Hendrick

He's at the age where having a fast car is one of his top priorities.

But rather than cruising the boulevard and checking out girls, Ricky Hendrick is taking his quest for a fast car to a different level -- one where it is almost unheard of for a 22-year-old to venture.

After suffering a serious shoulder injury earlier this year, Hendrick has retired from being a driver, moving from behind the wheel to behind a desk as an aspiring businessman and the newest owner of a Busch Series team.

With that move, Hendrick continues to follow the path laid by his father, noted NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick. It was the elder Hendrick who parlayed a love of racing into an outstanding business, which includes over 60 automobile dealerships across the country and a four-car Winston Cup organization that boasts a lineup of Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, Jimmie Johnson and Joe Nemechek.

The younger Hendrick is in the early stages of building his own empire. He owns a motorcycle shop in suburban Charlotte, with designs on growing it into an operation of several stores in the future. He also has his sights set on winning a Busch championship as a team owner, much like the titles his father has claimed in Winston Cup.

"(Retiring as a driver) was tough," Ricky Hendrick said. "It's the hardest decision I ever had to make, to sit there and actually admit to yourself that I'm not getting the job done in the way it needs to be performed, I'm hurting the team, I'm hurting the sponsor and I'm also hurting the organization, and I feel like I need to get out and put someone else in there.

"It's not that I gave up, but at the same time, once I got hurt I felt like I didn't have the edge I needed anymore. As much as I want to get back into a race car, it makes me realize it was fun, I enjoyed it, we won a lot of races, but now it's time for me to almost grow up and finally get a job and work for a living."

Hendrick's decision wasn't easy, but it was pretty much made for him. When he crashed at Las Vegas in March, he suffered a severe dislocation of his right shoulder, forcing him to miss seven races. He crashed again in late September at Kansas and reinjured the shoulder. Doctors told him that if he had one more hard crash, he could risk permanent disability. While he's fully healed now, Hendrick knows that ending his career as a driver was the best thing for him.

"When the doctor saw it, he said he'd never seen a shoulder injury or dislocation that bad," Hendrick said. "He told me, 'If this were to happen again, I can't promise you that I'd be able to fix it.' It never tore the muscle, but it tore all the ligaments off the bone. I'd walk around, and any time I'd pick up even like a heavy notebook, my shoulder could pop out of place.

"I guess that had a little bit to do with it, but with all the time off and walking around in a sling and all that and not being able to move, it wasn't so much the pain as it was the uncomfortable feeling and having the disability of not being able to do the things you normally do.

"Between all that and thinking about where I need to be with my father and his organization, it got me out of the car. I just feel fortunate and blessed that I was able to get out of the car and have something to do."

That kind of unselfish action impressed many in the NASCAR community, including Gordon.

"I think it shows a lot of maturity on Ricky's part," Gordon said. "If he feels like his injuries are still holding him back a little bit and if he wants to give somebody else a shot at it, then I'm even more impressed with Ricky than I already was.

Ricky's father agreed.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of Ricky," he said. "He wants to give his team and his sponsors the tools to be successful, and when he realized that he wasn't physically able to do that, he showed a lot of character by making a tough choice."

Becoming such a success in both the corporate and racing world didn't come easy to the elder Hendrick. He had to work long and hard before success came his way. It's the same way with Ricky, who is borrowing liberally from his father's textbook on how to become a success in business.

But don't expect the heady young Hendrick to ride on his father's coattails. He may be a chip off the old block, but he wants to earn everything that comes his way.

"I'm the type of person where I don't want to inherit anything," Ricky Hendrick said. "I want to be my own dog and I want to do my own thing. People can say what they want to say about the fact your father is the owner and he gave you a ride, but you've still got to get the job done on the racetrack.

	“	I know we're going to make some mistakes, but I also think we're going to make a lot of aggressive, positive movements in NASCAR, especially this season with Brian. ”
		— Ricky Hendrick

"Its tough, but it's almost better to go ahead and start while you're young and have that much more experience, rather than start when you're late and be behind the 8-ball. And what's good now is I'm still in the situation where yes, I am young, but think about where I'll be when I'm 30. So, hopefully by then I'll be where I need to be to have some experience to run some automotive stores and take what my father has done to the next level."

Likewise, the younger Hendrick is hoping to emulate his father's success on the track as a team owner. He'll field the No. 5 Chevrolet in 2003 with 19-year-old Brian Vickers, who recently completed his rookie season in the Busch Series, as the driver, making for the youngest owner-driver tandem in NASCAR history.

"I know we're going to make some mistakes, but I also think we're going to make a lot of aggressive, positive movements in NASCAR, especially this season with Brian," Hendrick said. "I think he has a lot of talent and I know he's got a great team.

"I've always been impressed with his attitude, personality and ability on the race track. Brian has the potential to be a great race car driver. He's bringing the kind of energy and desire it takes to be successful in this sport."

Vickers, a native of Thomasville, N.C., isn't just a promising racer, he's also smart. He graduated with honors from Trinity (N.C.) High School just seven months ago. Prior to coming to the Busch Series last season, Vickers tore through most other levels of racing. Among his accomplishments were 83 World Karting Association wins, as well as a second-place finish in the USAR Hooters ProCup Series standings in 2001.

"This is an awesome opportunity for me," Vickers said. "I just graduated from high school in May and now I'm continuing my education with Hendrick Motorsports -- it's unbelievable. I can't imagine a better way to develop, both personally and professionally. It's truly an investment in my future."

One of the first things that strikes people about the younger Hendrick is his maturity. He acts and talks like a seasoned veteran, which in reality he is, given the years of following his father from race to race, as well as his own time as a driver, making nearly 70 starts in three years.

This past season as a rookie on the Busch circuit, Hendrick finished 28th in the standings, competing in 22 races and earning two top-10s. In 2001, Hendrick competed in 24 Truck events and had a stellar showing, including becoming the youngest driver ever to win a Truck race. He also collected eight top-fives and 19 top-10s, eventually finishing sixth in the points.

Obviously, with Hendrick moving to an ownership role, one assumes he will eventually succeed his father as team owner of the family's Cup operation.

"We've never really sat down and had a serious conversation about it, but we kind of joke about it," Ricky Hendrick said. "(His father) says, 'You know, one day this will all ultimately roll into your hands.' But at the same time, it all goes back to where I want to earn my right to have it. I want to succeed in Busch, I want to prove to everybody, including myself and my father, that we can win in the Busch Series and I can be the owner and that we can make it happen."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.