In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports not only celebrated its 40th anniversary by excelling on the track and having all its Cup drivers in the playoffs but also by collaborating with Motorbooks to release the commemorative book titled ‘Hendrick Motorsports: 40 Years.’ The edition graced bookshelves with a richly detailed narrative and visuals, chronicling the legacy of the 14-time NASCAR Cup Series champions.
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The book, penned by auto racing journalist Ben White, offers a licensed history, including seldom-seen images from the team’s archives. It also features a foreword by the legendary four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon and an afterword by the team’s owner, Rick Hendrick, adding personal touches from the figures who helped shape its success.
The cover presents a NASCAR car segmented into 11 parts, each representing different drivers who have contributed to the team’s storied history. Opening this hardcover book unveils detailed narratives about each segment, inviting readers on a nostalgic journey through the decades of Hendrick Motorsports’ achievements.
“We all worked as a team and made sure it was the best it could possibly be. It’s just phenomenal to me how much success [Hendrick] has had by just keeping that positive attitude and he shares that with everybody that’s in his orbit.”
“If you go over to Hendrick Motorsports and see what it began as and then what you see it as today, it just kind of takes your breath away… Everywhere you look there’s a mark of success,” White said.
Through 40 compelling tales, ‘Hendrick Motorsports: 40 Years’ spreads the legacy of the team, capturing moments from their first win at Martinsville Speedway — a victory that was crucial for the team’s survival — to their participation in the “Days of Thunder” film, and the Garage 56 Le Mans program.
The 200-page tome is embellished with photographs by renowned NASCAR photographer Nigel Kinrade, along with archival images from Hendrick Motorsports, offering a visual journey through the team’s history.
The publication stands as the sole officially licensed commemorative book marking the 40th anniversary of the 14-time NASCAR Cup Series champions.
In his foreword, Jeff Gordon reflects on the legacy of Hendrick Motorsports, noting, “Spanning 40 years and more than 300 victories, the contributions of countless people have built Hendrick Motorsports into the greatest team in NASCAR history. This book is made up of their stories.”
Before the launch of their 40th-anniversary compendium, another seminal work detailed the saga of Hendrick Motorsports. Twenty years prior, in 2004, UMI Publications heralded the debut of ‘Twenty Years of Hendrick Motorsports.’ That tome chronicled the first two decades of Rick Hendrick’s influential racing empire within the high-octane world of NASCAR.
Penned by Ben White, the same scribe behind the 40-year retrospective, the earlier volume celebrated the architects behind Hendrick Motorsports’ nine NASCAR championships up to that point.
Spanning 176 pages, the book paid homage to Dan Lohwasser, the late maestro of Hendrick’s marketing and public relations, who initially championed this literary endeavor before his untimely death in 2002.
