who is the team's crew chief as of September 1997? Give up?
2) What's Earnhardt's wife's name and how many kids do they have? Give up?
3) Where is Earnhardt from? Give up?
4) When was he born? Give up?
5) In addition to those seven Cup championships, how many times has he won the IROC championships? Give up?
Mike Emmett has been kicking around sports departments in newspapers and online operations around the U.S. for years. Got something to say to the Irishman? Email him with a click here.
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