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Richard Childress is on the verge of having all three drivers in the Chase a second consecutive year.

1on1: Richard Childress

Hunting, kicking back, making wine and a difference

By Ron Lemasters, NASCAR.COM
August 5, 2008
10:48 AM EDT

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Richard Childress has done just about everything in his 35 years as a NASCAR driver and team owner. He's won championships, surfed the highs and scraped the lows during that time.

As he heads into the stretch run of the 2008 season, he has all three of his teams in the top 12 in points, but the margins these days are paper-thin. He's got a lot on his plate with the race teams, let alone his vineyard, a pair of grandsons who are tearing up their respective divisions and the pressures of being one of the top car owners in business.

Childress tidbits

In 35 years as a car owner in NASCAR, including 12 as an owner-driver, Richard Childress and Richard Childress Racing have amassed 161 victories (88 in Sprint Cup, 53 in Nationwide and 20 in Craftsman Truck) and have won $203,494,313 in prize money.
In Sprint Cup competition alone, he and his 25 drivers have run a combined 631,114 miles.
Richard was the first team owner to trademark a stylized number for licensing and marketing purposes, when he filed on his team's No. 3.
Richard was the first team owner to win championships in all three of NASCAR's top divisions (Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Trucks).
The team has won six Sprint Cup titles, third all-time behind Petty Enterprises (10) and Hendrick Motorsports (8).
Childress opened Childress Vineyards near his shops in Welcome, N.C., and hosts thousands of guests per year.
His grandsons, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon, are currently working their way up through the ranks of NASCAR's feeder series. Their father, former driver Mike Dillon, is Childress' son-in-law.

In 35 years as a car owner in NASCAR, including 12 as an owner-driver, Richard Childress and Richard Childress Racing have amassed 161 victories (88 in Sprint Cup, 53 in Nationwide and 20 in Craftsman Truck) and have won $203,494,313 in prize money.

In Sprint Cup competition alone, he and his 25 drivers have run a combined 631,114 miles.

Richard was the first team owner to trademark a stylized number for licensing and marketing purposes, when he filed on his team's No. 3.

Richard was the first team owner to win championships in all three of NASCAR's top divisions (Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Trucks).

The team has won six Sprint Cup titles, third all-time behind Petty Enterprises (10) and Hendrick Motorsports (8).

Childress opened Childress Vineyards near his shops in Welcome, N.C., and hosts thousands of guests per year.

His grandsons, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon, are currently working their way up through the ranks of NASCAR's feeder series. Their father, former driver Mike Dillon, is Childress' son-in-law.

So how does this dynamo of a man take a step back? How does he find time to endow a pediatric trauma wing at a Winston-Salem, N.C., hospital and do the thousand-and-one other things that require his attention? NASCAR.COM caught up with him to find out.

Q: Did you ever imagine that you and [crew chief] Kirk Shelmerdine, pulling the cars on a 45-degree flatbed, would be in this position to do all you and your family are doing?

Childress: Not really. You never dream of that, but you never forget where you come from and you get the opportunity to give something back and do something for other people that's going to make a difference. It makes it real special.

Q: A couple weeks ago, we had some down time. Did you ever anticipate or dream of having a place in Montana? Did you just kick back there, do anything special? How much of a battery charger was it especially since you have 17 tough weeks ahead?

Childress: It's really just a place to go and get totally away from everything. When I get up at 6 in the morning out there, the first two or three days that I'm there, I call the office, it's 8 at home and I'll stay on until about 10, then I'll take the rest of the day. Usually when I go out there I'm working, and this last time I was there it was a lot of work. It's great to have a place where you can get on a horse and ride back up in the hills, go hiking or do whatever you want to do. It's really a cool deal. It's a good place to get your thoughts together to what you want to try and accomplish.

Q: What's the next big safari or trip you have planned?

Childress: I want to go back to Africa ... this isn't real big, but the next thing is, I'm going to Newfoundland this fall and hunt the woodlands caribou. I'll probably go to Africa next year. I've got Africa in the plans, and in 2010 to go back to Mongolia. (Continued)

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