Hendrick was a native of Richmond, Virginia who built his reputation on short tracks across the eastern United States. He raced his famous winged No. 11 Modified coupe, fielded by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell. Rick Hendrick — no relation — served as a pit crew member on his car during the 1960s before building his own team-ownership empire.
Hendrick's defining philosophy was to race anywhere and everywhere, pursuing wins at any track that would have him regardless of the size or prestige of the event. This commitment to constant competition was his greatest strength and, simultaneously, the reason he never competed full-time at NASCAR's top level. In 17 Winston Cup starts he collected two top-five and six top-ten finishes, solid results that suggested potential for more had he committed to a full Cup programme.
Hendrick's most striking statistical achievement is his all-time wins record at Martinsville Speedway, where he recorded 20 victories between 1963 and 1975. That total places him ahead of Richard Petty (15 wins), Geoff Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, and Richie Evans on the all-time list at the paperclip oval — a record that encompasses both the Modified division and the Late Model Sportsman class.
Hendrick won five track championships at South Boston Speedway: four in the NASCAR Modified division and one in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman division. South Boston was one of his most consistent hunting grounds across a career spanning three and a half decades.
Hendrick won the Modified Race of Champions twice — in 1969 on the one-mile asphalt at Langhorne Speedway and in 1975 on the 1.5-mile Trenton Speedway oval. He also won a 100-lap National Championship race at Stafford Motor Speedway on Memorial Day Weekend 1970.
Although he never won the National Modified Championship, Hendrick finished in the top ten in points nine times in the modified division: 7th (1960), 9th (1961), 6th (1963), 3rd (1964), 7th (1965), 3rd (1966), 5th (1967), 6th (1968), and 10th (1969). His best modified championship finish was 3rd, achieved in both 1964 and 1966. In the National Late Model Sportsman series he finished 8th in 1974 and 9th in 1975.
Hendrick received extensive recognition in the years following his death in 1990. He was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and ranked fourth on NASCAR's All-Time Top 10 Modified Drivers list in 2010. He was the first inductee into the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003, and was also inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame (1993), the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2007), and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame (2012). His induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame is scheduled for 2026, a final institutional recognition of a career that placed him among the most prolific winners in the sport's grassroots history.