NASCAR: Son\'s win validates Menard\'s long history at Indy

---

---

LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Richard Childress, Paul Menard and John Menard celebrate Paul's NASCAR win on Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

By: Al Pearce on 8/01/2011

Longtime IndyCar supporter John Menard enjoys recalling those days when he slipped his underage son, Paul, into Gasoline Alley during Indy 500 preparations. Father would tell son--at the time, not yet a teenager--to sit quietly in a corner, don't attract attention and avoid the infamous yellow-shirt security guards.

Two decades later, on the last Sunday in July at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Menards could laugh about those days without worrying about the yellow shirts. Paul, almost 31, had just won the 18th-annual Brickyard 400, his first Sprint Cup win after 167 starts.

For both Menards, the career-defining moment couldn't have come at a better place.

"Our whole family has been at the Speedway for so long," said John Menard, who spent untold millions sponsoring IndyCar teams and helping develop Indy 500 engines with little success. "We've all tried very hard. Paul came down here [from Wisconsin] as a very little guy. I smuggled him into the garage because he was too young to be in there. He'd be sitting on the workbench, behaving himself. He had to be quiet or the yellow shirts would throw him out. He was there, always interested."

And, perhaps surprisingly, that interest led to a career in stock cars rather than Indy cars. Just 22 at the time, Paul began in 2003 with 16 combined ARCA, Camping World, Nationwide and Sprint Cup starts. He concentrated on Nationwide between 2004 and 2006, then ran the 2007 and 2008 Cup seasons for Dale Earnhardt Inc. He stayed in Cup with Robert Yates Racing in 2009 before doing the full 2010 Cup schedule for Richard Petty Motorsports and the full Nationwide Series schedule for Roush Fenway Racing. He joined Richard Childress Racing--taking along his father's sponsorship money--when the team expanded from three teams to four this year.

Until Sunday, his NASCAR résumé was modest: one pole, no wins, five top-fives and 13 top-10s in 166 Cup starts; three poles, one win, 22 top-fives and 63 top-10s in Nationwide, and one pole, no wins, no top-fives and no top-10s in six Camping World Truck Series starts.

But when the breakthrough Cup win is at Indy, all is forgiven.

"I'm so proud of that whole Menard team," said team owner Richard Childress, now a three-time Brickyard 400 winner. "I caught a lot of flack when we decided to go with four teams. I've been watching Paul ever since he won the Nationwide race [at Milwaukee in 2006]. He doesn't tear equipment up; he's consistent, he's really good. He's got a cool head in all situations. I knew we'd win if the right situation came along. To get [crew chief] Slugger Labbe to come over, to get John Menard to support us, and to get Slugger a couple of the engineers . . . that was a big jump going in on a fourth team."

And what are the odds of this? Each of RCR's three Brickyard 400 wins has come eight years apart.

"It was eight years from 1995 [Dale Earnhardt] to 2003 [Kevin Harvick]," said Childress. "And now eight more years between Kevin and Paul today. I remember coming here the first time [for a NASCAR test] in 1993 with Dale. The first time the cars ran down that front straightaway, I thought, 'Man, it would be cool to win at Indy.' But I hope it ain't eight years more before we win [again]. I'll be an old man by then."

Usually, NASCAR brings only the race winner, crew chief and perhaps the team owner into its postrace media session. On Sunday afternoon, John Menard was invited to sit with his son, Labbe and Childress. It was a thoroughly appropriate call as John Menard added some human emotion to the moment.

"You know, I'm just a proud father right now," he said. "I've kind of lapsed back, thinking of Paul as my little boy. But he's a full grown man now, one I'm very, very proud of. This is wonderful, [and] I thank you very, very much. This is a good win for the Speedway and for the town of Indianapolis. By God, I hope we're back here, sitting right here again next year."

 

AutoWeek loves passionate comments and debate, but remember that you're part of a diverse community. Above all: be respectful. Critique statements, not people; talk about the automotive world, but skip the political rhetoric, hate speech, and obscenities. While we can't read every post, this site is moderated and AutoWeek will remove comments as we see fit. Questions? Read our Terms of Use or email moderator@autoweek.com.