The Dale Jr. Download - 601 - Richard Childress: The One Race I Can't Get Over

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Dale Earnhardt Jr. kicks off the Download season with a bang by welcoming back NASCAR Hall of Fame car owner Richard Childress to the Dirty Mo Media studio. After what was essentially a hometown race for Childress at Bowman Gray Stadium, the two were eager to talk about the Clash and their impressions of the NASCAR Cup Series returning to the legendary venue. Childress explains that he showed up early on Sunday to sit and reflect on the beginning of his racing career, which dates back to the “claim” division at the football stadium when he was in his teens. In anticipation of his debut as Cup car owner, Dale Jr. asks Richard for any advice leading into the Daytona 500, to which he replies to keep following the dream. Dale and Richard talk about RCR working with Kyle Busch and how they were able to put their past drama behind them to find on-track success. Dale also inquires about Austin and Ty Dillon’s roles at the company and what the future may hold for them beyond the driver’s seat. They chat about the ongoing lawsuit between 23XI/Front Row Motorsports & NASCAR and what the other teams hope to gain in the new charter agreement. The conversation also covers Kasey Kahne’s upcoming Xfinity race with RCR, how Richard got the number 3, and his brief history working as a stuntman. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You had a history in bootlegging, like a real, you were a real live bootlegger. Is that true? Well, it's a long story also, but when I was a kid, the question is, did you run moonshine illegal? Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. download. It's the guest segment on Wednesday, and our first guest of the 2025 season is Richard Childress. It's been about five years since Richard has been on the show. A lot's happened since then. particularly a incident between me and him at Phoenix that I haven't really talked about with anybody, especially him.

He kind of chewed my ass on pit road before the 7 car went out and won the championship. We'll talk about that, hopefully, and also just kind of see what dude's been up to. I mean, there's a lot going on in the sport, and he's certainly got his finger on the pulse of NASCAR, and he's got some opinions. So I'm sure we're going to hear him, and maybe some really cool stories. So let's get him on in the room. Richard Childress on the Dale Jr. Download. Your first guest.

Yeah, your first guest is kicking it off. That's pretty cool, man. Yeah, we're getting the season started off with a bang. I know. It's good. How about that race the other night? I know. We were just talking about it, me and T.J.

Do you think they'll go back there next year? Oh, yeah. Yeah, go back. I figured that they would have already, I mean, in a perfect world, they go to the, you know, they go to Coliseum and do it. And if it goes well, they come back and do it again. If it doesn't go well, which it really did in the second year, they probably just thought, but they have to probably have to probably have to have

probably have a commitment, right, with the city, the Coliseum. So, I mean, for me, and a lot of people, a lot of fans that are watching, that are speculating on whether they're going to go back next year, I bet NASCAR's already know the plan. They already got a commitment or an obligation, right? You can't do everything you did without some sort of a commitment and obligation that the city gets from NASCAR, right? or the town gets from NASCAR. I think the economic impact that that race brought to North Carolina,

Winston-Salem, I think it was a big hit. I think we'll be back at Bowman Gray Stadium next year. They'll tweak on it some. But to put the lights up there and put those soft walls, I'm friends with a lot of those modified drivers, and man, they love it because it saves them. It's a safety deal for them. So when NASCAR did all that,

they'll be back. I'm sure. Do you think that there's a way to run something besides the clash there? Would you run the All-Star race there? I thought that'd be a good idea because warmer temperatures, more comfortable for fans, probably a better race because track temps will be better and higher for that tire. Definitely. Million dollars on the line.

Maybe Debbie might move that, you know, chase out of the way for that. He didn't want to touch you. Yeah. Yeah, I think if the All-Star race would be great to any type of race. I keep thinking just to go back to our roots, Hickory, you ran Hickory many years. Go back to some of the off route, you know, racing like Hickory, Bowman Gray Stadium. Could you have that race at Hickory? I don't know that you could have it, but you probably could doing some work on it.

Hickory's smaller, in my opinion, isn't it, or about the same? I worry about, I think the sizes of the track isn't in question. It's more about like the infrastructure facility, the fan experience. You got 17,000 people at Bowman Gray. You probably can't get 17,000 at some of these other short tracks, right? Yeah, unless you put bringing in temporary stands or something. But it, you know, I love grassroots racing. It brought back so many memories.

I went over there. I got there about an hour earlier than everybody, just by myself. And I got up there at a field house and just sat there and looked out across the, looked out across the track and the grandstands and just thought about so many things that went on back in my career when I started. That's exactly where I started. So we go to the Coliseum to get new fans, right? Yeah. Do you think racing at Bowman Gray like we did this past weekend, I know our current fans loved it, me and you loved it? Yeah. Do you think that that is a way,

Do you think that that also gets us new fans when they? Yeah, I think once we take a look and see what our TV ratings are and all the people that have called me or text me or anything I've ever seen, people come back to me, man, that's one of the greatest shows I've ever seen on TV for solid racing. That's the old time racing and they loved it. And I think the fans, you know, you're going from a quarter mile racetrack to Daytona a two and a half mile, which is night and day. So with that, I think the fans will say, well, I wonder what Daytona's going to be like.

I think it's going to depend on how there are TV ratings. Yeah, I agree. Those fans over there were real race fans. I agree. I can't wait to see the number on television in terms of the rating, because I think that's certainly going to steer the future of Bowman Gray for the NASCAR Cup series. When we sit there and watch that race, I thought the TV package was purported. Perfect, easy to consume.

I watched it. So I was on a trip. I was working with a new partner down in Florida, and I was at a sports book. And being able to see heat races the night before, I miss that. I miss being able to see any on-track action, right, the day before the race, qualifying, practice, what have you.

So for me to be able to sit down and go, all right, man, I'm going to get a taste of what's coming tomorrow. I'm going to watch these heat races. and that's going to be a little idea. And I know it's Bowman Gray and it's new and none of us have ever seen it. And it might be a different experience if we were to go to a track that we've raced at 100 times. But we were at Bowman Gray and I tuned in going, man, I can't wait to see how these cars race. And I love it.

It was very easy to consume that little TV package on the heat races and then the next day. And the last chance race, of course. And then the next day we had the feature. and so for me it kind of reminded me it gave me a speed weeks feel and I know we weren't in Daytona and we weren't you know we weren't down there for the traditional style of speed weeks that we all remembered years ago but it gave me a feeling that speed weeks was back which I've kind of missed I've as we've shortened up and as we shortened up the schedule of Daytona remember we I mean I know our fans may not even remember going there for

two weeks straight. It was a lot. There was, you know, over 10 hours, 12 hours of cup practice throughout that whole process. You know, it was a bit unnecessary, but it also served a purpose that sort of teased and led up and built up the expectation and excitement around the Daytona 500. And I felt like the clash, the clash really, really went back to supporting our most important event and that's the Daytona 500. This Bowman Gray weekend, as exciting as it was, made me more, made me look forward to

the 500 more so. Yeah. Which I think is really, really important in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, I think, you know, I go back to many years ago, we'd have qualifying races even at Charlotte and, you know, like on a Friday or something, we'd have something, Talladega, you know, they'd start so many and then they'd have a qualifying race. that is something that's missed but one of the biggest things today that NASCAR realizes and I think a reason we've got to pull back is the economics of our sport isn't what it used to be and we're all

kind of adjusting and NASCAR's doing a good job of trying to adjust that but we can't take away I agree with you we can't take away from our race fans because that's what we do this for but I think that it'll be interesting to see after this event and see the reaction and the TV numbers and to see how NASCAR takes it. And it could be something that we'll see more in the future. Like having that the heat races, I think was really good. I agree. We're going to Daytona and I'm going to join you this year trying to enter a car in the Daytona 500.

What kind of advice do you got for me as a first time car? owner in the cup series to try to attempt to make that race. Well, first of all, you're following your dream. Keep following your dream. Your dream is to have a cup team someday, be a cup champion from the side of owner. So just follow your dream. That would be the first advice. That's what I give people when they ask me about things.

But I think it's going to be, you're going to enjoy it. I mean, you've got to gut-wrenching moments at Daytona, but you still have. you know making that race is not an easy task but if qualifying the top two seems like the fords have really got that damn pretty good but we've been able to put a Chevrolet in there you know so I feel good about your cars our cars you know we do I think we do in the 62 or something like that but there'll be about four cars trying to make it you got a really good solid driver you You've got good engines through the Hendricks deal. I think you're going to have a heck of a good shot,

and Justin really runs a good day, and you're a good old owner. That's going to make a difference. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. I've told everybody that, you know, I don't assume anything in terms of being able to make the race, but I'm going to get there early. I'm going to go in Tuesday,

and I'm going to be up early Wednesday when we'll go through tech with the car, I'm going to be in the garage. I'm going to watch them. I'm going to be with them pushing it out to practice and qualify and I go through that whole process. I don't want to miss a thing. Because I think to, and you can speak to this, like you've raced a long time.

Pushed a lot of cars out onto the grid. But when you were, when you moved into the owner's side of things and embraced that change in your life and you were no longer a driver, The confidence in, I guess, the pride, I think, in seeing your car and pushing your car out on the grid to qualify for a race like the Daytona 500 is quite different than what it's like as a driver. Yeah, 100%. I can remember back when I'm becoming an owner with Dale, we run the first 10 races of 1981.

the last 10 races in 1981. And to be the first one, I was really nervous, you know, and I felt like somebody cut my arm off or something. How can they race without me? I found out pretty quick. The race went on. But, man, it was so put pride in me, and I wanted all my employees to know I'm buying in on this as well.

And today I'm at the racetrack about every race when it opens, you know, as close as I can be. I don't push your car like I used to out there. I'm just like you. You put some pride to walk out on that line and listen to the fans holler and cheer when you come out there like I used to do with deal. I am kind of surprised that at your age,

you're 79 years old, and you ain't changed your, you ain't changed your routine at all. You know, there's a couple exceptions similar to you, like Richard Petty. and I mean there's these guys that have that have been part of this sport. We see drivers that when they retire, and I know you're an owner and you have that involvement, but like, you know, we see these other guys that will retire

and you'll never see them again. I mean, they'll disappear. I mean, winners, champions, Hall of Famers, Ricky Rudd's, you know, going at Hall of Fame. And, man, you don't know where he's nowhere to be found. Yeah. You don't see him at the racetrack that much at all. But you, it's like you can't quit it.

Like you can't give it up. And it's just, you know, and it's like there's never a weekend that you don't want to be there. You talk about getting there early for Bowman Gray. Like you still have the same love and enjoyment and excitement for being there, even though you don't turn a wheel. You know, even though you gave up probably the best part of it. you know when you when you move from driving to owning i would i don't know how i think i mean at at some point you're you know i feel like even i wouldn't be able to sustain that commitment

that you have to it yeah i've been how do you explain that you know i don't know the biggest thing is i think i have a passion and you know everybody says why you get so wound up you know i got a passion you know for for the sport i've been involved in it it's been really good to myself and my family and uh but i go because i love it you know i was i've been going since i we counted up 57 57 58 years not count the days i ran the old bon gray stadiums and yeah three 11s and all the old dirt tracks but i just love it man it's just the fans getting to go out and see them that you could be you could be in on you know you could be in a vacation home somewhere on a beach somewhere yeah it's that ain't

You know, I mean, I'd go to Montana when we had the ranches out there. I'd only go when I'd head out to the racetrack and I'd stay and then head to the race track. It's just it's just a passion I got and I love I got for it. And I get wound up every now and end, but it's because I love what I do. Hell, I wouldn't know what I would do if I wasn't racing. Yeah, I hear you. So you do get wound up? I'd still get a little wound up.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I do. I get, you know, it's just, it just, it's part of life, man. If you hadn't got a passion for what you do and feel good about what you're doing and decisions you make, and I want my people to know that I work with them. Nobody works for me. That's always been my sin. I want them to know that I work with them.

And we're part of a team, and we win together, we lose together, we fight together, we do whatever it takes. Yeah. We were, I do this show and sometimes I don't get a, sometimes things happen in the sport and I don't get to choose whether I get to talk about it or not. I mean, if it's going on in the sport, it's something we have to damn cover, right? Yeah. And last year, the Martinsville stuff went down and I had some comments about that and I knew that you probably weren't real happy with it, but we were at, this is who you are as an individual. We're at Phoenix, getting ready to run for the championship in the bus race. And your car is on the grid with Austin Hill.

And I'm, my car's right behind yours. And you come walking through and as I would any weekend, right? I was like, hey, Richard. because I thought we were going to say, I thought we were going to say, hey man, good luck, have fun. And you stopped and you said, you said, you basically chewed my ass.

You were like, I don't remember. You don't. Well, you were mad or in hell. You grabbed me and walked me away from everybody and said, I don't appreciate what you said about that Martinsville stuff. And you were really,

you said a few things there, and I don't remember exactly the word for her. Dude, I can't believe you don't remember that. I don't. You were hotter in hell. I do. You know, I can get hot and be over it. And in that moment, like, we're getting ready to race for the Xfinity Championship. And you saw me and you're like, I got a bone to pick with you. Yeah, Austin, Austin said, I text Austin. Yeah, he said, what did you say to Junior? I said, I don't, I can't really remember. I said, but I almost called him before I come over here in case you asked me to say, why was I upset with Junior?

You kidding? I haven't, I didn't, I don't remember anything I said. You were so mad. And But, you know, the whole thing, that deal in Richmond cost us over $3 million. It's not always about the money. Yeah. But, I mean, $3 million is a lot of money. Yeah, it's real money. But those two things, and I'll never get over Richmond, of all the things that's ever happened in our career, the Richmond race, I'll never get over that one. Because I've seen it happen so many times, so many times.

I've seen those things happen, and the same two guys that was involved in is, the two biggest corporates. But it comes down to who had the most power that could get in NASCAR's ear, the hardest, and they came down unless the hardest. And it just disappoints me. But the deal at Martin'sville, I don't remember what you see it. I don't remember what I see it. I can remember seeing you and talking to you, but hell, I don't remember them things. I do it all. I do it all the time.

I just, I got a passion, junior, just like you got a passion. You get wound up. I text Austin, your grandson. I said, I didn't really ask him anything.

I just texted him. I said, hey, man, Richard is pissed off at me. I was like, he just chewed my ass. And he goes, what, really?

I was like, yeah, it's about something I said on my show, about the Martinsville thing. And, I was like, because you've never really chewed my ass yet. I don't remember. That's the only time you've ever, you don't remember.

I don't really make chewing your ass. I might have told you what I was thinking. No, that was like my uncle or, you know, that was like somebody in my family coming down on me. And I was like, hey, all right. I understood. I heard loud and clear. Look, let me tell you, so I'm about I asked you and I got together one time from your dad. Do you remember Japan?

I do. And I loaned you a set of tires and you roughed him up. Yeah. And boy, he chewed your ass. Oh, he chewed my ass out and he chewed your ass. Well, I know. He threw a shoot at me. He damn near took my head off.

Yeah. I never will forget you on that bus. You're sitting over like this and I was sitting, I think, next deal or something. Both of us had her head down. We didn't say nothing for a while. But that's just passion. Well, you, it's like 10 laps to go in this race. And dad, you were.

I mean, you know, Dad was like, yeah, I'm not coming down pit road, this race is over. My car, you know, he'd run like six, seven at the whole race, and he's like, yeah, we're just going going to ride at home. Yeah. And me and Tony Jr. are like, hey, let's come on in, let's get some tires. Let's keep digging. Yeah, we didn't know any better.

And I knew I had to act fast when I got those tires, and so I run it, I think I run dad up off turn four and squeezed him in the wall. And he tried to spin me out down the straightaway. And then he learned that I, I did it on his tires. Oh, yeah. He went, he wasn't, that was an ashtew.

I didn't give you an asht you. Yeah, I just, I never did, you know. I remember we had a really fun flight 13 hours to Japan and the 13 hours home from Japan was quiet. It was painful. It was painful. But, you know, I, um, I wanted to bring that up because, you know, I, I had never, I'd seen you, I'd seen you, I'd seen you pop up. off on some people and we all know about the deal with Kyle at the I guess it was Chicago or Kansas somewhere but years ago the whole my watch thing and so we

kind of know you have that that fiery passion that you talk about and I'd never been on the other end of it man that was something I'm glad that you don't hold I'm glad you don't hold that chip on your shoulder it's very long don't well Kyle's driving for me today Yeah, I want to know that. Like, when did you and him, did you and him ever really sit down and, like, talk about that day? That was the first part of the conversation. Right.

So how did that go? We walked in and we were to airport and we sat down at a conference room there and we sat there. And, you know, Austin hooked us up where we could do it. And I said, you know, I think, I don't forgot which one of us. I said, Kyle, I said, start with. That's history. We're going to put all that behind us, and we won't never bring it up again, and we've never brought it up again.

And I don't even like to talk about it because it was history, just like with you. That was history. Hell, I'm just, you're still like part of my family. You are my family. They're in hearts and Childress and Dillans. All of us are family. That's the way I look at it. But, you know, it's kind of like jumping on your brother every now,

and you got to chew them out, talked about that. I don't know that race the other night with them two kids out there of ours. that's going to be a conversation. That's still not had yet. Did Kyle seem eager to, was Kyle happy to hear that you wanted to put that behind y'all? I know that y'all have done, went on down the road and y'all are racing together, winning together,

and having a good time. But I guess he was probably excited to put that. Because me and Kyle had a run in in, in 08, I guess, And we didn't talk about it forever. And we really didn't like we didn't see eye to eye and didn't get alone. But man, when we finally sat down and talked about it, it was nice to put that to bed. You know what I mean?

Yeah, that's the way we are. You know, we put it to bed. And to me, it's history. You learn from history. I think his saying was, I think we've grown up a lot. I can't remember exactly what he said. But, you know, we both have a different attitude and thinking today. And he, let me tell you about Kyle Bush.

he is such an amazing individual to start with. He has a passion for racing. He don't want to lose. Before the race on Sunday morning, they went and worked on the simulator because he knew he wasn't good. And he wants to win. He's going to do everything.

But for him, we've had some tough, last year was a tough year. For him to work and still encourage the employees, he didn't come loose and start cussing and raising hell like some people would think he would be doing. He's trying to help us build that thing, and I still got confidence that we can win a championship. And that's just, that's where Kyle is.

And, man, I'm happy to work with him. He's just, I mean, like the other night over there, we didn't have a really good car, but once he got it figured out, they kept adjusting on it, got their lap back, he took off and he ran pretty good then. Yeah. I was kind of curious how he,

handled you know the last season was a tough one for you guys and the old Kyle listen none of us really know none of us know exactly how Kyle is when the behind you know outside of the cameras what we see on social media or what we've seen on TV I'm talking over the last couple of decades right yeah and it was all of our assumptions that when you know when things weren't going well, we would might assume that Kyle is kicking and screaming behind closed doors fussing, right? Yeah. But we all do mature and maybe that wasn't even the case then, but I am curious as to what his, what his attitudes like, what his personalities like during this past year when y'all have struggled, you talk about him trying to, you know,

staying positive, you talk about his work ethic, trying to make sure y'all are, making the right gains in the offseason and trying to prepare for this coming year. How has he, how has he, you know, supported the team and been, you know, trying to be part of the solution to getting you guys back on track? He's there. He's working close with everybody. He don't come in. I mean, he has a right to, I mean, I get more wound up about running bad, I think.

I know he does too, but he has. has a, I think he's, the word we used, we both matured a lot. And once he's got Brexton, his son racing and sees the young things, he wants him to do better. He wants him to have a different style. I think coming out, he wants him to win. And he is a winner. He's a good little driver. But I think that those things mature, you know, different than Kevin Harvick. Yeah. You know, when he, once his son got up, you mature and you just, you know yourself, you see things around you, how you've got to mature and life changes all of us. And age changes all of us. And I think that's one thing that's, that Kyle has, and he has a good, strong family relationship with his family,

and I think he wants to show them the right way to go about things. Yeah. What changes, you know, there was a conversation I listened to Austin's comments a lot in the media and during the back half of last year Austin made multiple comments about we have a plan

we have some things that we're going to do we've got a few levers we're going to pull I don't know whether this was a higher or a couple hires or what that he was excited about that was going to change the performance in the race team. Can y'all speak to some of the things you've done in the off season to try to

turn this team, turn the performance around for RCR? Yes, about halfway through the season last year, a little past halfway, I said, got everybody to get us and said, we're going to change a culture of RCR. Our culture was not the way I wanted to see it. And we've changed that culture. Now you see people walking around with the heads high. We see people with that extra are bouncing or step when they're walking through there. And I think changing the culture, we've put a lot of new people in a lot of new places. And we've got even, we're changing a lot, even all the way up the board. And I think it's going to be for the good, you know, the results will say if we made the right

decisions. I really feel good about a lot of decisions we've made. They don't come overnight. You can't turn these ships. They're pretty big. It's hard to turn them overnight. that I feel really confident about what we can do this year. Yeah.

At your age, you have to be thinking about the long-term plan, right, beyond you. Yep. And I've said this out loud a few times that I think, you know, as much as I know Austin loves to drive, to race, to win, and he can still do that. He's got as many years as he wants, right, to continue to be a successful race car driver. But in my mind, I'm hoping and wishing for Austin to also develop into that leader type of mentality like you have that can steer that ship. Is that the plan? I mean, do you guys have those conversations?

I know that, you know, dad and, you know, if we were to sit around years ago, Dad would say things like, this is for your kids, this is for your kids. But we never really talked details. You know, are y'all into the process of discussing some details or what the future looks like? Yes, and that's a good question. You know, we bought a PBR franchise. Yeah. So I put Austin running it to get used to what it was like dealing with drivers,

dealing with the sanctioning body. He is running that whole deal, the PBR, Carolina Cowboys, and he is giving him some education. I never will get after the first year he come to me. He said, Pop, Pop, I know why you hate these managers, because all the riders today has got managers, and he's having to deal with that, deal with the sanctioning body, the budgets.

So I think this has given him a good education. Ty now has come back and says, I want to be involved in the sport. So who knows in life what will happen? It's sometime I tell them, I'll say, I don't want to burden you guys with this. Because this isn't the easiest, as you know yourself. Running a race team, itting for the faint of heart. You know, you got to make a lot of tough decisions. You've got to make a lot of decisions sometime that you're saying,

what's going to be the outcome of this decision? decision and have strong people around you that can help you make those decisions. That's what I look for. And I think we're grooming Austin for that part of it. Mike Dillon's working in that. My daughter runs a winery for us. And the whole family is they want to see that keep going on. I want to see it continue. And that's why we're trying to, and I've told them all, it's for the family. I wouldn't be doing what I was doing today if it wasn't for the family. Sure. And then as you get older, on down the line, you know, all your family gets behind you,

you're going to say, this is for our family. Yeah. You know, everything you're doing. I have noticed in the past, I don't know, six months to a year, Tide has moved back closer to, you know, you see him and Austin hunting together, creating memories and share, you know, their families engaging. What's been the instigation behind that? It's good to see them two boys together and doing things.

There was a time, I think, where Ty had kind of wandered over here and was trying to do his own thing and putting his own deals together. But it's kind of like you just mentioned, it's kind of like he's come back home. Yeah, he has. I think he and Austin had some conversations. I had some conversations. We all realize now that blood's thicker than anything else. And you look after your families, and that's what we always try to do. Well, it's good to see, and I think I text Austin.

When I saw them, they had this hunting trip together. I said, man, that's nice to see you boys enjoying each other. Yeah, and see them whether both of them have young kids, yeah. Kids around, boys around four years old, see them out, teaching them how to hunt and be out there. That's the way I, when I carried them, they were real young. And they said, man, it's great to be able to carry our sons and do what you taught us. They need to be, those kids, you know, knowing what I know, or my opinion about it is, is regardless of how the relationship between the brothers may be,

or any set of brothers, the kids need to know each other, right? That generation, you've got to put them together. You got to have them spending time together and making memories together. Because, you know, I think about this with my own girls. My parents are gone. my grandparents are gone. In North Carolina, there's my sister, who's my age, a couple years older, but there's not a lot beyond myself and Amy. Who will, who are the people that my girls are going to gravitate toward, right, when my leadership is gone?

Or when my ability for me to advise them is not there anymore, right? And so they got to have those sibling, those sort of cousins, and those relationships need to be strong. But that's good to see. I wanted to ask you about the charter agreement. You know, we're all sitting here watching this lawsuit thing go down. I don't know that, you know, I kind of wasn't sure how detrimental this could be for the sport, but I'm not too concerned at this point. I think having conversations with some of the people in the industry,

it's one of these deals that's just got to play itself out. Everybody's going to have to probably compromise when it's all said and done, but they'll eventually come to some terms, and the sport will continue to move down the road. But I'm not a guy that owns a charter, right? You are. Does the lawsuit concern you at all? you know I think well I got to be careful how I answer this because I could get eat up I think that

they had a reasonable a reason to not sign the agreement we received it hours before and we had a deadline to sign it and they signed it I mean I signed it I had too I had no choice I have sponsors I have everything out there but they felt that they had a reason and right to there was only three or four things that we were missing on that everyone was still trying to negotiate and when those negotiations was over these two guys went on her own which I'm you know I'm glad to see them do it because they stood up for what they felt were right and they have the backing that they can that they can do it but I think like you said I think you'll

end up working out, you know, what what we were asking for wasn't going to cost NASCAR nothing. And all we wanted was to be treated fair. And that's all these two guys are asking for now is to be treated fair in it. And can you speak to the, the few terms that you wanted that can you, you, you don't have to if you don't want to. Yeah, I think one of the biggest ones that, it's just like the PBR. man the first PBR franchise their franchise sold for three million dollars they sold six of them I bought mine for just a little more the last two franchise sold for 22 million 500 apiece and then we got split the owners those eight owners got split 50% with the sanctioning body right and that's how that's all we wanted out of it that's all I want to see for my family is I want to see the the

enterprise value of those charters should be 10 times where they are today. Just like football. And that's all, I think that's what we're all asking for. I mean, I hear what you're saying, and I don't disagree with you at all. I've watched the charters go, you know, when BK Racing was trying to sell his and get rid of his for $2 million. And then this, you know, then somebody walks in the door and wants to say you one for six. And then a couple months later, a guy walks in and wants to sell it for 12. and then, you know, now they're valued, or they're probably likely if there were to sell on the market anywhere from $25 to $40 million.

And so the value is expanding. And, I mean, if you had, I think if you're a company or an investment firm with that kind of capital, getting into owning a charter in the NASCAR world is a very good buy because I think to your point, It won't be very long where they'll be valued at $100, $150 million and beyond. You know, NFL teams, I look at it like an NFL team or NFL franchise. I know Washington, when Dan Snyder bought them back in the 90s or late 80s was $600, $600,000, $800 million, right? And then just recently it sold for $6 billion. So I don't see why the NASCAR charter won't continue to increase in value. but and also so you're telling me like so if you know we we've we've myself at this table for the last four

years have batted around all kinds of silly ways to get a charter or ways NASCAR could expand the charters so if NASCAR said hey we're going to have 37 we got a new charter we're going to create a charter right and we're going to give it to the team that team's going to buy it but we're we're designated for example junior murder sports to buy this charter for 2020 or 40 million dollars whatever the number is right it would make sense that the teams would have to to for the teams to accept that new charter to exist you would then benefit from that financially that purchase of the you would the teams would split some or all of that 40 million dollars or whatever it is

for that team to purchase and so that was what you guys were trying to. Yeah, just to build the enterprise value around a charter. These charters, no different. I keep going back to the PBR because we got riders. We're the same setup, the exact same way. Sanctioning body, independent riders, just like we have independent drivers. Everything's the same.

There was one team that just sold 40% of their franchise, Oklahoma, for a value of $40 million. And four years, it's gone like it. We've had these charters for 10 years, and they've gained 10%, maybe. Sure. If you go from 3 million to 30 million, you know. So that's all I'm saying. Do you think if they were to, do you think if they mash the button and all of a sudden that charter is yours?

Internally, you know, that creates that value? Because now, you know, because as it is, I. guess the way we fans view it is like you you have the charter for as long as the agreement seven years right right and then you know but you know like a like the pbr or or any other sports team you know you would obviously want to own that charter outright do you think that that would absolutely kick the end of motion the the increase in value because you would you would then be able to say to someone who might want to invest, hey, this is mine and this could be yours, not for the terms of this contract, but for eternity.

Yeah. Right? Yes. Put yourself in, and someday you'll end up with a charter. You'll figure out, they'll figure out, you'll get, have a charter someday. So if you are going to pay $30 million today for a charter, you know, junior motorsports, and you look, in seven years, it may not. be a charter. We may not have one. We don't know what it is. They've got seven years bumped on,

but on top of that, it all's around the media. But we want to just do whatever it takes to have a real solid. That charter should be permanent. The word permit. They don't like a maturity or whatever they call them. Then you could say, I'll pay $30 million. This is going to be mine. And I can pass it down to my family. If I have this and I know it's going to be here forever, RCR is going to own it until we sell it, then just like you used the NFL, same deal with them. I think seeing that, my family is going to have a lot more value in it if these charters were permit. And I think that's one of the biggest sticking points today.

if we all had permit charters, you'd see a lot different, different atmosphere. I agree with that 100%, but I just can't see. I am kind of curious as to why NASCAR doesn't want to make it permanent. Maybe because there's just not a, I guess there's just not a, a sure guarantee where the TV rights are headed

with streaming coming in and all these different mechanisms. They're just uncertain about, you know, where they're going to be in 15, 20 years. But, you know, I just don't see a world where NASCAR is going to yank the carpet out from under you.

No. No, I don't... Like, even though they won't agree to make the charter's permanent, I don't see them getting to year seven at the end of this charter agreement and going, you know what, we've decided that this is just, we're just not going to do charters anymore. Because they do have a value today. They do have a $30 million, $40 million value. I can't see them just going, yeah, we're just going to pretend that didn't happen.

Yeah. Let me go back to what you said earlier when you said, you know, that NASCAR would, you know, if all the TV stuff went away. We're going to ride the same boat with them up or down. Yeah. You know, but we just want the charters. And if the TV goes away, which I don't think it will. Sure.

In seven years, who knows what it would be. We've got streaming. We got so much new technology. And NASCAR is going to be a big part of that. There's nothing better right now on TV than live entertainment. And that goes from football, baseball, baseball, auto racing, NASCAR, PBR, All of these things are really big today. And that's where I think, you know, the team owners want to ride that boat.

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He's joining your Xfinity team. We went in Rockingham to test, and he's going to run that race. How in the world did that come about? You know, Keith Rodman is our... Oh, yeah. Keith was his crew chief when he drove, and he and Casey talked quite a still talk. And he came to me one day, and he said, hey, if we can come up with some funding, would you consider running Casey?

We're going to run about eight cup races extra, and we're going to run three Xfinity races, counting Casey. And I said, sure, man, I love Casey. I mean, he was a heck of a driver. and just a great person too. I mean, you worked around him, you worked with me, teammates. Really cool dude. I just think that I have him dinner and have him in the car

and see him smile on his face. When he come to the shop, I talk to him, you could just see how excited he was. And I think he's going to go down to really do good. Yeah. So he's just got the one race? Yes, for right now. We're just holding one race.

Did y'all ask him about his, I mean, you know, he had some heat-related health issues when he was racing in the Cup Series many, many years ago, assuming all of that's behind him now. And we hadn't had a really chance to talk about him. But I do know that... So I inadvertently, indirectly have kind of kept up with Casey over the years. He's one of my favorite people.

And he still looks exactly the same as he always has. And it was my hope that we've even teased a bit about him racing one of our late model cars at the cars tour. But this is incredible. I think there are so many fans out there. I think we don't appreciate or realize just how many people are going to be excited about Casey running that race. And seeing Casey or any of our drivers that have been gone

that still have a little left in the tank coming back. But I do know that somebody, this is totally, Casey Cain in a nutshell, man. This is exactly who this dude is. Apparently, they went to test at Rockingham and he got there and said to somebody that I know, when did they repave this place? Did you know that? Yeah. He didn't know they paid. No, he didn't. It's, uh... Till he got there. Yeah. And, you know, it was one of them things, but he really did good. Them guys said he just fired right off and, uh... But he thought he was going to run on the old Rockingham.

It's a whole rocks. He got there and he's like, holy shit. We're hauling ass. Yeah. It was fast. Yes. But he did good. I'm excited for him and that team we put, we changed crew chiefs on the 21 and put

Chad Haney as a crew chief. Now we got Andy Street is going to run those other races. I want to try to get Andy broke in for another cup team if we ever go to a full three team you know and try to teach him some of that yeah for sure well i think we're all excited about uh casey coming back um you know we wanted to dip back into uh the history we had you on the show 2019 we talked a lot about uh you know your your life and all of those uh all the things that went on with dad and everything there were some there were some things that we we didn't get to um one of the things i think and i've heard this story but you you started

racing as an independent in the Cup series and originally your number was 96. Why 96? I can't say it on tell. Just like if I flipped upside down. Oh my gosh. Was that really? That's true. So I ended up, you know, I'm upside down, so we'll stop it there. Can you dig it? Why did you go to number three? You know, I wanted a low number. Farrell Henkel was a letter in my cars and he said, man, I didn't have a lot of money. He said, if you just get a single digit number, If you get a single-digit number, I'll cut you cost in half. So that's how I ended up. And the three was available.

I remember talking to Ray Fox, and I thought I got it through them. Then I talked to Al Rudd. He said we had it before. So I don't know how it all come about. But I ended up with the three knowing Ray Fox and how everything went down. The Al Rudd, they could have gave it to me. I can't remember. But we ended up with the three.

And that's why, because I only had to pay half as much. much to hand lettering. Sure. So that's why we did it. You ran your last Cup Series race in 1981. The season finale at Riverside, you started a, like a starting park with Junior Johnson. Yep. So he just had to, I think they were battling for the championship.

But Daryl. Yeah. Right? Yep. But before, if we talk about that, that's fine. But I really kind of want to go back to, I know, you know, I know the whole story about dad and y'all putting dad in the car at michigan i want to know you talked about you know i guess you kind of mentioned it briefly a moment ago but how how did you handle that emotionally um not

you know you decided you weren't going to race anymore you're still you're still well healthy enough to race you'd always made it work you'd always you know stretched the money and made it work it work. So it wasn't like, oh, man, I'm going to have to close my shop or I've got to do something else, right? This dad come along with the sponsor, Junior Johnson got in your ear and said, you ought to do this. But I want to know how you felt emotionally when you went to that racetrack and you weren't

the one climbing in the car. Yeah, you can kind of relate to that. Let me go back just one step. Why I got out of it was I could see, you know, I was running it as a business. I was feeding my family and all of us were living off of what I could make racing. But I could see, I could have some top 10 finishes, run pretty good, every now and get a top 5. And then when Warner Hodgdon, Harry Rainier, Austerland, all of these people started coming in with money. ORC just kept going backwards.

I, you know, I wasn't happy running in the top 15. And I said, man, if I don't do something soon, I got to get out of this car. So I knew your dad wasn't happy with the Austerlund deal and J.D. Stacey, it was a whole mess right in there. Do you know anything about that? So I'm asking specifically about J.D. Stacey. So he's an enigma. He's kind of this, you know, he's this coal miner. Yeah, the reputation around him isn't an awesome one.

I guess at one point, you know, somebody was trying to blow his car up. He and Harry Hyde had a falling out. him and Neil Bonnet had a falling out and I'm assuming that Neil got into Dad's ear when JD bought a team and said boy you ain't going like that but I'm what and then he had his name on all them cars and eventually the money ran out and he wasn't you know wasn't paying everybody and then he disappears right yeah that was later on a couple years after 1981 but he just seemed like a strange fellow right there's not a lot of and not a lot of inventory out there about him in terms of real stories. But what was the, what was the garage's

opinion of J.D. Stacey? Yeah, I think, and it's hard, hard to say because there was so many opinions. And, you know, some liked him, the people that he was working, working for him at the time, some of the drivers did. Some of the drivers didn't. But your dad, I never will forget. He said, I'm not going to be sold. And that was his. reason when we talked that Osterlin had sold to Stacey. And we talked about it. He and I were hunting, but he's down in South Carolina. And man, we talked about getting back together after those 10 races.

But those 10 races, I met with Junior at the old, I think it was a Motel 6 or whatever it was. We was staying in in Anniston, Alabama and talked about it. And then we went that night, we went up to the downtowner, and it was four of us in there. I got, I got A.J. Foyt's deal for tires, and I got, I ended up getting, I think it was 10 grand or something from Wrangler, a race. Ten a race? Yeah, 10 a race. And when it was all over, when it was all over, I'll never will forget. When those 10 race was over, I was in debt $75,000.

Why? I was in trouble. But I never will forget. I went over and talked to Mr. Bowman with. He ran the Wrangler. And I told him he added me another $50,000. And that's how I was able to survive is he paid me extra money for running for him. Because we ran good in some of those races. Why did you all, so you ran this thing as a business, fed your family.

How did you let it get upside down? You got out of the car and it was supposed to make some more money. Yeah. But it ended up costing you. You know, how did I get, you know, forgive me for not being more eloquent, but how did you, how in those 10 races, did things get so upside down financially? Because thinking, you know, dad coming in, the sponsor coming in, where was, was it having to pay dad? Also having to try to. If you knew what I paid him, it was very little.

Well, then you're building cars. You're building cars you weren't necessarily normally building? Yes, that and people. We hired a lot of people from Austerlund. And that's where payroll went way up. Traveling and everybody around. How'd you let that happen? Yeah, because I'm a gambler.

I've gambled all my life. And I knew this was my RCR's opportunity. When we had a championship driver, a great talent, if I could make it work, we could get another good driver in there. And I was ready to go back in it. It's a long story I could tell. You was ready to go back in the car? Yeah, if I had to, you know.

And then we took Greg Sacks today told him. And we were testing. We were building those, taking those 115-inch wheel-based cars and turn them into 110. We were testing. And I tested the car. You drove? Yeah, I tested it. And Darrell drove our car.

And last... Did you like it? Yeah, it was, you know, it's kind of a handful. How did Greg wreck it? Coming off a four, it's a long story that I want to discuss on here, but coming off four, he flipped it, put it up in the air. Well, I don't just want to discuss it. I'll tell you later.

Oh, shit. Anyway, oh, it's a hello story. Well, let's hear it. Hell, when he flipped up, went off the racetrack, went around the corner. There was his helmet. I said, oh, hell, his head's in it. Holy shit. That's how bad a wreck it was.

Oh, my God. I saw it. There's pictures of the car. They're very grainy, but he destroyed this car. Yeah. Foss his helmet. Yeah. Knocked his helmet off, knocked him out.

He is in the hospital for a while and I'll leave it at that. I'll tell you later on the rest of the story. It's always, what was that? Paul Harvey said, and you'll hear the rest of the story. But anyway, we did that. And at that time, I was going to figure that I might get back in the car. But Ralph C. Graves and kind of hooked me up with Piedmont Airlines. I said, man, this is my chance.

I'm a young driver, young heir. They wanted young, up-and-coming driver. I said, I'm going to get me a sponsor now. I went and talked to a big pill up, bill up there, and I said, he said, no, we want a real young driver. I was 35 or six, you know. So I got Ricky Rudd, and that's when we hired Ricky Rudd. And, man, it's so much history.

One of these days I'm going to write that book. I hope I get to because everybody says a live man's story is going to be a lot better than dead man. Ricky, I had Ricky on the show. I remember when I, my mom's house burnt down and she gave custody of me and Kelly to dad. And we went to Dad's house and we're living at Dad's at the Lake. And I mean, I ain't been there. It don't seem like but a month or two.

And Ricky Rudd and his wife pull up on the boat to the dock at the house. We lived on the lake. And so I'm in my mind. I'm like, oh, Dad's friends with some of the racers, right? And they, Tim Richmond would come around. and I'm like, oh man, Dad and Ricky Rudder friendly. And they were pals, right? Ricky comes off, they back slap and high five and, hey, man, we're going, what's you up to, man?

Well, we're just riding around on the lake. You know, they were just buddies. And then after, but I had Ricky on the show, and he's like, yep, he's like, I felt like when Dale got back with Richard in 84, like he took what I worked on and what I built. He's, he, he's, he, he's, he's, Ricky is sour about that. Yeah. And, you know, he ends up going with Ed Moore and, you know, then, then they kind of race each other pretty hard and then, you know, Wilkesboro thing with, uh, Ricky at, uh, when he's in the Quaker State car and, you know, Ricky didn't, Ricky is still

sour over that with dad. He's like, you, you, you, he, he basically said in so many words, I was friends with your dad, but I didn't know what he was doing behind my back, and he kind of rooted me out of that deal at RCR, and I felt like I'd helped make that team what it had become. And Dale was asking, he even said, he's like, Dale was asking me in like 82, 83, what y'all doing over there?

That thing looks like it's going pretty good. And he's like, I had no idea he was going to ask me, and he was learning about the team and the progress y'all were making, to go and Rudy, root him out. Yeah, think back of what I said a few minutes ago in 1981 when Dale was, I got together. And right after that, we were still hunting buddies. Yeah.

It's so much more to this story with Mike Curb and all of, if you knew half of the stuff. So Mike Curb gets you guys together in the back end of 83. Yep. And we decided we didn't want to go that route. And we ended up. Mike Curb called, Mike Curb called a meeting and said he wanted to He wanted both of us and dad. Yeah.

And it didn't work out. Dale and I rode together and we stopped, had a cool one and talked about it and decided that we would just hold off on that. It just wasn't. It didn't feel right. Sure. But did that get the ball rolling in the conversation of actually getting back together? No, I think, yes, that was part of it. But the biggest part was we talked about it in 81.

we finished those 10 races, we both agreed, I didn't have the money. I didn't have the money to run him those 10 races. I had to barry everything I could borrow him. Did Ricky Rudd ever tell you that he was disappointed? No, but I could tell it. He never said it and I could tell it. I'm proud for seeing him going to Hall of Fame. But we had talked about this throughout. Dale and I had talked about getting back together. And the opportunity came along with Rangler for he and I to get back together and so that's how Wrangler both you know I can't remember that guy's name right I see him but he he ended up sponsoring Bud Moore and us and Budmore I never will forget he told me we at Riverside what's when we run Riverside he said boy you all won't last six months both of

you is just a lot we made it 20 some years 20 years or more yeah but you know those were man those some precious memories. Some of the greatest memories of my life came out of that era, you know. Oh, yeah. You know, we've heard all of the, we've heard the stories about how it all happened, but I've learned a lot in this room of the kind of behind the scenes in terms of like how, how the other players involved, right, and Ricky Rudd and all of that. And it's really fascinating to me.

um the uh dad i remember when dad drove bud's car bud would always tell dad um you know dad like to hammer the throttle kind of like buddy baker did and um bud didn't like his car drove that way and didn't think the you know he's like a motor's not going to last you keep racing this way right and and they did have a lot engine problems with the forward back then before they figured things out. But when Ricky got in the car, you know, Budmore and those guys had it pretty dialed in. Ricky had some really, really good runs. But when Dad come over to drive your car, I imagine Dad had free reign to drive the car however he wanted.

But and even suitcase Jake Elder, they'd like to control how the driver drove the car. car right yeah damn suitcase jake and dad would go at it arguing about how hard dad needed to be running in any particular moment in the race but was the same way you know just kind of always reminding dad not to push that hard didn't need to push that hard um did y'all have that common kind of conversation when y'all got back together around you know how bud liked dad to do things and how dad wanted to do things not really you know i said we want to go win let me tell one one story one thing about your dad that outstands over any drivers that I've known. In 1985, we blew 11 races, and he and Teresa would come up to my house, and they would stay,

and we would leave there and go out of Lillow Airport, out of Lexington, fly out. We went to Pocono, and we blew up. Any long straightaway, it was a long story how we fixed it and everything. But we got back that evening. It was pretty quiet on the airplane, coming back, we blew up. I knew that we wasn't doing a champion a good job. Y'all were having some oil pressure issues on long straightaways. Yep.

What was it? Lou La Rosa had a cigarette in his mouth and he was honing the lifter boars. I went in there myself with these guys. That's when I worked on the engines and helped build them. And we had the oil pan off. I said, we're going to watch this thing and see what happens. And it's blowing all the oil out around the lifters, the lifter boar. Well, we sleeved them in that fixed.

the problem. But I told Dale that evening, we got back, he'd come over to the house to get his car, and I never will forget I lived on over there off of Gum Tree Road. And he, I mean, hell, I can't remember it right now. I remember the house and the wall we sit on. And I sit down and Dale sat down. I said, Dale, you need to get you another ride next year. You've got a, you're better than this. We've blown up 11 times. We can't keep right. You don't need to be I said, you deserve better. I never will forget the look on his face, and he turned and looked at me. He was sitting on my left, and he turned and looked, and he said, we started this together.

We're going to finish it together. That's the kind of man he was, and he had all kind of offers to go other places, and he might have won a lot more championships if he had us. Sometimes I kind of wished he had it, but, you know, we had such a great relationship, you up, but that's the kind of man your dad was. If he gave you his word, he was going to stand up to it. Yeah. And I was the same way.

We both agreed, and that's how he was. You worked as a stuntman throughout the 1980s. Yeah. What in the hell? Why did you need to do that? Help pay bills. Really? Anything I could do.

Being a stuntman paid that good. Some of them did. They said, okay, who wants to wreck his car? I'd raise my hand. So you had a relationship with Hal Needham, who was a famous stuntman? Stan Barrett as well, right? Yeah. How did that begin?

You know, Stan Barrett started driving for Houndeem, and I would, nobody could get around him or draft. I'd say, come on out, I'll draft with you. We became friends, and then he got to tell him about doing some stunt work. When I had time in the week, during the week, I'd take off and go somewhere. Hell, I'd double Burrell Rennels one time. I put on his wig and his shirt, sweatshirt, and record. motorcycle and probably the dumbest thing I'd done was I slid a motorcycle down in front of a

182 plane that was landing they said who'll do this how they paid four or five hundred dollars to do it and that was big money back the day Neil Bonnet and I were in a police car we were playing policeman and that was in smoking the bandit too and I so we pulled this lady over she had our Earnhardt license on the front of her car and she had a Camaro and she had a Camaro and she We was in that cop car. We spun that thing around and went after we pulled this lady over. We went cops. But we pulled this lady over and we're out there walking around looking at everything.

He asked about that. Neil asked her about that thing on the front of her car. And I'm out there walking around looking. He said, well, if you're Earnhardt fan, we're going to let you go for this. Oh, it is. So, man, I've had some great times. And that's what life's about. When did you decide?

you no longer, I mean, was the stunt jobs regular? Or just kind of, they knew they could call you when they needed somebody? And it was typically. Yeah, I think one of the last ones that I did, the last one I did, was the Super Mario Brothers. I don't know if you remember that movie. Down at Wilmington, we were filming it. And that's where they used to build concrete plants, concrete ships in this big building. And we were doing the stunt work down there.

and the stunt coordinator, one of the guys ended up getting killed or really hurt bad. And I said, you know, I need to get done with this. Damn. But that ended my stunt career was watching out. I come back with some beat up knees and stuff. Yep, that's crazy, man. So, I mean, a lot of people might not know this, but after running Wrangler yellow and blue for the 84 through 87 seasons, you would unveil the black good wrench scheme at Rockingham.

And at the tail end of the 1987 season, the final race of Rockingham, one of the last races in the year, you roll this car out there. But there was a design that was blue. GM wanted the car to be blue. Yes. How did you convince General Motors? And I guess was where you even close to going, yep, you guys write the checks, blue it is. How did y'all convince them that they needed to have a black race car? You know, the Jim Goodrich, the brake boxes were blue and white,

and they wanted that same color blue and white. So we painted one left side of the car. We painted it blue and white, put the Good Ranch on the light blue. And then I took black duct tape and silver duct tape and taped the right side of the car and put Good Ranch on it on it with the decals. And the number three,

and I told them, I said, Archie Long was running it back in that day for GM. And we had the car sitting there just inside our old fab shop. And I said, well, here's the design you guys want. Here's the design that when this car is going around the track, it's going to be closer to what the asphalt looks like. You're going to be able to see this white good ranch, and you're going to see that white three.

Then we started with Silver 3. I think. Yep. But I said, because I had silver duct tape, the reason to put it down there as good as I can remember. But we ended up, we ended up convincing them that it would show up a lot better on the race track

as a black car and number three and the Good Wrench being white on the back of it. Imagine an alternate universe where there was no black Good Ranch number three car. It could have happened. Very close. Yeah. You know, the other interesting scheme that dad had was the Peter Max car. Yeah.

What was Dale's, what was Dad's reaction to that car when y'all showed it to him? Well, Goodrich came to us, and Peter Max is a very, very famous artist today. And he, the head guy at Good Ranch met with us, and we were in the old shop with the, I mean, the shop there where we're at today, that's a museum. And so he brings this painting in there on it. And he had Peter Max with it. And he said, this is a car we're going to run. And Dale knew that we needed to do something to keep the thing going. But he says, come out here.

They had a design of his uniform. He says, I'll drive that damn car. But I'm telling you one thing. I ain't wearing it. uniform you can count that out yeah so he didn't have to but he wasn't about to wear a uniform that was good and it was peter max did both of us i don't know where he is is but he painted del an eye car a full car and painted it and put you know the number three just like it was and put max on the back he said gave it to us he said here you can put your kids in college with it

oh i don't know what it'd be worth i don't know where his is but mine's in my little collection I have. The poppy red interior on dad's old good-rich cars. Where did that come from? You know, that was something that I wanted the car to look clean with the black on the outside. And even back before then, I wanted a car to really look clean, and I thought orange would really look good in it.

And that's why we did it. And you could see anything on the car a lot cleaner. If you had a problem or something, it would show up with that orange better than it would if you just had it flat black or something. A lot of teams would paint their car interior is black, trying to hide some, you know, things that probably weren't in the right place or, you know, trying to, you know, some chassis that might be offset or whatever, changing things around. And so a lot of teams would maybe paint the cars dark, so they were, it was difficult to see some of the things that might be happening with the floor pan or what have you. But, yeah, the orange interior is iconic. and I think the poppy red paint code though is a forward paint code

I'm not sure which one it was we just picked it because I want you something that if we had a crack in the floorboard or something that didn't look right we could find it and repair it right there well man hey I I've enjoyed talking to you I know you got a lot going on I wanted to ask you though right before we get off the air here you had a history in bootlegging like a real you were a real live bootlegger yeah is that true well it's a long story also but when i was a kid the question is did you run moonshine illegal yes but here's here's what happened i didn't bring it down from the mountains i was running a service station yeah 11 to 7 7 o'clock in the morning and moonshiner's would bring you on the station you worked there i worked there

i didn't own it okay i had to work there and run it at night and i was wasn't but 17, I think 16, 17. And these bootleggers would park the car, come in there and give me some addresses, you know, where to go, these drink houses. You deliver this there, you deliver this here, and you deliver it there. And I would do that. Now, I did move a couple down from the mountains, but most of the time. Drink houses.

Yeah, but I'd tall that west. What's a drink house? A drink house is right in the roughest part of town. And here's a 16, 17-year-old kid. I'll tell you why I got out of it. But I was there, and I would take it whiskey, and I'd have to sell, give my case here, give my case there. Them guys would go collect the money, and then they'd give me money to go do it. But that's how I would do it.

Drink houses where you'd go drink all night and party and raise hell and everything, you know, back in the day. Why did you get out of it? It was a killing, and I was in the right room. I heard the gun go off, and I ran, so. Damn. So that's drink houses back up there off of Old Patterson Avenue, the roughest part of town. And it was something. I bet.

I can still see some of that. So are those buildings still around some of them? No, I go up there. I went a pair a few years back and just, every now and then I'll just ride around. Some of these old houses, like Bowman Grace Stadium, I used to deliver meat to this community down there where Bama Grace, I used to deliver more chitlins and saltfish and you could ever think about eating through them houses. They're no loner there.

You've done it all. I've seen a lot. Yeah. Damn. All right, man. Well, pretty incredible. When are you going to write this book? I don't know.

You better get on it. I keep talking about it. I know I ain't getting no younger. Damn, it's going to take a long-ass time to write. Oh, it will. Let me ask you a question. You talk about age. If you didn't know the day you were born,

how old would you be? Huh? If I didn't know the day, that you were born. If I just had to guess, I'd say 35. There you go. So people ask me, you know, I said, if you don't know when you were born,

you do it and know how old you are. So I think I'm about 40 with maybe 39 years of experience. How's that? There you go. But I enjoyed it, Jr. Back up one minute. I'm not pissed off at you. I don't remember.

I don't remember. all that. I mean, I remember something, but I don't remember anything that was said. I couldn't even remember what it was about. I almost called Austin said, you remember why I was pissed at Jr. and Casey asked you. So you don't put up with no bull-h-hsha. I know that. I appreciate you. Thank you for always being so great to us. And, you know, you've seen a lot, done a lot in this board, and I can't wait to hear some of these, you know, some of these stories you're going to put in this book. I know you save a lot of stuff. And there's some stories. You're you can't tell.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, but, you know, anyways, thank you for everything you do to celebrate dad and honor his memory. And, yeah, have a good year. I'll see you in Daytona. Hopefully we'll get to run into each other out there. And I can, once I'm learning how this ownership side of it works.

You're doing a good job. You've won some championships and y'all doing a great job. And you'll make you're going to be there. You follow that dream. That's all you got to do. And, you know, if you say, pay the price for it and go on and follow the dream. Yes, sir. Richard Childers on the Dell Jr. Download.

Well, that was a great conversation with Richard Childress. And it had been a while since he'd been on the show about five years, I suppose. And it's always a fun, I don't know if the challenge is the right word, but it's always fun to bring on repeat guests and see what kind of conversation we might have. You know, when I'm not having a whole ton of experience. as an interviewer throughout my life, it's a bit intimidating, I think, to bring on a guest for their second, third, or fourth visit.

And, you know, because in the first visit, I feel like I really try to go through the timeline of their career or life and learn as much as possible into that first episode. But it was a good conversation. I'm glad we talked about, you know, He talked about the lawsuit and charters and his experience at Richmond with the Austin Dillon deal. And, of course, talked about Kyle Bush.

I mean, we covered quite a bit and had a lot of things that if you look at these pages that the team puts together, they do a really good job of kind of gleaming over the original conversation we had from the last interview and then going in and kind of filling some holes and stuff we didn't get to. and it was entertaining. So him being a stuntman in the 80s, I mean, he's a car owner and has quite a few obligations, I'm sure, and the pressure of trying to run that operation

and keep it going and being a stuntman on the side. And then really fascinating about the bootlegging. I didn't know that there was a killing, he said. So, um, that was the end of his moonshine escapades. But imagine 17 years old and the bootleggers bringing that moonshine over to the gas station and saying, right, man, here's where you need to take all this stuff. And you being the guy that has to go handle that, that would be kind of nerve rattling, I think.

But, yeah, fun conversation. And the dude is 79 years old. I'm impressed by his mental sharpness, his ability to articulate, and I think his final point about, hey, if you didn't know your age, if you didn't know the day you were born, how old do you think you'd guessed you were? It took me a second to understand what he was asking there, but I thought that was a really good question because I'm sort of at this sort of, when you turn 50, it's like you're getting halfway mark.

you know, hell if you're lucky, you know, right? But it's like the halfway flag, the halfway flags, when they came out in a race, it's almost this sort of, you know, almost an anti-climactic moment. It's all, it's a, it's an acknowledgement of, obviously the halfway mark of the race, but it's an acknowledgement of the,

of what's been accomplished, but also the fact that there is only that much left of the event. a lot of times when I was younger it was not it was kind of like oh darn the race is almost you know the race is half over I'm having so much fun and that's the way it is

with life too you know and I think that that's a great way I might share that with some friends that I have conversations about this with if you didn't know your the you're born on date

you know would you take it Would you take the fact that, you know, you're hitting these milestones like 50 years old so heavily? Probably not. So maybe that's the way I ought to live going forward. So anyhow, hope you all enjoyed it. I sure did. It's a good way to kick off the year. We're going to have a lot of fun.

We've got some really, hey, we're working on guests that are coming down over the next several weeks. and there's some good ones. So this is going to be a fun year, and yeah, hopefully y'all enjoyed that. And, yeah, I guess if you're listening to this on Wednesday, tomorrow will be great because we're going to have our first episode of Bless Your Heart with my wife, and I can't wait to kick that off. And I really have no idea what to expect.

So whatever we end up doing there, look, it's not planned. But hopefully it's good. We're going to have some laughs, have some fun. So anyways, y'all have a good week and we'll see you tomorrow. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.