On Monday Richard Childress accepted the North Carolina Motorsports Association's (NCMA) Achievement in Motorsports Tribute Award at the third annual NCMA industry awards ceremony held at the Embassy Suites Convention Hall.

In 2008 Childress celebrated his 40th anniversary as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner and was recognized for his compassion and hard work off the track, his character and his accomplishments throughout his career in motorsports.

Richard Petty, last year's beneficiary of the award, presented Childress with the honor on Monday.

“I remember the gas crisis back in the early seventies and the credit crunch in the early eighties,” Childress reminisced. “We were racing then and we’re still racing now. We persevered through those challenging economic times and 9-11.

“There is a lot of strength in this industry and in this great nation, and we’ll continue to be strong. And, we should always remember to thank our fans whose dedication is the reason we’ve been able to prosper all these years."

Childress concluded, “It is an honor to be recognized this evening with an award also won by people such as Benny Parsons and Richard Petty.”