by Steve Byrnes

On the Wednesday before the UAW/GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon asked me to host his fourth annual go-kart challenge. Charlotte corporations donate a certain amount of money, and in return, they get to race go-karts with Jeff Gordon. At the end of the day, Rick Hendrick came over, and Gordon presented him with a check for $100,000 for the Hendrick Marrow Foundation. These two guys have been together since 1992 embraced each other, and it was obvious the affection they shared for each other.

As I was walking out toward my truck, Rick was having a conversation with someone on the sidewalk. He stopped me and said, "Steve, I really appreciate you taking the time to come out here and help with this." I told him that I was happy to take part, and he said, "If you ever need anything — anything at all — don't hesitate to call me." That's just the way Rick's family is.

Schrader also told my wife that it's hard to quantify how many lives in the sport are actually affected by this tragedy. Not only do you have the people who work at Hendrick Motorsports now, but you have all of the people like Schrader who used to work there. For every high-profile person like Schrader and Ray Evernham, there are hundreds of other people in the garage who have worked at Hendrick Motorsports in one position or another.

Like father, like son

If you shut your eyes and heard Ricky Hendrick, you would swear it was Rick Hendrick Sr. Ricky definitely was a chip off the old block. He sounded like his dad and had the same gentlemanly awareness about him. We had him on , and there was no doubt that he was his father's son. He sounded like him and carried himself like his dad. I never saw him lose his temper.

When he broke his shoulder blade and ultimately decided to retire from racing at age 22, I don't know too many young men would be mature enough to say "I'm not sure if this is what I should be doing." As the driver, he knew he was holding back that race team back so he selflessly stepped aside for David Green.

He wasn't a rich kid going racing. He had a lot of talent and raced Legends cars at Lowe's Motor Speedway when he was a teenager, progressing on to Late Model cars at the Concord Motorsports Park. He had a lot of ability, but he also had a lot of maturity and a wisdom beyond his years. Remember, Ricky fought to hire a driver who hadn't accomplished much in the eyes of other Busch Series owners, but Ricky saw something in Brian Vickers, who won the 2003 championship.

My wife, Karen, who is corporate consultant to General Mills Motorsports and worked as Ken Schrader's public relations representative for three years spoke with Schrader on Monday. Schrader said Linda Hendrick, Ricky's mother, told him that Ricky had just bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend.

Emotional Chase

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Obviously Rick is still there, but how does this loss of life affect these teams and drivers, like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who are in the midst of a championship battle? How does it affect a rookie Nextel Cup driver like Vickers who loses the young man that handpicked him?

It sounds terrible, but I almost hope that Kurt Busch or Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the championship because I don't want to see Gordon struggle with his emotions on stage. Seeing how close Gordon and Hendrick were at the go-kart event, a fifth championship would be a huge victory for the spirit, but how difficult is it going to be for Gordon to control his emotions when he thinks about Ricky Hendrick, John Hendrick, John's daughters and Tony Stewart's chopper pilot while he's standing in front of everybody in the Waldorf-Astoria and at home on live television?

I would never wish against a driver in the championship race, but selfishly, part of me would be relieved if he doesn't win the title. Maybe the other side is true. Maybe Gordon will more motivated to win than ever before, but I don't envy him if he does win the championship.