While he was a successful racer, and was clearly on the rise, he was also seemingly accident prone, and was injured multiple times. In 2002, he was severely injured, and spent two months recovering. Post-recovery, he chose to retire, and became owner of two teams and opened his own motorcycle dealership. In 2004, he was killed in a plane crash on the way to a race and was survived by his fiancee, Emily Maynard, who gave birth to their daughter after his death. His father was Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports.
