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Picture this – the neighborhood carpool is headed to school in Thomasville, NC. NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Petty is driving. His son Adam is in the front seat. Justin Labonte, son of two-time Cup champ Terry Labonte, is in the backseat. And next to Labonte is classmate Brian Vickers. Three kids living in the same town and hoping to follow in the footsteps of their carpool chauffeur.
Just a few years later, Vickers' dreams were already coming true, thanks to a chance taken by an old rival and fast friend.
Racing in the NASCAR Busch Series on a shoestring family budget, Vickers impressed another member of NASCAR's second generation. Ricky Hendrick, son of Rick Hendrick, had tried his hand at driving, but suffered serious injuries near the end of the 2002 season. Listed as owner of the #5 Chevy, Hendrick went to his father and announced that he wanted teenage Brian Vickers to replace him as driver. The elder Hendrick questioned the decision, but Ricky declared that it was his car and it was his choice as car owner.
One year later, Vickers made the younger Hendrick look wise beyond his years, winning the Busch Series championship at the age of 19, the youngest champion in NASCAR history. Vickers won the title with a heavy heart, still grieving the death of childhood friend Adam Petty two years earlier. All season long he raced with Adam's old cap riding in the car with him and dedicated the title to his friend, paying an emotional visit to Kyle Petty on the morning that he clinched.
At the end of a difficult 2004 rookie campaign in Nextel Cup, tragedy struck again. Ricky Hendrick was killed along with nine others in a plane crash near the Martinsville Speedway.
Now Vickers races as a too-mature 22-year old, with the memories of two fallen friends to keep him pushing for that elusive first victory.
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