BUSINESS

The King of Nascar

Rick Hendrick is the force behind racing's biggest stars. But can he handle Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

By Daniel McGinn | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Feb 18, 2008

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  • Posted By: CHYNADAD @ 02/12/2008 3:41:48 AM

    Everyone considers this man "a GOD" ; the darling car owner of NASCAR. The fact is ........he is a convicted felon ; guilty of price-fixing at his many automobile dealerships. Were it not for a pardon by outgoing President Bill Clinton, Rick Hendrick would have served time in prison for his illegal business dealings. I also find it strange that, during the legal proceedings that lead up to his conviction, the media was filling us with "sob stories" about his terrible illness......life-threatening, in fact. His drivers carried bone marrow donation decals on their race cars. It was played "to the hilt".......all to detract attention from the seriousness of his crimes. Suddenly -- after his pardon by the President, Rick Hendrick experiences a "miraculous" recovery. Today -- he certainly looks as though he is quite healthy, and eating well -- I might add ! It sure is amazing what a Presidential pardon can do for the soul. I think it is disgusting............another example of wealth above justice in America.

    • Posted By: yungan @ 02/12/2008 5:46:47 PM

      Amen! I think a direct connection in monies donated and the pardon. There was way to much smoke surrounding Hendrick for there not to be any fire

  • Posted By: mschumilover @ 02/12/2008 2:07:52 PM

    Rick Hendrick is a "God" of Nascar. He helps all races, people and his employees would do anything for him. When an employee has that high of an opionion of their boss, you KNOW that person is a good human being. Many people thought that Dale Jr sold out, but they dont know that when Dale Jrs grandfather was working for Hendrick and became terminally ill, it was Hendrick who paid his full salary up till his death! It was Hendrick that paid all his grandfathers medical bills. That is what makes a person a good human being and good american, not the fact that a few employees were caught doing illegal things at his place of business and he took accountability for it. If more americans took accountability for their actions, there would be less people in jail or suing people with no merit! Also, by telling the public of his illness, he brought more publicity and attention to the fight for the cure than anybody!

    • Posted By: CHYNADAD @ 02/12/2008 3:38:16 PM

      Another GENIUS speak up.....................................please explain how there would be "less" people in jail if more Americans took accountability for their actions? Perhaps my thinking is in direct disproportion to yours, but I would say that MORE people being held accountable for crimes they committeed would result in MORE people in prisons. I do agree with your disdain for lawsuits with no merit, however it is the SAME lawyers who are keeping people OUT of prison -- by having their clients NOT assume accountability for their actions. In the future, follow old Chinese proverb "Before putting mouth in motion, make sure brain in gear". Oh...........one more thing : the noun "American" refers to a citizen of my country. In the future, please show our nation its due respect and capitalize it !!

  • Posted By: margie8452 @ 02/12/2008 10:28:28 AM

    We know only what the media tells us. Not to really know someone and say they are guilty of a serious crime and should be in prison and are not because of a hoax illness or because of their wealth, is a media play as far as I am concerned. I am a NASCAR fan and a true blue american, so if a U.S. President pardons a citizen of this county I turst the Presidents judgement, especially Past President Bill Clinton.

    • Posted By: CHYNADAD @ 02/12/2008 3:27:22 PM

      Well done...........spoken like a TRUE LIBERAL !! Since when is "really knowing" someone a condition for guilt in a
      Federal crime conviction? If that were the case, I guess John Wilkes Booth did not actually assinate President Abraham Lincoln -- because I did not really know him. What a concept you have invented..............criminals are only guilty if you really know them. Keep that course of logic, and help to elect the next President in 2008, also. If you put your trust in a guy who waffles an aide in the oval office, you are just the citizen we need to chart the future of this country. Do you really believe what you wrote earlier? SAD...............................

  • Posted By: mschumilover @ 02/12/2008 2:06:11 PM

    Rick Hendrick is a "God" of Nascar. He helps all races, people and his employees would do anything for him. When an employee has that high of an opionion of their boss, you KNOW that person is a good human being. Many people thought that Dale Jr sold out, but they dont know that when Dale Jrs grandfather was working for Hendrick and became terminally ill, it was Hendrick who paid his full salary up till his death! It was Hendrick that paid all his grandfathers medical bills. That is what makes a person a good human being and good american, not the fact that a few employees were caught doing illegal things at his place of business and he took accountability for it. If more americans took accountability for their actions, there would be less people in jail or suing people with no merit! Also, by telling the public of his illness, he brought more publicity and attention to the fight for the cure than anybody!

  • Posted By: kcarizona @ 02/11/2008 9:45:58 AM

    The most watched sport in Amercia. Hillary should sponser a car and put her beautiful name all over it and run circles around a big sign of her competitor. Now life and art are signing together.

    • Posted By: lilwildchild72 @ 02/11/2008 4:42:48 PM

      great idea, so we can slam her face into a wall!!

      • Posted By: kcarizona @ 02/12/2008 11:06:29 AM

        that is good and then when we see her recover and win the race in spite of the crash we will love her even more - Go Hillary!!!

    • Posted By: lilwildchild72 @ 02/11/2008 4:44:04 PM

      GREAT IDEA!! So can run her face right into the wall at 180 mph

  • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 8:43:44 PM

    From the comments posted here, it appears that nearly all NASCAR fans appear to match the degree of illiteracy which can be seen among its equally dull-witted drivers. And I am not even concerned about the contributor's lack of a decent orthography...But your writings are revealing a lack of structure that allows me to immediately make inferences as to your socio-intellectual and socio-economic background.....go back to elementary school, boys and girls, or back to your ghettos....whatever you deem to have priority....best regards from the GOD of your inferior god....

    • Posted By: jeff_hotchkiss @ 02/11/2008 8:54:02 PM

      Read my comment again. There's more structure than your own comment. What's with all the ellipses? Forget how to use a period or a semi-colon? And by the way eliipses are composed of three periods, not four or five.

      • Posted By: smokegrl20 @ 02/11/2008 9:07:09 PM

        Seems like Superacademico has serious issues with the blue collar, hard working, GOD fearing Americans who happen to have a hobby like NASCAR. It may be just a bunch of good ol' Southern Boys running around in circles but it is what makes us happy.

        • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 9:21:45 PM

          You bet I have an issue with subhuman pieces of garbage who are surrendering their meaningless redneck personality to an irrational authority (god). You dumb sons of bitches cannot make sense of your laborer lives, without resorting to mind-boggling myth and superstition (i.e, the Christian and/or other fairy tales). You supposedly hard-working redneck laborer boys/girls are not even entitled to work as slaves for "yours truly" and other distinguished members of the IVY-LEAGUE or IVY-LEAGUE-TYPE SCIENCE INSTITUTIONS the world over.......That means, we do not even permit for you subhuman imbeciles to surrender your slave labor to us....

          • Posted By: corie @ 02/12/2008 12:09:17 AM

            This guy is just peeved because these drivers have better personalities than he could ever hope to have, they make more than him, and he can't find something productive to do with himself other than put people down or brag that his daddy had enough money to send him to an Ivy league school.

      • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 9:06:18 PM

        You are such an appallingly illiterate imbecile, that you don't even realize the magnitude of your intellectual inferiority and mind-boggling illiteracy.....In other words: Your stereotypical NASCAR airheadedness serves as a protective shield, which enables you to move on with your meaningless laborer life...got that, Jeffy boy?

        • Posted By: jeff_hotchkiss @ 02/11/2008 9:15:27 PM

          Well, I'm sure to your surprise, I have a bachelor's degree and I work at a major university. So put the thesaurus down, go back to your bedroom in your mother's basement, and get back to dreaming about losing your virginity.

    • Posted By: habsfan_vt @ 02/11/2008 10:04:56 PM

      Superacademico - Does your arm get soar from reaching around and patting yourself on the back? It would appear that your self proclaimed intellect is only artificial in substance. Your disparaging comments are likely the result of a lack of praise or acknowledgement for any of your own achievements (if any). It???s easier for you to knock everyone else down as opposed to pulling yourself up. You are so transparent???

      For all of the true NASCAR fans???boogedy, boogedy, boogedy, let???s go racing!

  • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 8:33:23 PM

    Who cares about any of these dull-witted, bible-thumping, pickup-truck-driving, and roadkill-eating hillbillies. NASCAR is a primitive, albeit popular circus act, which has nothing to do with professional motor racing European style (F1, GP2, etc). Any freaking granddaddy/hillbilly can flick the steering wheel four times a lap, while essentially holding that right foot in, at least on the long ovals. These dumb American hillbillies are machine operators, rather than racecar drivers. None of the pieces of subhuman garbage could make it in Formula One, because they can't take 4.5 g in fast corners or 5g under braking, for the duration of a 90 min road course event., because none of these god-fearing laborer boys is a well-trained athlete. The worldwide popularity of this NASCAR bullcrap does not even amount to a fraction of F1's worldwide popularity....Keep it real boys!

    • Posted By: corie @ 02/12/2008 12:01:27 AM

      If it's so easy....why don't you become a driver and make milions instead of sitting in front a computer and putting other people down? And yea, it's not European style....it's AMERICAN STYLE! GO FIGURE IN AN AMERICAN SPORT

    • Posted By: smokegrl20 @ 02/11/2008 8:48:41 PM

      I don't understand why you are putting down NASCAR when alot of the f1 and IRL drivers are going there. You don't need to bring GOD into this because he sees more that I read.

  • Posted By: dg2457 @ 02/11/2008 9:25:02 PM

    you reckon superprick ever drank any shine

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 10:33:45 PM

      I think I have done rather well for tonight, after stumbling upon your moronic comments for the first time. I thought it was great to show you pieces of subhuman American garbage just how incredibly DUMB and DYSFUNCTIONAL you are....Why don't you go to the next hardware store, get a rope an hang yourself?

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 9:48:51 PM

      I trust that the dose of reality you rednecks got dished out by your superior academic master and new GOD, will help you to put your inferior REDNECK sport in perspective....And when you go to that REDNECK-ghetto bed tonight, you ought to relieve yourselves of your perpetual frustration by masturbating below the images of your REDNECK heroes...When Dale, Sr. got a dose of his own medicine by being killed in the mobile NASCAR trashcan he was driving, I was cheering when I heard the news of his death....After all, a good redneck is a DEAD redneck!!!!!

  • Posted By: habsfan_vt @ 02/11/2008 10:08:51 PM

    Superacademico - Does your arm get soar from reaching around and patting yourself on the back? It would appear that your self proclaimed intellect is only artificial in substance. Your disparaging comments are likely the result of a lack of praise or acknowledgement for any of your own achievements (if any). It???s easier for you to knock everyone else down as opposed to pulling yourself up. You are so transparent???

    For all of the true NASCAR fans???boogedy, boogedy, boogedy, let???s go racing!

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 10:14:53 PM

      What is so transparent about my comments? Years of butt-fu.cking and masturbation have rendered you unable to critically reflect upon my candor-filled statements about the mobile trashcans that are running on oval tracks, and the dim-witted monkeys who are getting behind their wheels.....

      • Posted By: habsfan_vt @ 02/11/2008 10:33:07 PM

        Your personality is what is transparent. Not loved as a child, bullied in school and unrecognized within your own profession. Your comments are simply the result of these challenges you have faced that you are unable to overcome. You likely have no social life, and your comments are a cry for someone to hold a conversation with you. You teeter on the side of absurdity to be certain that you draw a crowd. It's a lonely life you lead. I can't even begin to imagine the emptiness that you must feel on a daily basis. If you are currently employed, perhaps you should inquire as to whether or not your place of employment offers EAP (employee assistance program). Remember, the first step is admitting that you have a problem. Best of luck to you!

  • Posted By: Goblahyourself @ 02/11/2008 9:49:02 PM

    superprick, your lack of an answer to my questions about your F1 career and the 50 year old drivers name along with your reference to an inferiority complex and an obvious familiarity of what you termed "colon vagina" just solidifies the evidence that every one on this board recognises...you are clearly a colon vagina loving homosexual who uses personal insults to hide your inability to answer questions of your knowledge. Sounds like the inferiority complex of someone in France.

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 10:28:39 PM

      Does your perpetual butt-fu.cking also prevent you from correctly identifying the divine responses of your NEW GOD? I had below named one driver I KNOW OF---without paying much attention to that internationally irrelevant REDNECK sport that is NASCAR----and you have failed to READ this science doctor''s divine response....Mark Martin was over 50 years old when still "racing"

    • Posted By: Goblahyourself @ 02/11/2008 10:15:40 PM

      Sorry superprick but your obsession with having sex with other men is not the end of the world. Hopefully one day you can graduate from goats to humans and I would like to stay on here and encourage you to do that but your sister is on her knees under my desk here and says she is tired of hitting the back of her head on my keyboard. Besides, I am willing to bet that your mother is going to yell into your bedroom any minute now for you to get to bed because tomorrow is a school day. By the way, why did'nt you answer my questions?
      buh bye

      • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 10:22:20 PM

        It's amazing what you illiterate moron are capable of fancying about, while you colon vagina is constantly filled up by the pricks of some NASCAR-loving REDNECKS....Keep on dreaming, you dumb working-class imbecile

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 10:00:20 PM

      How nice that you are projecting your flaming homosexuality upon others who HAD FIRST POINTED OUT THAT CHARACTERISTIC OF YOURS....Stop giving up that colon vagina of yours to your butt-fu.cking NASCAR heroes...

  • Posted By: dg2457 @ 02/11/2008 9:37:19 PM

    thanks

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 10:09:26 PM

      I am glad that you are appreciative of my candor-filled comments, although they are too tough for some imbeciles to handle....If broken REDNECK English would be the only language I speak, I would also feel at a loss, in the face of this overwhelming dose of reality "yours truly" (your SUPER/ELITE ACADEMIC) has been dishing out!!!!

  • Posted By: habsfan_vt @ 02/11/2008 10:08:18 PM

    Superacademico - Does your arm get soar from reaching around and patting yourself on the back? It would appear that your self proclaimed intellect is only artificial in substance. Your disparaging comments are likely the result of a lack of praise or acknowledgement for any of your own achievements (if any). It???s easier for you to knock everyone else down as opposed to pulling yourself up. You are so transparent???

    For all of the true NASCAR fans???boogedy, boogedy, boogedy, let???s go racing!

  • Posted By: Goblahyourself @ 02/11/2008 9:10:56 PM

    More like Superprickademico! Name the driver still racing at 50.

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 9:56:16 PM

      Mark Martin was racing when he passed the 50 yr mark, and that piece of garbage may still be racing...And several rednecks look as though they are way over 50 years old., Although some do merely look like washed-up and worn-out hillbillies, and their chronological age may in fact be less than 50, but their functional age is definitely above that....too much beer and butt-fuc.king do definitely show physical wear

  • Posted By: Goblahyourself @ 02/11/2008 9:30:09 PM

    frustration over...inferiority-complex-infested...chracteristic...nice grammar and spelling superprick

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 9:37:19 PM

      You are likewise too dumb to achnowledge anything but the conventional vocabulary you are using, while expressing yourself in your inferior American REDNECK English, which lacks any linguistic finesse, whatsoever. Why don't you hook up with your homosexual lover? I am sure that he will be fond of digging that colon vagina of yours, before and after the next NASCAR race....

  • Posted By: Goblahyourself @ 02/11/2008 9:17:20 PM

    Superprickademico...with your superior intelligence and proficient mastery of grammar, why are you spending time arguing with people about racing on this mindless subject known as racing? Also, what F1 team do you drive for, own or otherwise represent?

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 9:31:47 PM

      You need to focus your brainless American NAZI head and police-state mentality upon NASCAR, the "racing" show for the most feeble-minded individuals on Planet Earth. F1 is devoid of U.S. racers, because they can't run with the Big Boys of F1. The last one to be kicked out was Scott "The ***" Speed, who lost the team-internal duel against his Toro Rosso teammate....And 4-times ChampCar Championship winner (Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais)---who won 4 (internationally) meaningless championships in open-wheels racing----will find out this year that his U.S. trophies mean NOTHING in F1, when he will get eclispsed by 20 year-old Sebastian Vettel.....Keep it real little moron!

  • Posted By: bigtoytech @ 02/11/2008 9:24:38 PM

    I beleive that Daniel McGinn got this article to write because either the person who writes them was out sick at the time, or he is a relative of someone from NewsWeek and was handed this job to write for NASCAR.
    We all know that Daniel McGinn didn't get this job because he knows anything about NASCAR racing.
    I think that Daniel McGinn should be fined, fired or at the very least.. REPLACED! But please.. not before he is forced to give a public apoligy to JR and to Mr Henricks.

  • Posted By: Goblahyourself @ 02/11/2008 9:23:10 PM

    Superprick...are you still there?

  • Posted By: michelle_b_may @ 02/11/2008 9:03:11 PM

    This article clearly illustrates the author's ignorance of NASCAR, as well as the man he interviewed. How's that for literacy?

    • Posted By: Superacademico @ 02/11/2008 9:11:57 PM

      Your two-liner does alright in the literacy department, Michelle, BUT IGNORANT are the boys and girls who are so deeply immersed within that mind-numbing NASCAR circus, that they are being IGNORANT of legitimate critique from outside observers.....

      • Posted By: jeff_hotchkiss @ 02/11/2008 9:22:45 PM

        Well, just as you can't critique a book by not reading it, YOU can't submit a legitimate critique of NASCAR when it is explicitly clear that you have not taken the time to learn about that which you are critiquing.

  • Posted By: jdroach @ 02/11/2008 9:21:29 PM

    Newsweek: do you even know who Dale Jr. is? The guy you are describing is definately not the Dale Jr. that represents all the Nascar fans. He may be an Earnhardt, but he has earned his prestigious status by his driving and respectfulness to the sport.

  • Posted By: Goblahyourself @ 02/11/2008 9:09:28 PM

    More like Superprickademico!

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