Interview: Richard Childress Discusses His Trip To Iraq
Written by John Davison · January 7, 2004
Richard Childress, Owner Of Richard Childress Racing, Visited Media To Discuss His Recent Trip To Iraq During The Holiday Season:
(How Was The Trip, How Long Were You There, What Did You Do, And Who Did You Meet?) “We were there about five or six days. We met a lot of the troops and spent a lot of time visiting the bases and places they had set up for the troops. We went into some really unique places. The morale the troops still have is really unbelievable. To see what they’re doing for us to give us the opportunity to do what we do, was a great feeling. Probably one of the neatest things we did was fly one of the Blackhawk helicopters right over the city of Baghdad. We went into one place where they were overtaking an electrical plant. They had gone out that night on a mission and captured 36 terrorists and still came out for autographs at 10:00 the next morning. That just let us know how strong they felt about NASCAR and how glad they were to get to see us. We were the first civilians to ever go into this particular camp area. It was a unique trip.
“We have an opportunity to change the world. If we don’t do it now, we could be in some serious trouble in the days to come. I’m proud of what they’re doing and of the support we should be giving our troops. If we don’t, we could be in some serious trouble as a country some day. I’m not a politician, but I know (this) by just looking at these people. They’re not living in hotels. These are young men and women. The best bathroom they’ve had has been a port-a-potty for the past six months or eight months. They didn’t even have that for a while. You’d have to go there and be in the city and see the danger. We were right there. When they handed us a flack jacket and a helmet, you knew it was serious.
“I was really proud of all the guys from NASCAR that went. The ESGR, which is the employee’s support for the Reserve and Guard, put this program together. Jack Roush and I have always had our differences before, but for him to be there was really neat. Ron Hornaday & Johnny Sauter were the drivers that went along with me and it was a real eye-opener to see what’s happening in the world besides NASCAR. These guys didn’t have to go over there and I’m really proud of all the NASCAR people that went. They didn’t have to go.”
(Compare This Trip To Last Year’s Trip To Bosnia) “Last year we went to Bosnia and we went into Germany and Spain and Italy. It was a different trip. This year we went right into where all the action is taking place today. Reality set in on all of us that night when they put two coffins on the airplane and we carried them back to Kuwait City with us. We knew this thing was for real. These young men and women are putting their lives at risk every minute of the day. For any one not to respect what they’re doing gets me a little upset.”
(On His Relationship With Jack Roush On The Trip) “It wasn’t planned and I didn’t know he was going. I think he actually ended up going at the last minute. We just talked about a lot of different things. We talked a little about racing, but mostly about what we were seeing and where we were and the conditions. I told him I want to apologize before we got started. The only thing we slept in over there was in sleeping bags and on cots. We slept in sleeping bags three out of six nights. I apologized for snoring and he said that I did (snore).”
(Did You See Any Wildlife There?) “Every minute was wild, but I didn’t see any there.”
(Are Any Of Your Employees Over There?) “Yeah, one of our pilots is there in a helicopter. We have two or three of our employees over there or in the military at this time.”
(How Hard Did This Hit You?) “Well, it hits all of us. I don’t know if you realize that about 48 percent of our military are in the Reserves. Our country couldn’t afford to pay 100 percent full time for all of our soldiers and military support.”
(On The Proposed Points Revision) “Anytime you make change you’re going to have some resistance. People are going to question it and we’re going to have some problems if they make [a] change. But if you look at the whole picture, I think maybe it’s time for change. NASCAR has reached another level. Maybe we do need a playoff. The way it was explained to me made me understand it a lot better. If they do it, sure there will be some questions and some hiccups to it. At the end of the day, NASCAR has made a lot of right decisions along the way.”
(On The Current Restrictor Plate Rules) “With the restrictor plate and spoiler and spring combination that we have now is going to balance the field. You can tell just by watching here and watching the race at Talladega. You’re going to see Ford and Dodge right in the middle of it. I think this restrictor plate really worked good for them and I don’t see where anybody is going to have a great advantage. DEI is going to be good. They always are at restrictor plate races.”
(What’s Your Reaction To Joe Gibbs Going To The Washington Redskins?) “I think it’s great for him to go back to a career like that. He came here and did a tremendous amount in our sport. He’s got his son set up to carry the team and he’ll keep giving a lot of support to the sport. He’s not leaving us. If anything it can help us with the notoriety of him going back and being a football coach and still being associated with the sport. But I’m not going into coaching, I’m going into the wine business.”
(On The Current State Of The No. 29 Team Of Kevin Harvick) “For once, we’ve kept this team together through the year without a change. I don’t think we lost anybody on the team. We made one adjustment and I think one position. They should be a championship contender. Kevin just gets better and better every race with restrictor plate racing.”
(On The Overall Field In ‘04) “I think you’ll see Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson and hopefully Kevin Harvick in there. I’d love to see Robby Gordon in thee and I don’t know what a rookie like Johnny Sauter can do. But I think it’s going to be an interesting year. There are five or six rookies out there. There are established teams. You’ve got some that have moved around a bit. I’m excited about it. It doesn’t even seem like we’ve been off but I’m anxious to get started back again.”
(Will The New Additional Tests Be Expensive For The Owners?) “Most definitely. I was not for that and I expressed my opinion. We had five tests and then we had the option of going to Greenville or Kentucky or wherever we wanted to go to test. Usually when we did that, we’d send one team to test and to bring back all the information to share. Now, with seven single day optional tests, every one of the teams are going to want to go do it just because they can go to the track that they’re going to go race on. So it’s going to be a big expense on all the car owners?)
###
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.