INDIANAPOLIS — Will Power admitted last month on how dire the situation was with his wife, Liz’s, health and how close he was to walking away from this sport due to it. The 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion didn’t have the offseason a year ago that he was hopeful of. In what should have been a months long celebration, was met with a months long anxiety induced health scare.
It was a frightening time. She spent weeks in the hospital dealing with some scary health related issues that I’ll let the family keep to themselves. At times, it wasn’t looking good.
That’s where Rick Hendrick comes in. He helped behind the scenes in this process.
“Yeah, Will, his wife was real ill in Charlotte. She was going the wrong way. He called, and we got her moved into another hospital, had some of the doctors join in. She came out of it,” Hendrick said on Thursday from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Which is why with Will Power also here on site testing the 2024 hybrid technology that will debut on these Dallara’s next season, Power had a gift for Hendrick as a thank you for all of his help over the past year for them.
“I was surprised to get the helmet, but I was more than happy to help them through that difficult time. I’m glad she’s okay. But the helmet was a real surprise and a real gift,” Hendrick said of Power’s gesture.
“I told him I love trophies and helmets. He said, This one hasn’t won a race this year, but I did wear it in the Indy 500. I said that was good enough. That was a great gift.”
Speaking of trophies, Hendrick has accumulated a slew of them. 359 and counting in NASCAR (300 in Cup, 26 Xfinity, 26 Trucks, 7 ARCA). They have 315 poles (245 Cup Series, 40 Xfinity, 22 Trucks, 8 ARCA). To go along with that are 18 championships, 14 in Cup, 1 in Xfinity and 3 in Trucks.
But, among those 359 race wins, he has 8 Harley J. Earl trophies for a Daytona 500 win, 28 Grandfather Clocks for Martinsville wins, 12 Coca-Cola 600 triumphs, 12 Southern 500’s and 10 in the Brickyard 400.
One thing he doesn’t have?
Baby Borg.
“That would go right in the middle. That would be something pretty special,” Hendrick said on what he’d go with one if Larson should win the Indy 500 next May. “I don’t even let myself go there, think about that. First I want to make the race.
“Just to say you could win this race, could win it, would win it, you might be able to build off of that, just that trophy and the car, because it would be that special.”
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