Man of the Year 2007
12/3/2007Race cars are built from the ground up.
Race teams, too.
In a sport where so much attention is focused on equipment - chassis, engines, tires, dynos, wind tunnels, shaker posts - it's easy to forget success really comes down to people. Someone has to drive it, build it, test it, improve it, make it work.
Rick Hendrick understands that better than anyone, anywhere, in world wide motorsports.
How important is that?
McLaren's Ron Dennis, for example, let a sure-fire Formula One championship slip away on the banana peel of Fernando Alonso-Lewis Hamilton disharmony he couldn't manage. Dennis essentially handed an early Christmas gift to Ferrari, clearly better managed by Jean Todt, and the frenzied red-clad tifosi.
Hendrick and Dennis proved that, despite what many believe, racing success isn't all about money. Both had all the needed resources. It came down to people: Dennis wasn't able to get his to work together; Hendrick did.
That ability, and understanding of human nature, produced a NASCAR season of success unmatched in stock car's modern era. Hendrick drivers won half of the 36 Nextel Cup events: Jimmie Johnson 10; Jeff Gordon six; Kyle Busch and Casey Mears one each. The Chase became a two-man race, settled competitively and respectfully on the track between Johnson and Gordon.
Hendrick found a way to create the elusive "chemistry" that wins races and titles. It went beyond champion Johnson and runner-up Gordon to their crew chiefs, Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte, and - seemingly - everyone in his organization.
Hendrick, who has auto dealerships across the country, says it's impossible to have customer satisfaction without employee satisfaction. He recently told a business gathering he tries to "check in" with all of his 6,000 employees!
So, while expressing respect to John Force and John Medlen for enduring the unendurable, and to Tony Schumacher for his second consecutive last-pass NHRA Top Fuel championship:
Rick Hendrick has earned this column's 2007 James P. Chapman Man of the Year Award. The honor is named in memory of Chapman, the late Detroit-area public relations pioneer and executive, whose life-long achievements included joining with Bill France Sr. to promote the 1951 Motor City 250. Chapman, a confidant of Babe Ruth, also orchestrated the Driver of the Year Award and was director of racing for CART series sponsor PPG Industries.
"It's unbelievable," Hendrick said of his seventh championship campaign. "You dream about winning one of those (Cups), and doing it back-to-back, it's really special. To have the two cars run like this all year, it's great.
"I think the most gratifying thing to me was during the (Homestead) race, and after the race, the way the 24 (Gordon) team handled it. Everybody, they're happy for each other."
The Gordon and Johnson cars and teams operate from the same building. While the road crews wear a "DuPont" or "Lowe's" uniform, back in the shop, everyone wears a "Hendrick" shirt.
Knaus reflected on that: "It's amazing what can happen when you have a group who are going out there and not so much racing against one another, but racing against the competition. That's really what we did this year."
Perhaps Alan Gustafson said it best. When it was announced that Kyle Busch would leave Hendrick - here comes Dale Earnhardt Jr.! -- crew chief Gustafson was asked if he might follow his driver.
"I would rather sweep floors for Rick Hendrick than be a crew chief for someone else."
Previous James P. Chapman Man of the Year Award Winners:
2000 -- Jacques Natz (news director, WTHR-TV, Indianapolis) and Terry Brookins
(news director, Speedvision RaceWeek).
2001 -- Richard Childress
2002 -- Tony George
2003 -- NASCAR fans
2004 -- Brian France
2005 -- Carl Edwards
2006 - Jimmie Johnson
[ Next column: February 11, 2008 ]
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(I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.)
BackAbout I.N. Sider
I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.