Barn Talk - No Limits: Richie Parker’s Journey from NASCAR Engineer to Inspirational Leader

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Welcome to Barn Talk! Today, we're bringing you an inspiring conversation with Richie Parker, whose journey from an aspiring problem solver to a renowned race car engineer at Hendrick Motorsports is nothing short of remarkable. Richie shares his transformative story, detailing how he overcame everyday obstacles, engineered his path to success, and navigated new ventures beyond the racetrack as a motivational speaker. In this episode, we'll delve into Richie's unique upbringing, the pivotal role his family played in shaping his resilient mindset, and how he learned to drive and engineer cars with an unparalleled passion. You'll hear about his impactful decade-plus career at Hendrick, contributing to several NASCAR Cup championships, and his intriguing adventures within the world of collegiate football at the University of Virginia. Richie's journey serves as a testament to discipline, determination, and the power of perspective, inspiring listeners to embrace their challenges and engineer their own paths in life. So, whether you're a motorsport enthusiast or someone seeking motivation to tackle life's hurdles, this episode is tailored to energize and uplift. Get In Touch With Richie https://www.richieparker.com/  Use code BARNTALK for 10% OFF your next order https://farmergrade.com/  SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱ https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR   SUBSCRIBE TO THIS’LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c  LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY ➱ https://open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY  APPLE ➱ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 Follow Behind The Scenes👇🏻 ● This’ll Do Farm Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/30KPBNk   ● Barn Talk TikTok ➱ https://bit.ly/3qciekS   ● Sawyer’s Instagram  ➱ https://bit.ly/3BtX0n4   ● Tork’s Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3LGZJxS    00:00 "Motivational Insights from Racing Engineer" 11:13 "Life: Problem-Solving Approach" 23:05 "Car Passion Rooted in Family" 40:34 From Design to Manufacturing Mastery 48:16 Era of Triumph: Jimmy Johnson's Championships 55:15 Job Hunt Reflections and Challenges 01:07:51 Program Support and Logistics Management 01:14:25 Reevaluating Collegiate Sports Values 01:28:30 Journey to Healthier Habits 01:34:28 Car Shows and Mysterious Encounters 01:43:03 "Car Memories and Maintenance" 01:54:46 Car Performance: Driver or Machine? ------------------------------- ⚠NO FINANCIAL ADVICE / DISCLAIMER⚠  The Information discussed and shared on Barn Talk is provided for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, or success for any particular purpose. The Information contained in or provided from or through this podcast is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, trading advice, or any other advice. The Information on this podcast and provided from or through our content is general in nature and is not specific to you, the user or anyone else. You should not make any decision, financial, investment, trading or otherwise, based on any of the information presented on this podcast without undertaking independent due diligence and consultation with a professional, professional broker or financial advisory. Understand that you are using any and all Information available on or through this website at your own risk. RISK STATEMENT– The trading of Bitcoins, alternative cryptocurrencies, NFTs, individual stocks, etc. has potential rewards, and it also has potential risks involved. Trading may not be suitable for all people... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Great guys. And if you're in rural part of American, you've got a farm or you got confinement. And you know what a pain Wi-Fi is. Hit up the people at Orbit Farm Technologies. and the second thing is a legacy farmer. I'm sporting a little legacy farmer garb today. So I'm a member of legacy farmer, started after we had JSON there. The software is great, but the community, the community is fantastic.

I have learned an awful lot from the community calls they have. Great guys. That's all I'm going to say. Our guest today, if you don't get anything out of this episode, you probably should feel pretty damn convicted. when you're done today because if you didn't feel like getting started today or you felt like you're ready to take a nap already and it's only 10 o'clock in the morning or you've been putting off starting what you know you need to do our guest today is going to make you feel going to make you feel pretty

small because if you think that you can't do something or it's too hard to start something this guy is probably going to change your perspective because when you think about getting through your day you got nothing so our guest today man he spent a bunch of years with hendrick motorsports race car engineer he's got a master's from clemson university he's a motivational speaker and you're going to find out why when we get going and i'm not going to let the cat out of the bag, but I was just blown away. And like I said, you, you want to talk about discipline. This is going to give you, this is going to give you some conviction about your level of discipline. So without any further ado, let's get started.

Richie Parker, welcome to Barn Talk, man. Awesome. Awesome. Thanks for having. Yeah, man, for sure. We appreciate you making the trip. I know that coming to Southeast Iowa isn't always the most convenient thing, but we, we really appreciate you having you in the barn here today. First thing before we get really going, how do people find you? How do people see what you're up to and all the cool stuff you're doing?

Yeah, I think the best way is I have a new website now. It's Richieeparker.com, and Richie is spelled R-I-C-H-I-E. So, richieparker.com, and I'm beginning to be more active on Instagram as well. I've got my links to Instagram and LinkedIn that are on that website. But those are the two main places. I would say LinkedIn, Instagram, and then that website. Cool. So you've engineered race cars, built classics with your feet, and inspired NASA.

Where does that drive come from? I gave you a nice one to start here. Yeah, man, you hit me with a big one right there to start with. Man, I think it's multifaceted in a lot of ways, right? I think there's a lot of people that have poured into me from a young age. My parents are a big part of that. there have been a lot of teachers and things along the way that poured into me. As I got older and as I continued to grow, became kind of self-driven in a lot of ways too. And just I'm that way right now and

every day, it's just every day, it's like how can I get better? How can I improve? Just constantly trying to grow and do bigger and better things with each day. Yeah. So you grew up in Bufurt, South Carolina. Beautiful Buford. Yep. Beautiful Buford. country. At what age, we got to remember that we're an audio podcast. So at what age did you, like, realize you were different than everybody else. And how did that, like, did that motivate you or did that deflate you? Like, what are your memories growing up? Yeah, that's an interesting question too. I think there's always moments along the way for me that I realize like I'm different than everyone else. But growing up, I always had a solid group around me and a support system around me that I didn't feel like I was different most of the time.

And I approach life that same way now. But even when I was young and I was in school, I tell people all the time, they're like, well, when did you learn how to write with your feet or type? And I'm like, well, when my classmates were doing the same thing with their hands, I was just doing it on the floor with my feet. You know, so I had teachers that that's how they treated me. Like, okay, it's time to learn something new. You guys are going to do it this way. And Richie, like, we've got to figure it out. You've got to figure out a way to do it.

And that's kind of how I approach life even as an adult. I tell people now, too, it's like a lot of times I forget that I'm different and that I don't have arms until I'm around someone that's outside of my circle. because the people that are inside of my circle, my close circle, they treat me like Richie. Like I'm one of them and that's how I like to be treated. That's how I'm uncomfortable in that environment. It's usually when I encounter someone new, step into a new environment, and that's when it's like, oh, oh, man, I guess I don't have arms. I realize now, okay, this is an issue, at least for them, that we have to get past. But it's not really for me.

Yeah. How? I thought about this when we first connected with you and I watched some of the media that you've done and the thing that I took away more than anything was

and maybe you could speak to this but how instrumental do you feel like your your parents your parents outlook how much do you think that like is responsible for how you're the way you perceive the world because i just just watch that

i know that you know your your mom and dad had the mindset of we're gonna we're gonna raise we're going to raise richie just like every other kid and he's going to learn and he can do whatever anybody else wants to do we're going to figure it out yeah i that's instrumental to to everything in my life. I feel like that foundation. It's interesting, too, when that ESPN feature came out and they were interviewed and they made some comments, even some of the things they said at that time were things that we had never even discussed as a family.

Wow. You know, it's just, you know, when my mom talked about what it was like when I was born and how they, you know, the mindset that they had at that time, we didn't talk about those things ever really growing up. It's just we just lived life, right? So growing up in my home with my parents, it was this focus of just living life. I feel like everyone else would. You know, there's problems and you problem solve, which is very much how I kind of approach

things now. It's just a series of problems and you're constantly problem solving, whether it's at home or it's at work or what have you. But my parents and their mindset would be critical in that. I think that also ties into how I view life. now and I don't see myself as much different because I wasn't told that I was different. Right. Even at that age, I wasn't instructed to go to school or, or demand certain accommodations

and things like that. Now, there are things that they did and fought for behind the scenes. Sure. But that wasn't something that was communicated to me on a regular basis. But they did have to fight for a lot of those things. And I appreciate those things now. Yeah. When I was young, I went to like a private school, as a Montessori.

school. But it was interesting school, right? Like you had the local janitors, their kids went there, but also the local doctors, their kids went to that same school. And so I went to that school all the way up until third grade. So third grade is when my parents wanted to transition me into public school. And that was a huge fight for them, because at that time, the public school really didn't want me there. Yeah. Right? You know, in the ways that they could communicate that. And basically it's like, okay, if you're going to come and you're going to be in public school, then we're going to put you in special ed because in their minds, like, that's where I needed to be. And my parents, like, no, like, if anything, he needs to be in honors courses.

He needs to be challenged in that way. So they had to fight just to get me in the regular classes so that then I could then transition into a lot of the honors courses and things of that nature. So very appreciative for their mindset. at that age and I appreciate even more now as I get older, right? And I'm 41 now. I got to the point where I was 30 and you start thinking about, you know, where my parents were at that same age and some of the things they did and the decisions

that they made, I'm just extremely appreciative of that. Just knowing even my mindset at this age or at the age of 30. Yeah. It was huge for them to prioritize me in a lot of ways. when I know that's not the case for every household. So all of the things that both you and your parents, like you had to figure out how to do this and the bike is a great example.

So talk about that. Like you wanted to ride a bike, but it wasn't as simple as just going to Montgomery Awards or wherever and getting a bike. So was your dad, like how did that come about? Yeah. So even those things, this is how I view life and the interesting part of even the journey I'm on now, it's fascinating to me that things like that are fascinating to other people. Yep.

Yeah. Right. And I have to realize that and have to think about some of those moments because those are shareable things that could make an impact for other people. But at that time, for me, it's like, okay, I want to ride a bike. So the way I approached other things and my dad and I had always approached things. up to that point, like, okay, let's figure out how you're going to ride a bike. And we'll just make some accommodations, you know, for that bike. And went and found a bike that was close to the size that I needed.

And like we approached anything, it's like, okay, sit on it and let's mock up some things. Let's look at lean forward and kind of figure out where you need handlebars to be. And we just started modifying, right? And lean on people in the area that if we needed somebody to do some welding or some machines, team work and build handlebars and kind of figure out as you go, right? And we get to the point where I could pedal the bike, I could steer the bike, but maybe couldn't break the bike, right? So then it's like, okay, how are we going to navigate brakes?

And I think initially the first bike I had was the kind that you pedal backwards. Yeah. And then it would break, right? And then it got to the point where all my friends, they had bikes with speeds, right? And at that point, we ever had the highest number of speeds, like that was the cool factor, right. And you had to keep up too. Yeah. I'm like, I need something with some speeds of this bike, right? I need some gears.

Yeah. So then it was okay, you need to have brakes somewhere that's this different to peddling backwards and have it on the handlebars. So then it was modifying where that was located so that I can still safely reach it with my shoulder and do things like that. And a lot of it you just dive into, like a lot of things in life. It never was perfect. You get it to a point where it's kind of good enough

and you get out there and you try it and you make changes along the way. And I think about even now, maybe when I first started, I had a helmet. I see kids in the neighborhood that I'm in now. Like, everybody wears a helmet. And I think it's law in a lot of places, you have to wear a helmet.

I did not wear a helmet, even in that kind of setup that I had, right? It was just you get on and you ride and you make the best of it. I'm sure I fell a little time or two, but yeah, I'm still here. Well, I was going to ask, what's the worst?

What's the worst crash you ever had? Or do you not, you must not have that, you must have pretty good if you don't have one that sticks out. Yeah, I mean, I think we all crashed at time. Oh, I was going to say, every kid crashes their damn bike. Yeah, we were in a neighborhood that had, and we're in the low country, so you have, like, ditches in front of every house, essentially. And so some of those ditches are not as deep as others.

That was a big thing for us in the neighborhood. Like, we kind of drive in and out of the ditch and, you know, try to make sure you can get out on the other side. So, I mean, there were times I went down, but I don't recall any major scars from the incident. So I'm still here. When I was growing up, you know, we all, we had bikes in the country and we rode them, but pretty early on, as early as as you could, all of us kids wanted to make the switch to a dirt bike. And my, my mother was, was probably the driver of this, she thought somehow in her mind that a three-wheeler, a Honda, ATC, that looked safer to her.

Little did she know that was probably more of a death trap than a dirt bike than a motorcycle. But that's what I had starting out. And I started with a 110 and then I got 185 and then I got a 250R. But I'll never forget riding with my friends and two or three of my friends had little 100 cc dirt bikes and i was like i want to ride matt litweiler i'm like let me try i want to ride your bike well on a three-wheeler you had a foot brake just like a motorcycle and you also had a handbrake okay and on a three-wheeler it didn't matter if you grab both or you grabbed one no different motorcycle whole different deal and i'll never forget the first time i drove that we were coming

down a gravel road came up to stop i grabbed the front brake and that thing just went, bloop, and I went do-d-d-d-do-do. And I remember laying there just like dumbfounded, like, before anything even hurt, I was like, well, now that wasn't supposed to happen. And they're all looking at me like, are you an idiot? Like, what's wrong with you? And that was like, oh, yeah, two wheels is different than three. So it's all what you, you know, I learned more from the mistake than anybody telling me, because they probably did tell me. I just didn't remember it. Yeah, those three-wheelers, those were pretty dangerous. There were probably some people, missing limbs because of things.

People are probably not here because of those things. Yeah. So that's, I'm 53 and one of the common things that friends of mine, those guys that I was good friends with, one of them in particular, he will send me, he'll send me like they're becoming classic. Yeah.

And 250R was the, that was the pinnacle of the three-wheeler I mean, that was the, that was a deal. And he'll send me videos of people selling them, and then he'll send me the old commercials of them, riding them. And when people that didn't grow up in that time look at them, they just look at them like, what were you thinking?

That is an absolute death trap. How did they let you sell that? And, you know, now when I think about it, it's like, yeah, that was pretty dangerous. And the thing is the 250R was actually probably the safest. because if you rolled it, usually you had enough speed that it threw you, it threw you free of it. The slower ones would just roll over on top of you. That's the thing with a lot of things.

You talk about seatbelts and whatnot. Like sometimes you want to be detached from whatever. Exactly right. Yeah. Yeah, for me, you know, just as soon as I got on a bike and got one with multiple speeds and whatnot, like I wanted the go-kart. So that was the transition for me. So I had a go cart shortly after riding a bike.

That's not covered in any of those stories that you have seen. But that was one of those things that meant I wanted one so badly. And some of my friends had one. And finally my dad got to the point, like, okay, okay, we'll get one. And we found one that was just basically a used frame. And then we kind of built up around it and restored it and found an engine to put on it. And it never was, I never had a cage. So my time riding that go cart was limited because my parents never were like fully satisfied with that go cart.

I went out of the cage and some other things like, yeah, I don't know if this is. Bad things. Yeah, exactly. Gotta happen. I was just going to ask you, it kind of might be what you just said. But was there like a childhood experiment that freaked your parents out that you were like, I want to try this and I'm going to try it? And were they like, I don't know about doing that one. Like, was there ever one of those things?

I think looking back on it, it's all those things. Yeah. Right? They did a good job of shielding me from maybe some of those emotions they had. But, you know, with the go-kart, we had a lot of family conversations before that ever happened. Yeah. Yeah. So they were not excited about that at all.

Was it usually easier to get dad on board and then you two try to tag team selling your mom? Or was it a united front? It varied at times. Yeah, there were a lot of times that even dad wasn't on board. And people ask me, like, where? where does that drive come from that you have? And I think, you know, at the early age, things were kind of normal in the house or at least similar to a lot of other households.

So, you know, I was just taught to work hard. And I had those examples from my dad and whatnot. But it got to a point pretty early on that I was probably pushing more than they were comfortable with at times, you know? But it's good. It's still that way now, right? Yeah. Just how I'm wired.

Yeah. What sparked your love for vehicles and cars and just fabing and working on stuff? Was that just because you had, like, where did that come from? That come from, I know that your family farm is in 96, South Carolina. Did that have any impact on just your love for equipment or any of that stuff? That farm didn't, that farm hadn't impacted a lot of other things in my life, but the car component of my life and the fact that I'm kind of car crazy now, that all can be. blamed on my dad.

And then some uncles. Like he's got some uncles in my family that they had they had old cars and things of that nature. And I was the kind of kid at a young age way before I was at the age that I could drive that I knew it was going to happen so much. And I had so much of a passion for it that I would collect like wheel cover sets of certain cars that I knew I was going to have later on. Right?

And I even had some uncles that would like, hey, I had an uncle's. that way before I ever got that first 64 in Palah, he had a couple back in the day and still had a set in his garage and gave me his set of will covers. And I'm like, you know, I'm going to have that at some point. And I'm that way now, too. I've collected parts for certain cars before I ever got the car. Wow. And that's just how my mindset is. Like, it's going to happen, especially if it's a rare part and it's hard to find. Yeah. And other people are like, that's crazy. You don't even have this. Like, well, you know, here it is. It's hard to find. It's going to happen at some point, so I'll go ahead and get it. Yeah. But so when I was one, just I think one or less than

one year old, my dad bought a 1957 Chevy to restore. That was just something he wanted to do. So he was kind of into old cars a little bit at that time. And I think it took him two or three years to restore that car to, you know, nice driving condition. Like not, we don't have hardly anything that's show quality. Like we enjoy our stuff. We drive it. And, but that car, became like a family car. And he still has that car today. So it's been in the family for 40 years. Yeah.

And we would take trips to, my grandparents lived in Indianapolis. We would drive that car to Indianapolis. We'd go to vacation in Florida in that car. We would go all over the place. And so I'm just used to being an old car. My fondest memories of as a child is riding in that 1957 Chevy. Wow.

So that's normal to me. Yeah. Like just being in the interior of an old car and looking out over the dash of an old car is familiar and normal to me. When I get in the newer vehicle, it doesn't feel quite right. Right. And that's kind of where that passion came from. Yeah.

And then I had another, not the one with the wheel covers, but another uncle that had a 1964 Impala. And I think that's where my passion for that car came from. And just, kind of 60s and Palaz in general kind of came from that. So what did the family farm teach you? Because you just mentioned taught you some other things. So what was it like going to the farm and what did you learn from it? I think hard work for one.

And then also what a farm means and what family means. So my mom grew up on that farm in 96, South Carolina. And I haven't spent much of my life there. We had another farm that was in Saluda, South Carolina, that we still have. And I spent a lot of time when I was young going to that farm. So that was my aunt Tjola Blocker. And she was a farmer. She had a dairy cattle. She had chickens. I think before I was born, she had some hogs and things like that nature too. But during the time I was young, it was dairy cattle and chickens. And we were her last, pretty much her last living relatives,

at least that were close by. And we were about three hours away. still in South Carolina, but about a three-hour trip. And we would, especially in her later years, we would make that trip probably two or three times a month to see her. And sometimes more often when she got sick. But she was also a foster parent. And we'd go there and she'd have those foster kids and she'd go out and she'd milk the cows in the morning and she'd get the eggs.

And that was one of the first times I saw somebody shoot a snake. Yeah. She was out there stealing the eggs and just all of that. and just watched her work hard, but then also watched how my parents were devoted to her and making sure that, you know, in her years and as she got older, that she had everything that she needed. And in that passion, like, we still have that farm today. And, you know, yeah, people sell farms and we have those conversations a lot where people do that and I know that you can get the quick money, but that farm means a lot more. To me, it means a lot more to my mom,

for sure than any money could bring. And that farm in 96 that she grew up on, her dad raised beef cattle. He also, he had chickens, he had hogs. He was big into cotton. So that was his biggest thing. It was cotton, wheat, corn, a few things like that. And I think she mentioned he was even recognized in a,

is it a progressive farmer? Probably. He had an article that she has buried somewhere. where he was recognized for just the amount of cotton he was able to yield from that farm during that time. So those are things that I'm proud of, even though he was gone before I was born, but it means a lot, right? It means a lot to my mom as well, right? She grew up there and what her dad was able to build, dad and mom.

And so that means a lot to me. But it just, it's an example of hard work and what you can do in life, right? And I try to apply that to what I do. right like i'm i'm only able to go and do some of the things that i've done whether it be in racing or or other things in life because of those people that that paved the way before me yeah absolutely well i think this is probably kind of a no-brainer question but when you were a kid as you thought about growing up what did you what did you want to be what did you want to do that's a good question because i i did not know really yeah i did not know

Even I got to the point where I was about to graduate from Clemson. It's my senior year. I was in my last semester. And I still didn't know what I wanted to do at that point. You know, I went to Clemson. I didn't have anybody in my family that had an engineering background. I kind of went there even without a solid plan. I was good in science and math and I liked things that were automotive and mechanical.

So it felt like a natural progression to go down that path. And that's what I did. but then I went there and never took a summer off. I went to summer early. I started early in a program they had there. Never took a summer off. And I got close to the end. I was burnt out and had no desire to even do engineering at that point.

Oh, so you had gone. So how many years were you there? So if you didn't take any summers off, you went? Four years. Oh, it took you four years. It took me four years still. Like at that point, I think a lot of guys that I went to, to college with in the engineering and mechanical engineering took more than four years to get through.

But yeah, I did it in four years. My biggest plan was to do it so that I didn't have debt. That was my focus, right? Like I didn't have a ton of guidance and direction in those things. It's just my parents weren't rich. I wasn't. Didn't have a lot of money. So it's like, can I get in and out without a ton of debt?

It was my goal, which wasn't a good plan, right? because I didn't spend time doing co-ops or interning or really figuring out what I really wanted to do. I just ran through, was burnt out, didn't really work for engineering. Yeah, just grinding. And then got to my last semester. And I had a few opportunities. One was a plant in making Georgia. And the other opportunity was, it was weapons projectile testing in Virginia.

Okay. Cool. And that was probably my main option and got close to going down that path. I just felt like that was something that I wasn't going to be passionate about, right? Like I could do it, but it's something I probably wouldn't do for long. And then I found this internship with NASCAR that was going to be at Hendrick Motorsports. And I said, man, this is, it seems like a great opportunity to try out. And even then, my plan was to go to Charlotte and it was a 10-week internship.

I was going to do 10 weeks. And then I was going to law school. that was my plan. I had L-SAT study material that I had purchased and I still have that material somewhere in storage and that was my plan 10 weeks in Charlotte and then I'm going to law school. Wow. And maybe patent law so that I could apply some of the things that I learned in mechanical engineering school but that was the plan and then just got to Hendrick and all that changed. Like that was my plan. That wasn't God's plan. Yeah. Yeah. So how how, because Hendrick, you know, it's like the, it's one of the top brands, right? Like, was it intimidating

walking in there? Like, how, what was your mindset going into the, into Hendrick? Were you like, well, were you a NASCAR fan? Yeah. So you grown up watching NASCAR? Did you know that? So that's what I was going to say. So that part of it wasn't intimidating to me because I wasn't really a fan. Yeah. And that was probably one of the. biggest benefits for me going in. I was aware of Jeff Gordon and things of that nature. I knew who he was, but I had never sat down and watched the full race.

Yep. Wasn't a huge fan. Had no idea what I was really walking into. Like I didn't know if it would be a few garages and some shops. And I got there. And at that time, there were almost 500 people, I think,

in the organization, maybe around 450. It's when they were doing everything. Yeah, yeah. It was about 450 people, I think. And it got to a point where they had like 600 people in the organization. But it wasn't intimidating from the standpoint that like, okay, I'm walking into the Lakers of basketball or the Yankees of baseball.

Yeah. It was intimidating from the standpoint that I had never worked in any environment before, right? I'm just a student. You know, I've done some shadowing and some small things in my local hometown at some job sites, but never really gone into that environment. So that was the part that was like, okay, I'm here now. What can I make of this?

And what am I going to truly do now that I'm here? That part was probably the most intimidating. And to be frank, too, man, I stick out like a sore thumb in that environment, right? Yeah. There's nobody there that looks like me. There's nobody there that has the same background. So there was some unique things to that. But I approach it like I approach everything in life, just kind of make the best of that situation.

And it's not just all about me either. There was one guy there that was huge as far as my transition into Hendrick Murder Sports. And kind of an odd person for him to be, you know, that person that kind of got God me through and take me through that process. But a guy named Randy Stewart was huge in my life at Hendrick Motor Sports and what I was able to do there. he was a former drag racer that worked there and he's just a talented fabricator I could just make anything with his hands

talented welder but Randy lived hard like he he ran hard back in his days and I think at that point he was probably mid to upper 40s but it looked like he was much older than that it's not the years it's the mileage

yeah yeah but I mean he was you know heavy smoker and I got to realize later on that you know heavy drinker as well. And Hendrick Motorsports, even at that point, it turned to the, got to the point

where it became more corporate and had legit HR departments. Randy was still one of those guys that like, like, okay, Randy had to show up for a few days. Everybody just, it's okay. Yep.

You know, he'll be here in a couple days. Just let him, you know, sleep it off. But he helped me realize that I could make that internship more than just a few days and more than just 10, weeks. And he kind of spoke life into me at that point. It's like, like, Richie, you could,

you could, you could do great things here. Like you could see early on that I had talent for that environment. Yep. Even though I didn't have the experience in that environment. And I also think he was helpful in, you know, you have all these other people that are, they're looking at me in some ways because I'm unique and look different, but also the same way that they would look at anybody that walks in the door that's new because like, okay, what's this new person going to do that's going to help us? Right? Like, why is this person here?

And I think some people like Randy, there's another guy named Sarge who works in the parts room, which is where I started off in the back of his parts room. And I'm sure those guys did a lot behind the scenes. Like, hey, get this guy a chance. Yep. You know, I think this guy can do something. And I approached that opportunity the way I approach everything.

Like, I didn't come in there like I know it all. I tried to be a sponge from day one. and up until the last day that I was there working, right? Like, you can walk into any environment and act like you know it all, and you'll never grow. Right. So I think my personality had a lot to do with that, but also the people like Randy and some other people, like Big Mark that I was around, that kind of helped me to become part of the team to the point where I could truly contribute. So how did you move up?

So you started in the parks department, but like what was the progression of your time there? Yeah, so I never did any, I don't want Sarge to see this and get mad. Like I never helped him with his parts. I came in like I was an intern and I was an engineer and they were doing some construction. Like there's always improvements going on to a place like that. But at that time, the engineering group that I was supposed to be a part of did not have a location where they could all be in the same spot. Right. So they just put me in the back of the parts room, which was a good fit for me at that time because

my job on day one was to read the NASCAR for dummies book that they have. You know those yellow for dummies books? Yep. Yep. So that was my job was to read that on day one and basically the first week and I just had a desk back there and it was probably the best thing for me because I was able to develop relationships with people like Sarge and the guys on the shop floor that did the actual work versus starting off at a desk in an office area with a bunch of engineers, I never would have developed some of those relationships that meant so much for my early years there, but also means so much now because, you know, those guys are still like family to me to this day. Yeah. How, because when we had Taylor Moyer on here, you know, he talked

about just how much NASCAR changed with his time there. Did you see that change too? Like when you first started, it seemed like you guys were working on everything. You were fabbing these cars, making changes in a lot of places, and then now it's kind of gotten to a place where you can't make as many changes. And did you see that as your time went on there? Yeah, without a doubt, when I first started there, we were still racing Monte Carlo's. Okay. So those were the cars where, man, it just looked like, the car looked like it was a twisted banana. You know, it just, You look down the side of the car. It's like you just take up and then just twist it and just kind of how the car looked.

It just, it was just a lot of talent went into that. The guys that built those cars, just craftsmen, right? It just, it got so, it is right now so far from that point where it used to be. And I did enjoy that because the car was pretty much built from scratch. Yeah. And those were the guys that I was around and was able to develop relationships with. Right? You just, it started with nothing, just tubing and round and square tubing on walls and on racks and build all that stuff in the chassis shop. And then that car would transition over to the body shop.

And that's where those guys would build the car where, you know, it's twisted one way in the front and another way in the back. And yeah, it changed a good bit. One thing about my early days and kind of how I progressed, like you asked, I started off working on what they called the scale model program, and it was a 40% car that was used for wind tunnel testing. And they had recently started that program at Hendrick Motorsports, I believe in conjunction with General Motors. And that was probably the reason I got a full-time job because they had that opportunity and they had that design need

for someone to help with that program. So I started in there, was designing that car for probably the first year and a half for two years. And the first car was in Monte Carlo. And then the next thing you know, we're changing the body style. So we had to immediately build another 40% car. But it was awesome because I learned to do design work at that level.

But I was also kind of a one-stop shop because I had to learn how to do manufacturing. And I enjoyed the manufacturing component of it more than the design component. And so within a couple of years being at Hendrick Motorsport, I learned from enough guys and kind of taught myself as much as I could how to program C&C machines. So I was designing certain components, but then also doing the programming so that those components could be made as well. And then eventually progressed out of that program to supporting the chassis and body shop,

whether it be fixtures. I did a lot of fixturing in my early years for the chassis shop and the body shop. because when I first got there, those guys were building cars with plum bulbs everywhere, right? That was how you built a car on a chassis plate with a plum bob and things of that nature. But NASCAR was changing. Like the way they were inspecting the cars was changing. So we had to grow with that as well. And there were some growing pains, right?

You've had guys that all their life built cars with plum bobs. And now you're trying to introduce these pharaoh arms and Romer arms into the equation. But we had to because we had to pass inspection that NASCAR. was doing. And so that was a big part of my progression. It was growing with the organization and the sport through those changes. Yeah. You got in on the tail end when you said you were building 40% cars and doing wind tunnel testing. There wasn't a more un-aerodynamic car than a Monte Carlo. You know what I mean? Like NASCAR came from running. You know, the very beginning of NASCAR basically running street cars that they modified,

and then they got to the point where they were taking a, it looked like a street car, but it only looked in name only because it was a full tube chassis underneath. But it's just funny because when I was a kid, girl that I dated in high school, her brother had a Moni SS, you know, and that was a cool car because that was kind of the height. So I graduated 89. And that was right there where NASCAR was just everybody loved NASCAR. And like people wanted to own Ammani SS because it looked like the same car they were racing on. And you don't have that today.

But when you said like wind tunnel testing, Amani Carlo was not an aerodynamic car. Like when you look at what they're running today and that's why they switch to that Impala, GM started, you know, smoothing it out. And today, you know, it's a whole different deal. But I just, I love that because, uh, I knew a lot of people that had a money and a lot of people that wanted one, you know. And then they, the first step of that was they made the arrow coop. Yeah. Where the, the back end behind the rear window used to be flat.

And then because of NASCAR, GM made the, made the arrow coop. And they tried really hard to make, you know, people like, oh, that's cool. It wasn't cool. terrible on Monty Carlo, but everybody's like, all right, we'll give it to him because it's NASCAR. But then it wasn't very long after that that they transitioned. Yeah, and all that stuff was before my time, but I remember even when I was my early days at Hendrick Motorsports, some of the GM engineers that were involved with the design of that ArrowCoop were around and part of the R&D that we were doing.

So it was cool just to see that progression and hear some of those things from those guys. Yep. So as you kind of as you kind of settled in there like the like that that that bug of trying to make something better and trying to, was that was that like what kept you there? Was the just the constant trying to raise the bar? Trying to find trying to find because as NASCAR changed the competition, the difference between cars. and difference between racing teams just kept getting narrower and narrower. So you just had to find every little, any point that you could get an advantage. And was that like, did you enjoy that part of it?

Yeah, that's why being at Hendrick Motorsports was the best fit in the world for me, especially at that age. And I didn't know it, right? I wasn't trying to get there, but it was the best fit because you're always trying to find that edge. you're constantly having to live in the gray area because that's where you win races. Like if you're not working in that gray area,

you're going to be in the back of the pack. But just being in an environment where you constantly have to improve, you constantly have to grow, and you can't get stagnant. We'd get points in our racing time that we would win two or three races in a row or dominate races over the course of 10 races,

but it happens quickly, right? Some other competitor will find some advantage. And next thing you know, you're struggling to get top tens. So even while you have success, you're constantly developing and doing R&D work to try to find new things that maybe even you don't implement at that time, but you implement those things later on. So it was from that environment, it's awesome.

But it takes a lot too because it's the kind of sport that it never stops. Right. You know, on the average back then, I think it was like 36 weekends a year. So it's basically 36 weeks out of the year that you're racing. And as soon as even when the season's over, at that point, you're already starting to build chassis for the next year. Right? So it never really stops.

And if you're building chassis and frames at that point for the next year, you need to have some development in that so that whatever you're going to bring out for the first few races of the year is new and better, right? Because your competition is going to do the same thing. So in the off season, you're gearing up. There really is no off season, right? For the most part, it is for the drivers and they deserve it. But, you know, there is no real off season

because you're grinding and getting ready to make sure that you start that season the same way or better than you did last season. And you guys would build chassis like per track. Like you would run a different chassis. a different track. Does that be right? Yeah, yeah. For the most part, we would typically have cars that the Super Speedway chassis would be similar

and then you'd have intermediate chassis and bodies and then you'd have road course or you'd have short track and in those cases you'd position weight in different places on the body and build different components slightly different. And the pivot points for the front clip

or some geometry in the rear clip would be different from one track to the other, or at least one package to the other, and those would be the differences. You talked about getting that edge is what kept you there and just kept things interesting and kept the fire and passion going, but the winning had to have been nice too, right? Like the camaraderie of you guys, did you win nine NASCAR Cup championships while you're there? Seven with Jimmy Johnson, right? Yeah, so seven with Jimmy Johnson that was a part of, and those are the seven.

that like I really claim. The other two, I was more involved on the government and military side of the business. Okay. But yeah, I was there for all of Jimmy Johnson's championship. So I got there the year before his first championship and we won five in a row. So during that, but even before he won his first championship

and right when I got there, I can remember the company was in a little bit of a slump and I can remember in some of the team meetings that they had at that time, Mr. Hendrick was trying to get everybody kind of out of that slump. up and get back to the winning pedigree of the organization. But the organization had gone through a lot at that point because I got there a year after

the plane crash that Hendrick Murder Sports went through because one of my earliest memories was all of the employees getting together in one of the large parking lots that we have to remember the fallen teammates from that accident. Right. So the company and the organization and team had gone through a lot. And then they weren't really winning at the level that they were used to. And then in 2006, things really picked up. And Jimmy won his first championship and five in a row.

And then seven total. And I got to the point right at the after that seventh championship. And at that point, I'd gone from being an intern to I was leading the vehicle design group. at that point after that last championship, but it didn't drive me the same way. And like you mentioned, the sport had changed a lot. People come and go, right? Some of those people I mentioned, like Randy Stewart, that meant a lot to me and some other people from my early days.

Like, those people had already passed away at that point, right? Like, things had changed a lot, and I wasn't driven as much about the racing and the winning as I used to be. And for me, like, if I'm not and I'm in that kind of environment, then it's time to make a change. Yeah. I also believe in that kind of competitive environment. If you don't have that passion and drive, then you shouldn't be there.

Right. Because it's not fair to everyone else. So is that kind of what pushed your decision that you decided it was time to move on? It was time to do something. Yeah, that was a big part of it. I remember giving my notice. It was after a race win. And I was watching that win.

I was at home watching the win. And I think we won the race. And it might have been a race to Jimmy. one, but there was another car during that same race that had a failure, one of our cars had an issue. And part of my responsibility, it's like, man, you got to dive into that issue and the problem reports and investigating that. And there's always a lot of politics that goes into that too, right? Because it's a tough deal. If a part fails on the track, it's like, what is it? Is it, if we outsource that part, is it on a supplier? Is it something that we designed

that failed or is it how it was assembled on the car? And you can imagine with anything like that, like you're having to go around to these different departments and everybody's protecting themselves, right? So it's just, it's a challenging deal to have to go through that each time. And I just remember watching that race. And it's like, man, I don't even enjoy the fact

that we won this race. All I can think about is on Monday morning. The problems. I've got to deal with these problems with this other car. And at that point, I was 12 years into it. And my last two years there, I was, while I was also leading the vehicle design group, I was pursuing my MBA. Okay.

So while I was trying to deal with all those things at the work level, I was going back to school and getting the MBA, which was a whole other level of responsibility and grind. And I was close to the end of that process too. And I'm like, you know what? I'm going to transition and do something a little bit different. It's time to take a little bit of a break from this and find something that maybe I'm more passionate about. So you didn't know what you were going to do when you decided to leave Hendrick? I did not.

I did not. I think grad school probably helped me in that sense that I had a mindset and I've always had this mindset. Even today with some things I'm pursuing, it's like, you know, it's going to work. I'm going to make it work out. And usually when I have that mindset, something better comes out on the other end of that process. But yeah, I didn't have a firm idea of what I wanted to do. I had some interest in some things, and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to even pursue those things if I was working full-time in that racing environment. Because the way I was wired and the way I am now, it's all in to the point where sometimes that goes too far, right?

Because sometimes I don't have the necessary balance and I don't prioritize the other things in my life that I might need to, whether it be family or faith or whatever or friends. So I was all in to the point where, man, it's time to step away to even pursue some of these other things. And at that point, I was interested in getting into athletics. Now, I was spoiled a little bit because I came to Hendrick Motorsports and I'm in this team environment. Yep. And I realized that this is perfect for me. I enjoy competition. I like the team component.

How can I do this in a way that impacts other people more than what I'm doing when I'm mostly at. at a computer for most of the day. Yep. Or around the same people that I've been around for the same 12 years. And so I stepped away, took some time, and started at that time pursuing the athletic path to see if there was something I could do in collegiate athletics. And I realized quickly, too, that it was going to be hard to get those doors to open up, right?

And sometimes it's just timing when you pursue those things, right? Sometimes those doors open up. And those are also the moments for me in my life when I, it hits me and I realized, okay, I am different. I don't have arms. And other people struggle with that. Yep, yeah. Right?

And that was one of those times where I knew all that I had accomplished on paper. You know, if I pulled out my resume and I had at that time, over 500 people that I had worked with that knew what I could bring to an organization, my work ethic and talent in that kind of environment that could speak for that. But I'm now going out into the world that people that don't know anything about me and they're like, can you, can you, can you, like, how do you, how are you going to get here? Like, you can't drive. You know, all these different things. And I'm like, here we go again.

In my mind, I'm like, yeah, like, I thought we were past this. And one thing I've had to realize even recently is like, well, for me, I don't think I'm ever going to get past that. and I just have to realize that and embrace it and navigate that the best way I can because there have been some moments even recently that hit me like, man, like again, you know, like, this is after you've looked at my resume and I'm pursuing this opportunity that I'm interested in and this is still coming up an issue. These are still questions that I was recently talking to somebody about an opportunity

before I decided to pursue the path of doing more speaking and prioritizing that in my life. but I was looking at an opportunity at a local hospital, and it was a role similar to what I'd had previously in the chief of staff position. And, you know, a very nice person, but, you know, she looked at my resume, and she was someone that was connected to the person that was overseeing that position. So I'm just trying to talk to someone that's kind of a recruiter that can maybe get me in the door to talk to the person that has some hiring responsibility. and she kind of went through my resume for a while and we talked for about 40, 45 minutes,

and after all that conversation, and she had talked to two or three people that worked with me even in that collegiate environment. And the question was, you know, but if somebody needs you to send an email or a text quickly, like, is that something you can do or do you get somebody else to do that for you? Man, here we go again, you know, but I think it was frustrating. it definitely is frustrating in those moments. But the way I look at everything, there's positive that can come out of that.

And the way I look at that, it's like, man, I could spend a lot of time continuing to try to wait for and ask for and beg for doors to open or I can try to go knock down my own walls in a different direction. Yeah, I was just thinking about as you were talking there, and I think we're all this way.

We don't really realize this, but... Like when you were at Hendrick, all that time that you were there, you kind of build yourself a bubble. You build what your normal is. And then, and we're all this way, we get really comfortable with the people around and the job we're doing and how we perceive everything. And so then you just assume that you can go over here and it's going to be the same experience. And then you're like, wait, to your point, you're like, we've got to. I do this all over again.

And no, we do. We all do. Yeah, I think if I have one flaw, it's often just looking at life through my lens and not through the lens that people see me. And usually it knocks me, knocks me back a little bit when I realize the lens that they view me from, but I probably could benefit from thinking about how others view me more often. It might help to navigate some of those situations a little bit better. Yeah. It's life.

It's hard, though. You know, whether you're not, I mean, even us, like doing this podcast, you know, people listen to it and that, you know, somebody comes up to and they're like, oh, man, love your podcast. Love your podcast. Or if you're an athlete, it's like, I think it's just hard. When somebody comes up to you and you're just doing your job, you're just doing the thing that you love or it's just who you are, whatever it is, it's hard for anybody to just

perceive what that person looks at because you feel like, well, this is just what I do or this is just the way that I am, you know, like there's nothing to it, you know, but it's just hard to take yourself to what that person's perceiving you. So I think you're not alone in that. I think you're right. And I think for me to be my best version of myself, I have to be in that mindset where I'm just focused on what's in front of me and grinding. Yep.

Right. If I step away and early on when I was still at Hendrick and had opportunities to speak at that time, that was my biggest issue. It's like, well, I have to stop. this mindset that I have and now put my like put these different set of glasses on to kind of look at life in the way that other people look at me. And at that point, that was difficult for me to do. Right? Because I'm just, I want to grind. Yeah. I just want to do it. Like I don't want to think about how some other people might view how I'm navigating life because in my mind at that time,

that's just slowing me down from the grind. Right. Yeah. So you make the jump from NASCAR to chief of staff at University of Virginia football, right? Yeah, so I left the racing side. And then for a while there, a buddy of mine left racing a few months after I did. And this never was the plan, but we both were out of racing. I was pursuing the athletic stuff at that time. Couldn't get a lot of people to talk to me or get any doors to open up. But at the same time, people in that environment,

environment, the racing environment in that Charlotte area, they knew of me. And I had some people that would reach out, like, hey, we've got some engineering projects. Would you be interested? And so they had this buddy that left engineering around the same time, or left Hendrick around the same time. And we weren't planning to do this, but we ended up starting a business. And I just got out of grad school with a focus in grad school and an MBA on entrepreneurship. Like, you know what? I've saved up a little money. Let's give this a shot. you know, let's just do this. I don't know that this is really what I want to do, but it's something we can earn a little bit of money while we're both trying to figure out what we really want to do.

So that's what we started doing. And for about a year and a half, we did various projects for different people. But one of the, a couple of the projects that we did ended up being for Hendrick Motorsports. So outside of the racing component, Hendrick was starting to dabble in some of the military work at that time. And there was a project that they were trying to give new life to. It's something that had some life in the past that they did for some special forces groups and kind of died away. And then there was some interest again. And we started working on that. And it started to develop and get more interest to the point that at the end of 2018, they made me an offer to come back and just lead that part. And in my mind, I'm like, okay, this is different. It's, it's, it's,

It's away from the racing side. It's a much smaller group. And I'll be able to kind of help guide just this. Yep. And so I went back and did that for three years until finally got the opportunity to work on a collegiate football team. So I had a connection through Virginia. They had a head coach change.

And a friend there that got the opportunity to be the head coach. And that's how it, that's how I made that transition. We talked for a while and said, hey, I really would at some point like to help a football program and be able to make an impact with young people, but also be in a competitive environment. And it was a great fit in a lot of ways early on for me to step into that role. So I started doing that in 2022. Okay. So yeah, I did that for about two and a half years.

But it's like a lot of things. You get into it. And some things changed and just think long term, for the long term vision that I had for myself and some of the core values that are important to me, that alignment wasn't there long term. And that's where I got to the point recently where it's like, man, it is time to pivot

and maybe take this opportunity more seriously of making an impact on more than just the organization that I'm linked to in that moment and maybe go out and do things on a larger scale. and have more of an impact and let God use me in that way. It's the family and friends event at Shoppers Drugmark. Get 20% off almost all regular priced merchandise. Two days only.

Tuesday, April 28th and Wednesday, April 29th. Open your PC optimum app to get your coupon. Okay, well, I got to ask about this. So growing up as a kid, was your family, were you Clemson fans? So my dad's brother, so my uncle, he went to school at, Clemson. And he was a guy that went there. There's a guy named Harvey Gant that went to Clemson was the first African American to attend Clemson University. And my uncle was there during the time he was there. So he was the first guy. My uncle was there maybe around the time that guy

was about to graduate. Okay. So, you know, I heard so much about Clemson when I was growing up from him. And he had some challenges during that time, you know, being that first wave of African Americans to go to school there. But he was so passionate about. Clemson. Yeah. Like regardless of the challenges, that was his school. Yep. And I grew up as a fan of Clemson because of that, because of him.

Because my dad went to a smaller school in Greenwood, South Carolina. Yep. A school called Lander University. So yeah, growing up, I was passionate about Clemson, was a big fan of anything. Clemson when I was in high school and I applied to five schools total. I got scholarships from every school except for Clemson, but I got accepted into Clemson. So you went there.

Yeah, and I had enough independent scholarships and some other things that my plan was I'd use up those other scholarships as much as possible and then take out loans and things of that nature to kind of get through the tail end of my time there at Clemson. But I wanted to go to Clemson University. And then you went back, you got your MBA there. Yeah, yeah, I went back 10 years later

and got my MBA while I was still working in Charlotte. So that was full-time working, and it was a lot of nights classes, and then we would have weekend residences where we would all join up in Greenville, South Carolina for the business campus and spend basically Friday through Sunday in class. Yeah. And then I'd drive back to Charlotte and start going on Monday. So my question is, when you accepted that job at Virginia, Did you feel a little bit like you were

You were meeting somebody at the motel six? Like you were like, oh boy, I don't know. This is like. Some of those things, you know, early on felt a little bit weird once I finally got to Virginia. Yeah. One good thing for me, like even being at Hendrick Motorsports, not being a fan early on,

I realized the value of a team and the dynamics of a team. like Hendrick Motor Sports to me means something completely different to people that have never worked there. They see it like Yankees or the Lakers and to me it's the people that I mentioned like it's the Sarge, it's Big Mark, it's all those people, it's Randy Stewart,

like it's the people that make up the organization. And so realizing that and being in that environment that whole time, it didn't matter to me where I got an opportunity to get into college athletics because I knew it was going to be about the people. And my goal, really I did not want to really get into Clemson and start there because. You had pre, because you were a fan.

Yeah, because I'd go in like a fan and that's not the right way to approach it. Because as soon as you get in there, like, it's real work. And you get to Virginia and you're dealing with like real challenges that people are having, especially in that dynamic. You know, you got 125 or 130 young men in the program and maybe 50 staff. staff members and everyone's got something going on, right? Every single day somebody has something going on. You go in there like a fan, you're not prepared to deal with that.

Right. You're not prepared to go in there with the necessary empathy that's required to deal with every situation. So I think it's tough to go into any environment if you're a fan of it because the reality is going to hit you in the face. That's some good self-awareness there for sure. So what was your role as chief staff? What were you doing?

What were your main things that you were kind of focusing on there? Yeah, my role as Chief of Staff was to do whatever it took to get the job done. And a lot of times to make sure things were taken care of before it got to the head coach level. Gotcha. One of my big responsibilities as Chief of Staff was to manage the budget for the program. So the finances for the program, I had oversight of all of that. So expenses that went through the program, but then also I was the liaison to student financial services for all of our guys as they get stipends. Oh, wow.

That whole process is in the process of changing right now. That was a lot too, right? So you've got stipends that go out every month, and we had 85 guys on scholarship, and you have other guys that aren't on scholarship that receive different aid, need-based aid and things of that nature at times. So just helping and supporting all those guys through that, but then also helping with supporting staff. So staff transitions in and out of the program and things that they have going on and making sure they're aware of certain things

from an HR standpoint within the university. Also helping with transitions. So a lot of it was just logistics within a program or that you'd have within any organization. So it also would assist with guys that are coming in and transferring in and out of the program. with finding housing in the in the local area. So yeah,

it was a lot of whatever it took. But I tell people in a role like that, like in one moment, you're dealing with a multimillion dollar budget that you have to oversee. You're having meetings with the business office on those topics. And the next moment you're dealing with trash

that hasn't been taken out or toilets that are stopped up. Those things have to be addressed ASAP. And if it's, and football is every day of the week. Like there's no real weekend either, right? So if those things happened on Saturday or Sunday and the facilities crew was out, like there were times I can remember

I had to go down with a screwdriver and work on one of the toilets just to get it to stop running, right, during a weekend because facilities wasn't there and wasn't able to respond. Yep. So it's whatever it took. It's like, man, if we got mice running through this building

because we've got all this construction going on and all of a sudden we have some mice running through, like I need to make sure that that gets handled. Yeah. That means I need to go to lows and I need to get some traps and, and that's what we did. And we caught mice for a couple of weeks until we got that under control. So really a whole different set of skills. Yeah.

Dealing with a whole different, you had to like, yeah, a whole different deal than working in CAD and working with C&C and building parts. but at the end of the day, you had done that at Hendrick long enough that you knew a big part of your business was actually people. Yeah. And every business is that way. At the end of the day,

to be successful in anything, your skill might be engineering or CAD or HR or whatever, but it's people. So I think that's a, if I dig deep down, that's a big reason why I left Hendrikal Murt's Sports as well, because the people there and a lot of people in that industry would view me as just an engineer

and often just a designer. And I knew deep down there's so much more to me than that. And when you do something at the same place for so long, the opportunities to do something different are often limited. But I knew, like, the reason I was, if you want to call it successful during my time at Hendrick Motorsports was because of my. ability to work with people and navigate relationships. And like a lot of times I was one of the few engineers that could go on the shop floor and have heart-to-heart conversations with the guys on

the shop floor. And that didn't happen overnight, right? That took time to develop that level of respect. Four years into it, I received a reward, an award from Hendrick Motorsports called the Papa Joe Hendrick Award. And it's something that's voted on by your other teammates there. And I was still pretty young at that time after being there at the company. I think it's four or five years of being there. And I can remember one of the guys in the shop floor. I think it was Jay Stevens.

I think that they read a quote when they gave me the award at the end of the year that he viewed me as a racer. Right. And to me that meant a lot because I wasn't what you typically consider a racer. Right. And those guys that grew up in racing their whole life, like that meant something to them. And it should have, right? They've grown up in it.

They're racers. They've done it their whole life. And they got to a point where they were doing it at the highest level at Hendrick Motorsports. And a lot of those guys would view some of the things like my path and some other people's paths into the engineering world and into racing. Like we skipped some steps. Right. Right. But in the short time, I was able to show those guys that I was there for the right reasons and there to support.

them and be one of them and help them innovate and be a small part of helping to win races to eventually be seen as one of them and a racer just like them. You know, that meant a lot. But in all of those things, man, it's just about people. And if people are seen and it doesn't matter whether it's racing or if it's in football, if people know that you care about them and you see them for who they are, man, you can move mountains. You really can.

And I knew that there were things in life that I could do more on that level that I would never be able to do if I just stayed in front of that computer screen designing parts. Yep. Amen to that. NIL, were you on the tail end of that? Did that, was that, that come after? Yes.

Okay. Because I was going to, I wanted to ask you your perspective or just your thoughts on NIL as a whole, especially with your experience as chief of staff. Would that just, does that, Do you think that's just added a complex layer that's just like makes it, makes it difficult? I think right now we're at a point where what NIL was last month is different than what it is this month. Yeah. It's changing so much.

Yeah. When I first got there, yeah, there wasn't a whole lot of that going on. The second year, it starts to pick up where some of your star players or there's some things in place there in that environment where they're able to get, compensated for their name, image, and likeness. And now it's getting to the point. And I think there's a ruling that's going to come out here soon where pretty much everybody on the roster at the top schools are going to get compensated in some way.

So, yeah, that's a big part of it, too, for me. When I really wanted to get into athletics, I had that passion around 2014 or 15. Couldn't get any doors to open at that time. Collegiate athletics is a lot different in, 2015 than it is in 2022 even when I finally got in the door and then a lot different today than even when I started in 2022. It's a lot of the reasons and the core values that I really wanted to be a part of it have changed. All that being said, I'm hopeful that there's enough people still involved that want it to be what it has been about for a long time that will eventually put some of the things in place that the athletes can get compensated for.

for things that they should be able to get compensated for, but other things still are important as well, right? Like an academics component of it, guys can say all day long that, you know, they're there just to play basketball or they're just to play football, but that time is very short, and then they have to go live life. So I think any structure around collegiate athletics

that doesn't prioritize academics and the life skills that they need after football or basketball or baseball or whatever sport they're playing, I think is destined to fail, at least for the participants that are involved. So hopefully there's enough people involved that can get that under control because I think that's needed. Yeah, for sure. So let's transition to what you're doing today. So you're speaking and you've spoken to NASA, Dow Chemical Sports Teams. What's the core message that you want people to hear when you speak? Yeah, my core message is, about resilience and overcoming obstacles.

And when I first started speaking, did not want to speak, right? Like I started speaking because people heard of my story through ESPN, and it was a lot of just talking about my background and my story. But I have changed a lot even in that time and have experienced a lot more. And what I'm now working on developing is just a message to improve mindsets, right? but just using my life as an example of that, but helping people to strengthen their mindset so that they can be resilient through the challenges

that they're going through and overcome the things that they're going through and essentially what I call it just live a complete life, whatever that means for you and whatever success means for you. I think people get caught up in that word success. I feel like I'm in an environment right now where this is success, man.

You can tell you guys are doing what you want to do and you're passionate about. At the same time, there's a lot of other things around you here at this farm that you love doing as well. But, man, you've come a long way to probably get to this point. Right? There's a lot of distance that has been traveled to get here. And to me, that's a big component of success. And just that distance traveled.

And sometimes we get wrapped up in the money and the houses. And I'm speaking to myself here too, like the cars. Yeah. Right? But that's not truly success. like success can be part of the cars right if that's something you enjoy and you're passionate about and that brings you joy which it does in my case but and true success is being able to overcome whatever you've gone through in life whether it's trauma or setbacks that you've had in your life

just to come out of that on on the on the other end and better than you were when you were going through that challenge like that's that's what it's really all about and and and I realize the impact that can make on other people now, a lot more than I did in the past when I was younger, and I believe it's critical. I've had feedback from a lot of people at times when I was able to speak that were at some very critical pivotal points at their lives, right? Like it's dealing with trauma or at the point where they're depressed and at a point where that pivotal decisions that they're making in their lives. And it's like, man, if I can go in and be authentic and be truly my this really can make an impact on others.

And I think that's important. And that's important for me too, because the reason I have avoided this in the past is a lot of what I saw in that world or in that industry of motivation, and I struggle with that whole word of motivation. What that really means did not seem authentic to me in a lot of ways.

And I still struggle with that, but I believe now that I can step into that world, be my authentic self, and make an impact, regardless of how others might approach that same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Success is, it's different for everybody, and it changes as your age. And, you know, success to Sawyer is, you know, whatever, trying to build all the business

he is. And at 53, success to me is being able to take a nice nap. time I want to. Like, I feel like, oh, man, that's, I have arrived. I'm going to go in and, uh, I'm going to take a nap. He always, he likes to under, he likes to downplay, like how much he likes being in the, being in the board room or like making decisions. Like, he always like, oh, if I can just have a mower with a swivel coozy on it, I'll just be satisfied. And I'm like, you're so full of shit. You, he loves making decisions. He likes to suck just as much as everybody. I To me, like, success, it's always one of those things that I think you said to, it changes.

But I get the most fulfillment out of solving problems and going through stuff that's hard. I mean, it sucks sometimes, but like you get on the other side of it, like you're saying, whether it, whatever it is, it just gives you this sense of accomplishment that nothing else can give you, you know? And that's something that I try to. but like you said it's sometimes it's hard to balance things you get out of balance because you're so focused on that one thing that you're going for that other other things suffer because of it so you got to just kind of watch it a little bit i hear you yeah yeah years ago like all i wanted to do was problem solve yeah like that's when when people even at that point mentioned like rich you should

go speak you should you know try to go out and inspire other people and like no i want a problem solve yeah right to me in my mind success was accomplishments within that organization and in that workspace. And I couldn't view it as anything but that.

Yeah. But 10 years later, I see it a lot differently, right? Like you said, being able to have a nap whenever you want to, like for me, being able to just go across country

and drive basically a thousand miles to come see you guys. Yeah. Yeah. Like, they had the freedom to do that, like that success. You know,

the next few years, as I make more progress, like being able to just have free time and say, hey, I want to go spend a couple weeks just with my dad down there in his shop and piddled around with him. Like, while my parents are still healthy enough, like that success to me. Yep. And that's what I'm trying to get to that point where, you know, that's the priority. But things change, man. Like, like I said, 10 years ago, you couldn't convince me to even think this way, right?

I'm thankful of this mindset right now. And I think there are things that I can tap into that still drive me on that same way, be able to problem solve and things of that nature. And that's kind of my goal right now is to tap into some of those things as well, but also prioritize some other things that are important that in my mind would define success for me. And the big part of it I realize now is when I'm able to make an impact, and even when I was working in football, it doesn't matter if it was the players that you're making an impact with, you know, student athletes or student managers that were

working for us, just volunteering or if it's staff, you know, making an impact in the lives of those people, like, that success to me means more than the race wins did even when I was at Hendrick, right? So as I get older, that kind of stuff means more to me as I move forward. What, you might already said it on the show, but like what, when you speak, what's a story or a point that you feel like really hits home for people when you're speaking that it's like, man, you get the most reaction from that or people like, man, when you said this, this just really put things in perspective for me of resilience in my life. Yeah, I've been thinking about a few stories here recently. And I think a lot of times when I do talk about the early

days of being at Hendrick and navigating some of those scenarios and then diving into the bike in the early days, but then also learning to drive a car and in the process of even getting that car and how all that kind of was a part of my story. And just tying all those things together because for me, it's not, I never lived a life where there was one incident, right? Like a lot of, there's some people that speak on certain topics where they had like one traumatic incident that happened in their lives. And for me, the theme is what I deal with is every single day and it's constant. And oftentimes the biggest challenge that I have in life is the perception of other people. Yep.

Right? Being people just looking at me and underestimating me and having to navigate that on a regular basis. but navigating that with empathy that allows people to see that, okay, yes, I'm capable to do capable of doing these things, but also maybe allowing them to see that they're capable of doing more than they realize and there's other people in their lives that are capable of doing more than than they realize. So just that going in with that kind of message because that's one thing I struggle with the whole motivation concept because if you, there are some speakers or people just, or entertainers, right?

They get people all psyched up and they're all energized and everybody in the room is bouncing off the walls and then then tomorrow happens. We call that toxic positivity. And there are, I believe that there are people who, like how did we explain that? Like, people go to all these events. they like they go to everything they read every book listen to everything that they can listen to but they don't do shit about it in their life and it's like almost like it's almost like it's like self-growth masturbation

like you just are like all in on that all the time that's what you dive into but you don't change anything about it you know about your life you know and that's where I'm at like it's got to be actionable steps yeah like you really want to make changes and there's even a story that sometimes talk about. So back in 2012, the end of 2012, Christmas 2012, I stepped on the scale at 167 pounds, and I'm pretty sure I was at 170 at one point.

I have to stand on my tippy toes to be five feet tall. That's way too much for me to be carrying around, right? But even for me at that point, at Christmas, I realized, I didn't realize I'd gained that much weight. And I'm like, man, this is, this is a problem. Like, I've got to make some changes. And so for me, it's actionable steps. And I've got some issues from birth that are beyond being born without arms.

Man, I've hip dysplasia in both hips that's constant pain, right? But at that point, 10 years ago, or 2012, 13, I could do a little bit more than even I could now, really. But so I started just walking a little bit. Like I got to make some changes. I'm going to start walking. It could be just around my house at first. Then get to the point where I'm walking a quarter mile and then a half mile and then got to the point where I could walk a mile.

And I think even when that ESPN video was shot, I was probably around 145 pounds at that point. I'd lost almost 20 pounds or so, which was big for me. But I was on a big path still. So by the end of that year, the end of 2013, I lost a total of 50 pounds. I got to the point where I was regularly under 120. Yeah. And for me, that was a time. Like, I've always been a hard worker.

I've always knew what it meant to work hard, but I did not know discipline, really, until I did that and went down that path. Did not know what discipline truly meant and consistency meant. And I got to the point where, man, I couldn't run around my house. house and then I was running 5Ks. Now I look back on that and I probably shouldn't have because even I had doctors at that point sitting with your hips, this is not helpful, you know, the impact of that. But I was stubborn at that time too, right? Once I started making progress, it's like, it's addicting. I'm going to, yeah, whatever comes, I'll deal with it. I'm going after this. You know, I'm going to get

to the point where I can run 5Ks. So I did that and made huge progress. So for me, even that, like, knowing that it takes that grind. Like it takes, it doesn't matter what happens that day, even at Hendrick when I was working there, how long the day was. I'm going to carve out 30 minutes to go to this park that I spent most of my time in

and I'm going to run my one or two miles or whatever it takes because that's a part of my routine. Yep. Right? And just helping other people to understand that and use myself as an example, a small example, but that they can also then,

evaluate their own lives to say, you know what? There's some things that I can make changes in my life as well, right? And I ended up, I went to grad school, then got away from that routine and that discipline and gained some way back and then started working on something different at Hendrick and then went to football. And it's a grind that in my role, I just did not take care of myself at all and got to the point we're put a little bit more on. But since even December, I'm down about 10 pounds.

Yeah. And my goal is to do another, right, five to ten. Yeah. And over the course of the next spring and summer. So, but to me, too, as I get older, that discipline is carried over to not just the physical exercise, but what I'm eating. I cook a lot more my own food now. And regularly, I'm air-frying vegetables that I'm seasoning the way I want to season. Man, 10 years ago, I'd have never done those things.

Yeah. I'm going to take out and I'm going to grab some food and I'm going to go home and eat it. Whatever they put in that food and whatever processed stuff is in there, I'm just going to eat it. So I've made a lot of changes from that standpoint. You know, still every now and then I'll go to a Chick-fil-A or something like that, but those times and days are limited now. So just the discipline, it has helped me a lot of ways too because there's growth in that discipline. Right.

You learn so much about yourself about what you're capable of that you didn't even realize. you were capable of. Yep. I think that that is, like I think that trumps everything else. Like it, you can have, you can have great ideas.

You can be very intelligent. You can be super ambitious. You can be, all the things. But if you don't have discipline, you can't get there. Because it is, it is discipline is what gets you it gets you to the top of the mountain and consistency yeah

because it ambition will win you the day that'll win you the day but can you win a little bit every day yeah and when you lose a day when you lose a day discipline is what keeps you going And I mean, everything that we do, the difference between, the difference between success and failure is just whether you can just keep. And I probably use this analogy all the time. It's that pound the stone, you know, because the consistency, you may not see that result. You may not see that result for months, but you're never going to know if you call it. quit, you know. That stone's going to break at some point.

Just got to keep pounding it. Yeah. It's discipline, you know, just acting, acting on what you know you need to do despite how you feel. That's like, if you can do that, man, you're, that's what the greats do. That's what anybody that's great, it's in anything that they're doing, if they can do that and show up and do the work when they don't feel like it. Yeah.

I mean, anything worth having in life, you're going to get it based on pushing through on those days that suck. Yep. Like the good days, it's easy for anybody to show up on those days. But the days that suck, the days that you don't want to do it, like when you're able to push through on those days, that's when you get to the point where things become successful. I think that's a big part of my message too.

And as a coach Lawson leave down at a Duke that says, like you just learn to do hard better. I think those are the people that excel at life because it doesn't get easier. right like I said for me you know the challenges are every day right it's not like there's one incident that happened 10 years ago that I overcame I'm telling you about and everything's great now or I was able to embrace it now like I have to embrace it every single day right so you just learn to you develop a mindset to do these hard things better these things that suck like life is beautiful I believe it's awesome and I I smile a lot because I enjoy

joy life, man. I try to get joy out of life. But there are times that suck. Like, you can't sugarcoat it. Right. But, like, working through and navigating those times that suck. Like, that's how you excel. Mm-hmm. 100%. Well, we'd be, we'd regret if we didn't talk a little bit about cars. So, you know, you're in Pala. The first car you got and made it your own, tell us about that story of making that, making that car your baby and kind of, driving your first car and all that. So that's an interesting story, even how that car came about. So I was like 64 in Palace for a long time. Growing up, my home church was close to that area of 96.

It's a little town called Mount Carmel, but it's right outside of McCormick, South Carolina. About three hours from where I grew up in Beeford. We would make that trip typically every second and fourth Sunday of the month. So about twice a month, we're in a car going three hours one way. to church back to where my parents kind of grew up and we still have family in that church. One day when we're going to church, maybe about halfway on that trip, we passed by a house. It was like a mobile home, I believe, a couple mobile homes on the side of the road,

normal place that we see all the time, and there was a 64an palace sitting out there. We'd never seen it before. You know, it's not typically there. So I think I begged my dad, like, let's just stop real quick. And we're heading to church. We don't have much time. I think he willingly pulled over quickly. We stopped by, I think it was on the way to church, maybe not coming back.

We stopped by and gave them a card because that's, you know, when you're hunting things, they're just interested in things. That's how you do. You leave them a card to leave some information. Ended up that the person at that home did not own that car. They said they were just working on it for someone. It's like, okay, well, I figured we'd never hear anything about that again. So a few months later, we would take vacation a lot of times down in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Florida and at the thing called the Turkey Run, a big car show they have down there. And at night, after the show that they have at the Speedway, a lot of people get together at this place called Bel Air Plaza, which is down near the strip. And you have people down there just hanging out and people are selling cars and things of that nature or just cruising through. And we were looking at another 64 and Powell out there that night, just looking at it. And there was another guy standing there looking at the same car. We did not know this guy at all.

I just started to strike up a conversation. Started talking to him a little bit and come to find out, this guy is from the same area of McCormick that my dad and mom are from. Started talking a little bit more and we're like, yeah, we recently saw a car down there and left the information. And this guy was the owner of that car. That's pretty awesome. In South Carolina.

And here we are meeting down at Bel Air Plaza in Daytona Beach. And come to find out, like his wife, and other people he's connected to. I went to the same high school as my dad and just a lot of connections. But at the car, he was getting it worked on by somebody else. It had a few issues. He wasn't driving it a whole lot at the time.

He wasn't trying to sell it, but he was kind of, you know, he'll think about it. A few weeks or months later, he reached out and he was like, okay, I'll sell it. And that's how it happened. That same car we had seen like months before. How old were you at that point? I think I was probably around 16 or something like that.

Yeah, right at prime time. Yeah, probably about maybe 15 or 16. I was close to driving age. What, so you guys get this car, what, what's it got in it? What's the motor in it? The wrong motor. Yeah, somebody had put a 305 in it. Oh, man.

It was pretty peppy. They had done some work to it. Like it wasn't your typical 305. But to me, I look inside of the engine compartment of a 64 Impala. I want to see some camel hump heads. You know, like I want to see a high performance 327. So that's what we did shortly after that. So got the car.

I had a classmate in high school. We had a Camero, like a second-gen Camero. Second or third, I think a second-gen Camero. And he was interested in that 305. So sold it to him. Boy, you lucked out there. Yeah, yeah. Sold it to him.

him and then we found a 327 like an old junkyard and had it rebuilt locally and ended up putting that in the car. Nice. And I think ended up, it spun a rod bearing shortly after that. It spun a rod

bearing. We ended up having to have it rebuilt a second time, but that's the same engine that's in it now. Okay, sweet. So we wanted to have something that was and we found the 327 out of another 64 Chevy. But it's, you know, period, correct. 327, 300 horse heads.

Yep, camel hump heads. Yep. Yep. So I told you when we were, when we first talking, my first car, I bought a Camaro when I was 14 years old. And I think I paid, I think I paid $800 for it. Okay. And paid way too much.

because it I think before we were done we replaced every body panel on it except one fender one rear quarter panel and the trunk lid it was terrible

it just had a regular 350 in it and we I managed to I managed to spin a main bearing in it within in, oh, within six months of turning 16,

uh, premium 93 octane gasoline at the Shell station was 98 cents when I was in school. And on a Friday night, I could burn, I could burn a half a tank of gas in, oh, half hour if I tried hard enough, you know. But anyway, when that motor gave out,

um, the stroker motors were kind of just getting started. People were messing around with that. and I bought a kit. I bought a kit from Summit, a summit racing and 400 crank and got it, got it bored and got the crank turned down. And then a buddy of mine, the guy that did the body work,

I was like, I was 14, 15, 16, and I got immersed in the whole swap meat thing and going to car auctions and all that. And we found a set of camel hump heads for it. I didn't know what a set of camel hump heads were, you know. And found a guy that from Newton, Iowa, his name was Parker. And he built sprint car motors. Okay.

But he had done work for this guy that was a friend of mine that was in a truck pulling. And we took that up there and he ported it. And, I mean, I was just, I was, that was like. my whole, and I'm sure, you know, you were the same way. It's such a weird connection when you get bit by that bug. Oh, yeah. And just the, like the terminology, like the way car guys talk to each other, if you bring somebody in that is not of that world, they might as well be speaking Romanian, you know, because they, they don't have any idea what you're talking about. But, But it's just interesting.

Like when you said that about, you know, camel hump heads, you know, people would be like, oh, to have camel hump stamped on or, you know, what's this or what's that? Or, you know, it's just crazy. It can bite you hard that hot. Oh, it can bite you hard at times. But it's, there's a lot that can be learned from it too, man. Just the process of working on an old car.

Like we talked about the discipline and things necessary. I've got a few projects back in the Carolinas now. and I go back to where they're stored, they're going to be exactly where I left them. Yeah, it's always. Yeah, they're like, no progress is going to be made unless you do it. Yeah. And it's a grind.

And I enjoy the hobby. I enjoy driving and cruising in old cars. Like that's where I'm most at peace. Yeah. Just being behind the wheel of an old car. Yeah. But there's something about working in the shop with an old car as well. Like there's therapy in that too.

Yep. And I just enjoy all of that. Like I don't care too much about the shows. and there was a time in my life when I was young when I first got that car. I was trying to go to every car show that was close by and, you know, trophies and all that kind of stuff.

And get to the point, and you start realizing you're looking around. It's like, man, these are 50, 60, 70-year-old men and they're getting mad enough to fight over a $2 trophy. Yeah. It's like, something's not right here, you know what I mean? I quickly got to the port.

It was like, yeah, I don't care anything about these trophies. I just want to go cruise. Yeah. That's awesome. So like when you got that first car, was it to make it so you could drive it? Did you guys have to kind of fab that yourselves, you and your dad, and like figure that out? Or was there stuff out there off the shelf that you could just pop in? You know, what was that like?

So we were diving into it early on very much like, well, I'll say even before we started figuring out how I could drive it. But we got this car. It's kind of like a family car. everybody's like, okay, this is kind of Richie's car. It's what he really wanted, but it's a family car. And I think deep down, my dad's, like, viewing it from the lens of any dad at that time with a teenage son. And I remember one time before I started driving the car, my dad got to the point where he was just fed up. You know, I had like, I want to drive it.

I want to drive it, you know. And he looked at me and we're standing in the garage of that car. He said, all right, you know, all right. I hear what you're saying. He said, you look at that car, you take a long look at that car. That's the nicest it'll ever look. So even right now when I'm up in Virginia, I live in Virginia, but I have it stored down there in the shop that's close to him

so that, you know, he can go ahead and crank it every now and then until I get back down there. But I joke with him all the time right now because it's since that time we're able to get it painted. A friend of mine there, a guy named Colonel Crum, who was in the Marines there at Parris Island. He ends up owning a body shop, and he painted that car for me.

during my freshman year of college at Clemson. That and just other things, right? So here we are now over 20 years from that point of having that conversation. I always joke with him. I said, Dad, look at that car. It looks better than, you know, I've had my stupid moments. Yeah, yeah. I've had my moments where I've turned that thing around in the road.

Yeah. Right. But, you know, grace of God, I didn't get to the point where I did any damage and, you know, was able to grow and mature enough to the point now where I, you know, make more responsible decisions and view that car for what it is, right? Like it's a cruiser. But we got to the point where it's like, okay, we're going to modify this car so I can drive it. We took a dive into that just like we did with the bike, approached it the same way, and we had a few ideas and concepts. And before we started to take the car apart, every time when we talked to people, we would get scared

away from people just from a legal standpoint and then getting to the point where I need to, after I'm driving this thing or able to drive it, I still have to go get, take the driver's license test or we're going to have issues with DMV or any of these things, right? So there was a company out there that supposedly had a kit to install foot steering in the car. And the other thing I'll mention, so there are some people without arms that are able to drive a car and they're able to drive it with their feet in the normal position of a steering wheel.

And when I was very young, very, very young, I could similarly do the same thing, right? Like I could feed myself with my feet and had the flexibility to get my foot all the way up with a spoon and eat out of it. Eat out of a spoon from my foot. But with the hip dysplasia I have, like the doctors told me at an early age,

like you're going to lose flexibility. It's not going to last long at all. And sure enough, that left. So for me, having a steering wheel on the floor was the main option. So there was this company up in, I believe, New Jersey that had a kit, supposedly. They had a distributor in Charleston, South Carolina, that could install it. So we took the car to them to have this foot steering kit installed in the car. It took a lot longer than they said it was going to take, like normal.

You took anything to a shop, right? It took a lot longer. I think we started that process early in my senior year, like at the beginning of my senior year, and didn't get it back until maybe around Christmas or after. I think I drove it a good bit of the last semester of my senior year. But we got it back, and I still couldn't drive the car. Like it's too stiff.

They weren't used to putting whatever kit they have in minivans or something along those lines. So I could not drive the car. point my dad and I took a dive into the car and we had to learn on the fly too like that car had factory power steering in it which is a rare option but it the power steering in the cars at the time is basically a power assist yes it's what they call like a slave cylinder down there right you start to give provide enough input and that cylinder will assist you a little bit more but it's not like a live power steering box right so we ended up diving into some of the components and

changing the actual steering box and putting a true power steering box in and modified some other components in the steering so that it would just, you know, all the joints would move as freely as possible, right? Right. And made some other modifications to the point where I could finally drive the car. And then, yeah, so they finally got to the point where I could drive it. And I think the first major trip was going to Daytona, one of those trips to, and at that point, I think I had my permit, not the full license.

so they had to ride. Parents had to be with me anyway. Yeah. But we went down there for the turkey rod run on vacation. And, but thankfully, you know, after going to college, I'm at a point now where I can design what I need on my own. Because even at that time, I think maybe it's close to $10,000 to get that work done. Yeah.

After that, I think it had increased to be closer to over $10,000 to get that work done. That's only like a couple years after that happened. Right now. I mean, you're probably looking at north of $20,000 just to go into a typical shop and get that work done. So you can do it all yourself now, pretty much. With the right fabricators that are like family to me. I've got one guy, his name is Dan Deningcourt, who has a hot rod shop called a Suburb Speed Shop. And, you know, I did one in my garage by myself shortly after getting to Hendrick.

It was on my 63 Impala. So I went through a bunch of iterations of steering column in and out, tearing it out there in the shop myself, and then taking it to work and getting a good buddy machinist there, Justin Burke, to make some parts that I needed and weld anything that I needed. To the point where I felt comfortable that, like, okay, I know all the ends and outs of what I need in this scenario.

Like, every time I do one, it's different. Like, all the dimensions are different, all the components around, the angles are different. So every time it's somewhat unique, but some of the parts are the same. So I got to the point where I knew how to do it and do it well and could teach someone else what I need done. And Dan has been awesome for that. So he's done a few vehicles for me.

Even that newer truck that I drove up in, he's the one that we get together. And it's awesome because we work well together, right? He's got a certain mindset and I have a certain mindset, but we can talk the same language. When I made the decision, I was going to get that newer truck. Neither one of us knew all the ins and outs of the components that are behind all of the dash material, right? Like, you don't know all of what you're getting into. We've looked underneath a couple of them and it's like to the point.

It's like, we'll figure it out. Yeah. So I went ahead and bought the truck without even knowing kind of how we're going to dive into it and did that. Got the truck. And he's done that with a few vehicles with me and it's modified what's needed. And I got another buddy, Daniel Valjevec, who has a hot rod shop called Retro Designs. Retro designs and TLC 4x4,

they're in that Charlotte area. And he's another one that has helped me at times when I need that kind of work. I know what needs to be done. I can get all the components that I need. I can do whatever design work needs to be done. And those guys have the physical talent to do it. Awesome fabricators and welders and just make it happen.

So I can do what needs to be done to get me on the road with parts and all for probably less than $3,000 or so. Wow. And if I take it to somebody else, it's probably north of 20 to get all that work done and still probably doesn't fit exactly what I need.

But yeah. You've built a huge collection of classic cars and trucks. How many you got? And what's your favorite? And Taylor probably told you to ask that question. I always tell you, that's a loaded question. I don't know.

I don't know. so for me the car hobby is just that it's a hobby yep i don't count vehicles pretty much everything i have whether it's a car or it's a 409 engine that stored away in the corner yeah has a meaningful story behind it for me so i try not to even look at cars through the lens of like numbers and i think a lot of people see it that way even some of the things that family and I we've we've collected but it's just it's a journey and it's just we enjoy the hunt it's it's it's just a process and we try to keep the cars in perspective that they're just material things yep but the memories do matter right and that that that part is cool so it's it's

it's more than the couple yeah well played that was a farmer response about we've anybody asks a farmer how many acres you farm? Oh, more than a couple. Yeah, yeah, it's more than a couple. Yeah. The 64, that first one means a lot to me. You know, I'll probably get to the point where I'll get to a point in life where I will sell some vehicles, but I plan to have that one for life. Yep. It means a lot. Just the first car. It was independence for me in a lot of ways. It was more than just a car, just to be able to jump in a vehicle and go where I wanted to go and not have to ask anybody for that was huge. Long term, I would like to have a 1959 Impala convertible. Okay. To me, that's the car. So that's in the future.

You got any parts for that car? Because you said sometimes you pick up parts and you're manifesting. So I do have parts for that kind of car because we have a couple of 59 Bell Airs, so like the two-door post version. Yep. And they've collected some extra parts for it. So I'm ready when that car comes. I've got some extra components and things of that nature. So it's going to happen at some point. But really right now, I'm not so focused on finding another car, getting another car. We've got a few projects.

And my goal right now is to continue to make progress on those projects that we already have. For me, that process is almost like an artist. You have this vision that you want this car to end up like. And a lot of people that aren't car people don't understand it, right? Because they see you go get some rusty, junkie car, and they just like, what in the world do you see in that? But you have this vision of what it can be. So there's a few projects like that,

that I have that vision of what it can be and what it will be. And I look forward to getting to that point in life where I've got the right combination of time and resources to make those things happen. Yeah. Well, I got a little bit of a lightning round kind of ready for you. You kind of already answered it one of these, but I'll go through these other ones. Toughest NASCAR track to engineer four.

And that's a good question. Man, I should have to think back. I mean, they're all so different in a lot of ways and they all have their own unique challenges, right? And maybe the one that we struggled with at times would, say, road course. And I say that because that's the one track that introduces so many driver-dense. dynamics into the component. Is that Watkins Glen? Do they run that? Yeah, Watkins Glen.

And they do a lot more now, road course races that they've brought into the series. But, you know, a lot of tracks in NASCAR, be it super speedways or intermediates. And the drivers are doing a ton of work, but there's some tracks where they don't even shift gears, right? There's some tracks where they hardly ever touch the brake. But there's so much going on in the road course race where they're constantly changing brakes. And you watch the video of their feet during that kind of a race. And there's a lot going on.

And from a shop and engineering standpoint, you're always trying to figure out when you're trying to make a car go faster, like what's going on here? Like is it something that we can control? Is it the car or is it the driver? Right. And we had four cars in one organization and you always have that one team that isn't doing as well as the others.

Right. So in that case, right, if you had three cars, car is finishing the top three like what's going on here like is it the driver or is it the car so i think in the road course situation that's difficult because you don't know if you need to dive in and change suspension components a lot more variables or if you just need the driver to get some more time behind the wheel on road course tracks uh one shop tool you can't live without shop tool shop tool i would say air an air compressor yeah i'm the kind of guy that you know starting off my shop. I did a lot just manually. And once I got to the point where I had a legit

compressor and could use that to get some power out of some tools and equipment, like, that's huge for me. Game changer. Yeah, man, I can go home or go inside and go to sleep and not being so much pain. Clemson or Virginia, who do you root for these days? Yeah. Did you ever have a time where they matched up while you were there? So no, while I was there, not on the football side. but it wouldn't have been a problem for me because while I'm at Virginia and even now when I'm not there and employed there the majority of that team is people that I was around and that's what I'm about right. It's the people. So if Virginia is going to play anybody right now, like I'm for Virginia because I'm for those guys that are on the team. Yeah. Yeah. But my heart is always in

Clemson. Yes. Always. Yeah. One piece of advice for someone feeling stuck to engineer their own comeback in life. I would say the biggest thing is you got to keep showing up. A lot of times we talked about this even yesterday when we met. You can't wait until things are perfect. You just got to keep showing up. I have often at times been in a rut, I feel like, in life. And at those times, I feel like it's important to devote some time on others and not just yourself.

And a lot of times what you realize is when you spend some time on other people, like you're the one that gets blessed through that process. And a lot of times spending time and resources, just random acts of kindness on others will help you get through your rut and what you're going through to the point where you're better equipped to move forward and progress in your own life. That's awesome, man. You got anything else?

We got through a lot of stuff. Man, what's your North Star now? What's next for you? What are you working towards? My next thing right now is making an impact. I really want to be able to get out and have God put me in the places that he wants me to be in. I don't want to get on stages and not represent myself, but represent him and speak for him. people look at me and they can see the challenges that I've had in life.

But man, I have been blessed and I am blessed today. So I want to share that kind of message with other people. And to me, I'm at a stage in life like we talked about. It's not so much about problem solving or achieving a different title at an organization for me. If I can make an impact on others but also have a balance in life where I can do some things for my family, and do some things with them and then also have a little balance to to to tap into that problem solving need in my life but do it in the garage you know where to me it's like it's therapy that's that's that's the goal that's that's the goal for me any uh i know you how we keep asking

this but like any last words that you want to leave with the audience before we wrap it up any last thing any statement you want to put out there yeah i think the biggest thing is and I encourage everyone to make the most of the life that they have. That's going to be the message that I carry forward, hopefully for the rest of my life, right? And we're going to have times like we talked about that are difficult, that are challenging, and there's going to be times that suck.

But, man, life is awesome. It's beautiful. Even through the trauma and the setbacks, like just keep showing up, keep showing up, get on the other side of whatever that thing is. and just show up each day, show up each day and try to show up better than the day before. And I promise you, it gets better. It gets better.

Sometimes it means making the right decisions to do that, right? Like we talked about it, I'm not going to be one of these fairy tale guys that gets on stage and just, you know, magically everything in your life is going to get better. Sometimes you have to make some hard decisions and make some critical changes in your life. And then you have to tap into that discipline. and that's tough too because that discipline matters on those days that suck that you don't want to show up but if you do all those things

it gets better well richard brother I appreciate you coming on man we that was awesome episode we really really appreciate it how do people get a hold of you yeah so richie parker.com that website I have a website and especially if people are interested

in having me come speak I have a booking page on that website those are some of the things I've been working on recently just having those things in the background that's necessary to do this and do it well. So yeah, that's the best way to reach out to me is Richardparker.com. I've got links on that website to my Instagram, and I promise I will be more active on things like social media. I've struggled with that as well. I don't love social media.

I don't love a lot of what's out there, but I also believe that I can approach that in a way that's authentic to me, but an authentic while also positive message out there. And I plan on being more active in that way as well. Awesome, man. Well, you guys heard it. If you got any value from the show, go follow Richie. Go check out his website. If you need a hell of a good speaker,

he's the one that you need to call and get a hold of. Share the show. If you got any value, leave our view on Spotify or Apple. We love you guys. We appreciate you. And we'll see you back here next week for another episode.