Larry Hedrick Motorsports

Not to be confused with Hendrick Motorsports.

Larry Hedrick Motorsports (LHM) was a NASCAR team. It was owned by businessman Larry Hedrick and always fielded the No. 41 Chevrolet in both the Winston Cup and the Busch Series. The team ran from 1990 until its closure in 2001.

Hedrick Motorsports

Owner(s)	Larry Hedrick
Principal(s)	Crew chiefs and managers: Harry Hyde, Waddell Wilson, Mike Hill, Dennis Connor, Doug Richert, Charley Pressley Tim Brewer
Base	Statesville, North Carolina
Series	Winston Cup, Busch Series
Race drivers	Dave Marcis, Dick Trickle, Ricky Craven, Greg Sacks, Hut Stricklin Steve Grissom, Joe Nemechek, David Green, Derrick Cope
Sponsors	Kodiak
Manufacturer	Chevrolet, Ford (1 race)
Opened	1990
Closed	2001
Career
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0

Beginnings

LHM made its debut at the 1990 Bud 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larry Pearson was the driver, qualifying 26th and finishing 14th. Pearson ran three more races with the team that season, never finishing lower than 19th.

The two teamed up again in 1991, running a limited schedule with Kellogg's and Jasper Engines & Transmissions sponsoring, with Robert "Boobie" Harrington stepping in as crew chief after the team parted ways with crew chief Jeffrey Ellis, moving operations from Ellis' North Wilkesboro based shop to Harrington's Kannapolis facility.

After signing a sponsorship deal for 1992 with Kellogg's Corn Flakes, the team parted ways with Pearson & Harrington, bringing in Greg Sacks as the team's (first full-time) driver, team manager Harry Hyde , & crew chief Dennis Connor. The team was moved to Statesville, operating out of Hedrick's 80-acre Statesville Auto Auction facility.

Things started off well, as Sacks put together five top-fifteen finishes as well as a 7th place qualifying effort at the TranSouth 500. Performance never improved and at the urging of team manager Harry Hyde, Sacks was replaced by long-time independent Dave Marcis, who hired Jim Sauter to drive for his racing team while he drove the 41 car. In a seven-race stretch, Marcis' best finish was 18th at the Southern 500. Sacks returned at the AC Delco 500 for a 33rd-place finish. Hut Stricklin finished out the last two races of the year. For the season-ending Hooters 500, the team switched from a Chevrolet Lumina to a Ford Thunderbird.

Mid-1990s

In 1993, Manheim Auctions moved to full-time sponsorship, and Phil Parsons was hired to drive. Parsons finished 8th at North Carolina Motor Speedway, but was released in the final part of the year as Dick Trickle took his place, and had an outside-pole starting spot at the Slick 50 500, then followed it up with a fifth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After Trickle left at the end of the year, LHM signed 1992 Busch Series champion Joe Nemechek to compete for Rookie of the Year, sponsored by Meineke, for 1994 Nemechek had two consecutive top-five qualifying runs and finished 3rd at Pocono Raceway. When they were unable to clinch the rookie crown, Nemechek left to run his own team, and Hedrick signed another Busch Series veteran to compete for Cup rookie honors, Ricky Craven, as well as Kodiak as a sponsor. They had one top-five and four top-tens, defeating Robert Pressley for Rookie of the year. Craven was rewarded with a share of ownership in the Hedrick operation, and responded with two pole positions and five top-tens in 1996. He ran up near the top of the points standings very early in the season, but suffered a horrific crash at the Winston Select 500. Although he survived with no major injuries, his performance slipped after that, and many attribute that to a lack of confidence following that wreck. Craven left for Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the 1996 season.

Final years

 

The paint scheme that ran from 1997-1999.

Craven was replaced by Steve Grissom to pilot the 41 ride for 1997. Grissom qualified on the outside pole at the season-opening Daytona 500, and garnered six top-ten finishes throughout the season. The momentum did not carry over into 1998, and Grissom was released after the fall Bristol race. David Green and Rick Wilson shared the driving duties for the balance of the season, with Green getting the nod to drive in 1999. Green struggled, missing two races, and finished no higher than 18th. As the season came to a close, Green left for Tyler Jet Motorsports, and Trickle returned to the team. He DNQ'd for all but one of the races he attempted, and was replaced by Derrike Cope for three races, until Gary Bradberry finished out the season.

With no driver for 2000 and Kodiak leaving the team, Hedrick decided to hire journeyman Rick Mast to drive. After a long search, LHM signed Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce as sponsor. The team struggled at first, but when Mast left for A.J. Foyt Racing, many questions began surrounding the organization. It was soon revealed that Big Daddy's had neglected to pay their sponsorship fees, and had instead given Hedrick 11 million shares of stock in the company. Hedrick tried to get a cash deal with New Holland as well as ordering Big Daddy's to pay their money, with neither working out. The stocks were later proven to be worthless. During this time, Bradberry returned for a three-race deal, but the team took the rest of the year off because of the sponsorship problems. After no other sponsorship opportunities came up in 2001, Hedrick sold the team.

Hedrick died on August 31, 2020, at the age of 79.^[1]

Driver history

• Larry Pearson (1990–91)
• Greg Sacks (1992)
• Dave Marcis (1992)
• Hut Stricklin (1992, Phoenix and Atlanta only)
• Phil Parsons (1993)
• Dick Trickle (1993, 1999)
• Joe Nemechek (1994)
• Ricky Craven (1995–96)
• Steve Grissom (1997–98)
• David Green (1998–99)
• Derrike Cope (1999)
• Gary Bradberry (1999–2000)
• Rick Mast (2000)

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Car No. 41 results

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	Owners	Pts
1990	Larry Pearson	41	Chevy	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI 14	DAR 17	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS DNQ	CLT 19	CAR 19	PHO	ATL						39th	445
1991				DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS DNQ	MAR	TAL 41	CLT 41	DOV	SON	POC 32	MCH 20	DAY 21	POC	TAL 17	GLN	MCH	BRI DNQ	DAR 30	RCH 36	DOV 30	MAR	NWS	CLT DNQ	CAR	PHO 33	ATL 14						38th	848
1992	Greg Sacks			DAY 14	CAR 34	RCH 32	ATL 31	DAR 28	BRI 13	NWS 21	MAR 12	TAL 35	CLT 16	DOV 19	SON 43	POC 11	MCH 14	DAY 26	POC 29	TAL 19	GLN 31	MCH 41								CAR 33								29th	2482
	Dave Marcis																						BRI 32	DAR 18	RCH 24	DOV 26	MAR 25	NWS 28	CLT 39
	Hut Stricklin																														PHO 15	ATL 41
1993	Phil Parsons			DAY 22	CAR 8	RCH 16	ATL 39	DAR 36	BRI 31	NWS 18	MAR 20	TAL 19	SON 37	CLT 12	DOV 37	POC 14	MCH 13	DAY 25	NHA 39	POC 18	TAL 22	GLN 33	MCH 19	BRI 14	DAR 21	RCH 20	DOV 37	MAR 19										28th	2849
	Dick Trickle																												NWS 30	CLT 22	CAR 9	PHO 31	ATL 5
1994	Joe Nemechek			DAY DNQ	CAR 36	RCH 21	ATL 18	DAR 19	BRI 16	NWS DNQ	MAR 22	TAL 42	SON 22	CLT 33	DOV 14	POC 32	MCH 7	DAY 39	NHA 19	POC 3	TAL 35	IND 20	GLN 8	MCH 21	BRI 29	DAR 42	RCH 28	DOV 36	MAR 22	NWS 34	CLT 11	CAR 17	PHO 25	ATL 23				28th	2673
1995	Ricky Craven			DAY 16	CAR 16	RCH 38	ATL 12	DAR 42	BRI 29	NWS 33	MAR 18	TAL 17	SON 25	CLT 10	DOV 22	POC 26	MCH 33	DAY 22	NHA 31	POC 25	TAL 26	IND 31	GLN 10	MCH 7	BRI 32	DAR 18	RCH 29	DOV 22	MAR 35	NWS 21	CLT 25	CAR 8	PHO 24	ATL 30				25th	2883
1996				DAY 13	CAR 3	RCH 17	ATL 12	DAR 3	BRI 9	NWS 7	MAR 12	TAL 36	SON 31	CLT 37	DOV 14	POC 17	MCH 29	DAY 22	NHA 26	POC 20	TAL 19	IND 34	GLN 36	MCH 18	BRI 21	DAR 42	RCH 28	DOV 35	MAR 26	NWS 22	CLT 5	CAR 22	PHO 34	ATL 35				22nd	3078
1997	Steve Grissom			DAY 40	CAR 24	RCH 11	ATL 33	DAR DNQ	TEX 10	BRI 32	MAR 20	SON 17	TAL 41	CLT 11	DOV 24	POC 18	MCH 38	CAL 17	DAY 38	NHA 4	POC 30	IND 26	GLN 9	MCH 25	BRI 5	DAR 21	RCH 12	NHA 4	DOV 21	MAR 40	CLT 13	TAL 32	CAR 24	PHO 8	ATL 28			23rd	3061
1998				DAY 28	CAR 20	LVS 39	ATL 16	DAR 19	BRI 16	TEX 10	MAR 25	TAL 16	CAL 30	CLT 32	DOV 32	RCH 39	MCH 41	POC 23	SON 10	NHA 43	POC 39	IND 23	GLN 38	MCH 33	BRI DNQ	NHA 25	DAR 20	RCH 17	DOV DNQ									37th	2228
	David Green																													MAR DNQ	CLT 43			PHO 37	CAR 26	ATL 41
	Rick Wilson																															TAL DNQ	DAY DNQ
1999	David Green			DAY DNQ	CAR 18	LVS 27	ATL 21	DAR 42	TEX 26	BRI 33	MAR 26	TAL 33	CAL 25	RCH 43	CLT 27	DOV 18	MCH 35	POC 38	SON 36	DAY 33	NHA DNQ	POC 41	IND 20	GLN 37	MCH 32	BRI 25	DAR 42	RCH 33										41st	1888
	Dick Trickle																												NHA DNQ	DOV DNQ	MAR DNQ	CLT 41
	Derrike Cope																																TAL 37	CAR 25	PHO 43	HOM DNQ
	Gary Bradberry																																				ATL 35
2000	Rick Mast			DAY 28	CAR 33	LVS DNQ	ATL 21	DAR 30	BRI 34																													51st	481
	Gary Bradberry									TEX 41	MAR 33	TAL DNQ	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	MCH	POC	SON	DAY	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	CAR	PHO	HOM	ATL

Footnotes

External links

• LHM owner stats

1. White, Rea. "A Joy To Be Around: Former county commissioner, NASCAR team owner Larry Hedrick remembered". Statesville Record & Landmark. Retrieved September 1, 2020.