Tim Richmond To Be Saluted In Home State
Tim Richmond did it all and did it with a certain style.
By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Tim Richmond’s colorful playboy lifestyle and off-track controversies tended to overshadow his immense talent on the track.
Some believe that Richmond, who died of AIDS on Aug. 13, 1989, was one of the most talented racers ever to compete in NASCAR. One of those believers is acclaimed team-owner Rick Hendrick, for whom Richmond raced during his dazzling glory days – and who helped get fledgling Hendrick Motorsports off the ground and flying high.
“Tim’s never gotten the full credit he should have received,” said Hendrick. “”He would have been one of the all-time greats in our sport.”
Hendrick’s comments are part of a tribute planned in Richmond’s memory on June 20 at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park. (Richmond would have turned 54 on June 7).
The track is located near Richmond’s hometown of Ashland, Ohio and the inaugural Tim Richmond Memorial ARCA 200 is the idea of track owner Joe Mattioli.
Mattioli has put together a collection of reminisces from people who knew Richmond, and Hendrick was part of that inner-circle.
“I watched Tim drive for (Raymond) Beadle and man he could man-handle that car,” said Hendrick who became a NASCAR team owner in 1984, two years after Richmond’s entry. “I didn’t want to hire Tim away from Beadle but when things looked like they were going to change for Tim, we talked.”
In 1986 Richmond joined Hendrick full-time and promptly reeled off 11 wins (nine in Cup, two in Nationwide) and 14 poles (nine in Cup, five in Nationwide).
“Tim brought legitimacy to our program,” Hendrick recalled. “He was a natural behind the wheel. He showed raw talent and car control while being aggressive. With Tim, we were a threat to win the championship.”
In 1986 Richmond was treated for what was believed a cold, but after a stay at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio he was diagnosed with double pneumonia – and privately, shortly thereafter, with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Around that period he battled with NASCAR over failed substance-abuse tests and at one point was banned from competition. That ban, combined with his flamboyant lifestyle – he was nicknamed “Hollywood” — no doubt tainted his accomplishments in the minds of some.
Richmond managed a comeback in 1987 and won his 13th – and final – race at Riverside, Calif. His final start came in August at Michigan. He retired from Hendrick Motorsports shortly thereafter.
Richmond was enshrined in the Ashland County (Ohio) Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and selected as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers during the sport’s 50th anniversary celebration in 1998. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002 and is almost certain to be included in the new NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.
Richmond, after whom Tom Cruise’s character was pattered in the movie “Days of Thunder” was struck down in the prime of his life and at the peak of his racing career. Hendrick is correct when he says there’s no telling how far Richmond could have gone in the sport.
While we will never know what all he might have accomplished, Mattioli wants to make sure the amazing deeds Tim Richmond did do are never forgotten.
For more information about the Richmond tribute visit www.mansfieldmotorsportsonlilne.com
– Larry Woody can be reached at lwoody@racintoday.com
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Tim was a natural and a great racer. I miss him. It would of been pure delight to watch Tim and Dale Sr., and Davey Allison in 1993-98ish time frame, which would have been as was for Dale, their prime. No telling how many yarns would still be spinning with the potential antics on the race track of that trio. Kulwicki would have added to the show for sure but who knows he might have protected his equipment better…No matter…As the song goes, “the good die young.” Tim’s death was in the middle of, let’s say, an outbreak of awareness of swine flu. AIDS was so unknown then and had it’s grip on the globe. Plenty of people didn’t do right during those times…But as a former crewman during those days, I had heard the rumors of sex and drugs. And Tim did them all and so while I am hard on NASCAR most of the time, who knows if what they did was right or wrong. They had a duty to protect the racing field.
But that doesn’t matter. Tim was a great one. He was as tough as Dale Sr. But I always thought for two different reasons. Dale Sr. might have learned his craft because he HAD to. He had to win or place high to feed his family. He was poor. He developed his style from that. Didn’t care about hurt feelings or wrecked race cars because he had to go go. Tim maybe went at it the same way but from the opposite end. Tim didn’t care about hurt feelings and wrecked race cars because he was from a rich family. So in a way their racing styles were borne from the same DNA but from opposite ends. Whether I am right or wrong there can be no denying these were two of the best racers ever to live on this planet. And I am glad I got to see both of them in their glory days.