“There Was a Killing”: What Prompted Celebrated NASCAR Team Owner to Leave His Bootlegging Past Behind

A tale set in America written by Charles Dickens is what Richard Childress’s life as a youngster was. He sold popcorn in the Bowman Gray Stadium, he had a profound love for race cars, and he dreamt of earning big bucks. The last of those is what led him to illegally bootleg liquor as a teenager who didn’t have any interest in finishing high school.

Childress was 16 or 17 years old when he worked in an all-night gas station. Bootleggers from Wilkes County would drive liquor down from the mountains in their cars and park in the station. They might then go off to do ‘other’ things, leaving Childress to deliver the cases directly to retailers. He got a certain amount as a fee for this service.

The retailers were the illegal ‘drink houses’ that were once prevalent in Winston-Salem. Partying, drinking, and rejoicing in the night were the only activities that went on in these establishments. This side job was going pretty well for him until he heard a gunshot in one of the drink houses one fateful night. He narrated the incident to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his podcast recently.

He said, “There was a killing, and I was in the right room. I heard the gun go off, and I ran. So, that’s drink houses back up there on Old Patterson Avenue — the roughest part of town. It was something. I can still see some of that.” The incident left him rattled heavily, and he got out of the liquor trade for good.

Childress decided to focus on stock car racing after the killing

From there, he made the solid decision to turn his attention towards a less dangerous business. His first experience in NASCAR came in the maiden race at the Talladega Superspeedway in 1969. 16 drivers from the Grand National Series had boycotted the event citing safety concerns. William H.G. France, in turn, requested Childress and other Grand American drivers to fill the spots.

Childress finished in an unremarkable 23rd place, but the prize money of $7,500 he earned was the beginning of Richard Childress Racing. He said, many years later, “In everyone’s lives, there’s moments that change it and Talladega definitely set the road, the path for me to move up in racing.”

Time has flown by without a break since those days. Now 79 years old, the benefactor looks back at his adventurous journey and reminisces about the wonderful time that he had.