Richard Childress

Richard Reed Childress (born September 21, 1945) is an American former race car driver in NASCAR.

As the owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), he became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina.

Childress's career in NASCAR started in 1969 when a drivers' strike at Talladega Superspeedway left NASCAR president William France Sr. looking for replacement drivers.

By 1971, Childress was racing as an independent driver, using the number 96.

He did, however, win the unofficial invitational Metrolina 200 in 1974.

Although he never won as a driver, he nonetheless proved to be capable and consistent behind the wheel, registering six top-5 finishes, seventy-six top-10 finishes, and five Top 10 point finishes, with a career-best ranking of fifth in 1975.

He changed to number 3 in 1976 as a tribute to Junior Johnson.

In the 1980s, RCR fielded only one car - the #3 of Dale Earnhardt, who won 6 of his 7 championships with the team.

During the late 1980s and mid 1990s, RCR fielded a part-time #31 for research-and-development purposes.

He retired from driving in 1981 after Rod Osterlund sold his NASCAR team to J.D. Stacy, and Osterlund's driver Dale Earnhardt did not want to drive for Stacy.

Childress, with recommendations from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, chose to retire and put Earnhardt behind the wheel of his No. 3 car, complete with Wrangler Jeans sponsorship.

That first alliance with Earnhardt lasted for a single season.

Ricky Rudd was hired in 1982 and drove for two years, giving the Childress team its first career victory in June 1983 at Riverside.

Earnhardt returned for the 1984 season, and together with Childress formed one of the most potent combinations in NASCAR history.

Earnhardt won championships in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994.

In the mid-1990s, Childress began expanding his racing team, fielding entries in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

By the mid-1990s, the #31 became a full-time car with Mike Skinner driving.

Although the team was fully sponsored by Lowe's, there were claims that RCR weren't putting as many resources into the #31 as they were into the #3, giving Earnhardt an insurmountable competition advantage over his teammate.

They won the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series championship with driver Mike Skinner in the series's first season.

Childress expanded to a two-car operation in the NASCAR Cup Series, with Skinner driving the No. 31.

His son-in-law is RCR general manager Mike Dillon, long-time Nationwide Series driver who made one Sprint Cup start (1998 California 500) in an RCR car.

Austin and Ty Dillon (sons of Mike, grandchildren of Richard) are NASCAR drivers.

In the early 2000s he added a third car, No. 30, driven by Jeff Green.

Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Childress promoted Busch driver Kevin Harvick to drive the renumbered No. 29.

Harvick would win in only his third start, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

With Harvick having won the Busch Series championship in 2001 and 2006, RCR became the first team in NASCAR history to win all three of NASCAR's national championship series.

RCR also won the Busch Grand National Series Owner's Championships in 2003 with Kevin Harvick and Johnny Sauter and in 2007 with Scott Wimmer and Jeff Burton.

In 2004, he opened a vineyard in the Yadkin Valley AVA near Lexington.

In 2008, Richard and his wife Judy established The Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma with the mission to lead national efforts to reduce death and disability following injury to children less than 18 years old.

The Childress Institute is focused on funding research and medical education throughout the U.S. to improve treatment, as well as raising public awareness.

Childress has a number of racers in his family.

RCR won the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship, both with Childress's grandson Austin Dillon driving the No. 3.

Childress's current full-time drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series are:

His drivers in the Xfinity Series are:

In 2017 he was elevated from Second Vice President to First Vice President of the National Rifle Association, which in accordance with NRA tradition would mean he could have expected to serve as the organization's president from 2019 to 2021.

However, in 2018 Oliver North was designated to take over as president.

Childress sat on the board of directors at the National Rifle Association of America until 2019.

In August 2019, amidst controversy surrounding payments being made by the NRA to a law firm, Childress stepped down from the board.

Childress is also a member of the board of directors for Ammo Inc., which contributed 1 million rounds of ammunition to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.