Before last Thursday night’s (Sept. 11) NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Debbie Henderson of Henderson Motorsports was told her father would place many pennies for her to find.
In June, her father and the team’s founder, Charlie Henderson, a figurehead for family-owned teams in NASCAR for almost 50 years, passed away. Since then, his daughter and son, Don Henderson, have taken the mantle to lead the No. 75 team.
“Today may be the most emotional I’ve felt at a racetrack,” Debbie Henderson told Frontstretch at Bristol. “It’s the first time I’ve been to Bristol without him. … I brought his racing jacket that he wore.
“I know when my brother went to Watkins Glen [International] right after my dad passed, it was very emotional for him. This is the first time I’ve been back, and it’s been emotional for me. So, I don’t know if I’ll get immune to that.”
Despite the loss, Don is handling many of the racing aspects of leadership, and Debbie has taken on the responsibility of managing the behind-the-scenes roles of race team logistics.
“My brother and I both tag-team it,” Debbie Henderson said. “I’m going to give him way more credit. He travels with the team every race. I’m more behind the scenes. I’m making sure the team has their rooms, their travel, their passes. … I feel like that our goal is to keep this team going and to keep this team winning. That’s our goal.”
However, this isn’t a role that was thrust upon her or her brother unexpectedly.
Since 1976, the siblings have grown up in a racing world that their father built and cultivated for decades. While both continued to live their lives away from the racetrack, they began to grow a passion for their fathers’ work.
“We weren’t as involved as we were as we got older,” Don Henderson told Frontstretch. “I played football in high school. Debbie played sports. We concentrated on that the most, but when we got out of high school and college, we really started liking [racing]. I played football in college until I got hurt. I thought, ‘Man, I could get on the pit crew here,’ … and that’s how I really got involved. Ever since we got older, we just liked it. It’s been part of our company, part of our family”
Since then, they’ve been with their father watching as the sport – and their team with it – evolved through the decades. At times, there were seasons when Henderson Motorsports did not run any races at all.
But even through those rough years, Charlie Henderson didn’t give up, and his kids adopted his tenacity.
“Even when times are tough, even when it’s disappointing when you leave the track, you’ve got to figure out how to make it better,” Debbie Henderson continued. “My dad said we got to figure out how to be faster. So, that’s what it is. It’s just making sure that you just keep going no matter what. A never-give-up attitude.”
The “never give up” mantra isn’t all talk, either. For a team that has changed and competed in each of the top three national NASCAR series since its inception, the No. 75 Chevrolet is a testament to the Henderson family’s resilience in a brutally unforgiving sport that demands sacrifice, success and above anything else, money. And times are indeed tough.
In 2025, the organization is running a limited Truck Series schedule with racing veteran Parker Kligerman. Thus far, the entry has yet to earn a top-10 result this season. Or at least, they haven’t on paper.
In February, Kligerman crossed the line first at Daytona International Speedway in an upset victory that grazed media headlines. However, hours later, the No. 75 was disqualified for failing post-race inspection.
It would have been the team’s first-ever victory at Daytona and first overall since 2022.
“I still look at it as we won Daytona,” Debbie Henderson confessed. “We got to celebrate. We still won Daytona. Not on paper, but we won Daytona. You know, in the eyes of Parker, I’m sure he considers that a win, too.”
To top things off, their team patriarch passed away in the middle of a season that has not been producing the results they have grown accustomed to, providing another harsh emotional hurdle the team must overcome.
Yet, they carry on because they must.
“The legacy is very special to both my brother and myself,” Debbie Henderson added. “We don’t want to see this team die. We want to be part of keeping it going because memories at the racetrack are huge for both of us. So, we’d like to keep this going. I think my dad would want us to keep this going.”
They plan to do so even beyond 2025.
“It’s part of our DNA,” Don Henderson continued. “We’re searching for sponsors every day. I mean, we’re not going to out of our own pocket, but we feel like we get enough sponsorship, we can afford to run and run competitively. That’s our goal. If it’s five races, 10 races, 20 races. We want to run competitively.”
Why continue stressing over something as difficult and financially risky as running a NASCAR race team when you don’t have to?
Because their father never gave up on the family business, and even though he’s gone, neither will his children.
“My dad never quit,” Debbie Henderson stated. “He never threw in the towel, and he never gave up.
“This sport’s hard. It’s hard financially. It’s hard emotionally. It’s tough, and he never quit. So, I hope my brother and I can take that philosophy and carry this team maybe even make it better.”
Things are already looking up. Because when she stepped into the Bristol credential office for her first race weekend since her father’s passing, there Debbie Henderson found a penny lying in wait for her.
A gift from her father.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT