CONCORD, N.C. – With more than 600 team members in the organization, there are stories all across the Hendrick Motorsports campus.
With that in mind, we’re taking the chance to give fans a glimpse at all of the many sides of Hendrick Motorsports.
Below, you’ll meet Adam Jordan, a mechanic with the organization.
How did you get started at Hendrick Motorsports?
“I was an interior guy at another company and at the end of 2011, the interior guy left on the No. 88 car and I got connected with (former crew chief) Steve Letarte and decided to come here. At the beginning of 2012, I went on the road with the No. 88 team up until the last year, that was my last year with the No. 88, and Nationwide was a great partner. I did interiors for Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) for six years.”
Was NASCAR something you always wanted to get involved with?
“No. I never grew up watching it, didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t want to go to a traditional four-year college, so I went to an automotive school for a year and then started doing body work. Painting is actually my trade that I started with. I started at Hooters Pro Cup Racing – which is a small series that isn’t around anymore – and met some contacts and one day I got a call to go to a race team and drove to North Carolina for the first time and they said, ‘You’re hired,’ and I moved here. The rest is history.
“It’s been really cool just because now I went from being a painter to going on the road being a tire guy to an interior guy to living the road life to now being in the shop. I think it’s helped just make me more knowledgeable on the race car and give good feedback in ways that make things better.”
How different is traveling versus not traveling in the NASCAR Cup Series?
“Huge difference. Traveling is really hard. It’s hard on you mentally, physically – it’s a grind through the whole season with really two to three off-weekends from February to November. After the 12th year I did it, I was ready to change that a little bit.”
In addition to your job here, you also own a flower shop. How did that come about?
“Luckily I have a great supporting cast when it comes to that. It started with my best friend in high school who went to college and got out and was working at a flower shop and was really into it. We had a local flower shop in our area that was coming up for sale that’s been around for 40-some years. I thought it could be successful. Luckily enough my mom is an accountant so I could get her to help me on the books side of it and I approached my best friend that I grew up with and was like, ‘Hey, what do you think about partnering with me and buying this flower shop?’ She was down for it, and that was five years ago. So, we’re five years into it and we’re getting bigger and bigger every day. Blakemore’s Flowers in Harrisonburg, Virginia.”
Is the shop in your hometown?
“I just grew up north of Harrisonburg, Virginia, in a small town called Timberville, but Harrisonburg was the biggest city near where I grew up. I think that’s the biggest challenge, just traveling for so long I could never go back and really help. Basically I just try to be a support system and an open ear and try to talk to my business partner once a week and I talk to my mom every night so I’m more on the business side as far as books, and Abby, who runs it and owns half of it, she’s more on the design side, so I think that’s my best influence is just making sure our bills are paid.”
How different is the stress of your job in NASCAR and the stress of small business ownership?
“I understand the stress of day-to-day tasks and handling people’s personalities the best way possible to get a good fit for your company. I think you can see that our race team does the same thing wherein they try to hire people to create the best fit to make the best team to be the most successful. So, I think Abby and I are challenged in that at Blakemore’s just to come up with the best team possible.”
You said you didn’t grow up watching NASCAR – would you ever have imagined that your two jobs would be NASCAR mechanic and flower shop owner?
“No way, not in a million years, especially in a flower shop. Most people don’t picture somebody owning a flower shop, but it’s actually really neat and the things you can do nowadays with weddings and just giving people joy. Flowers are something that brings people happiness, and it’s hard to kind of find that nowadays, so it’s actually kind of really cool to go home and deliver flowers to somebody and see the joy on their face when they get a bouquet. I bring my wife flowers and I’m good for a month.”
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