In Memoriam: Larry Hedrick, NAAA President & NASCAR Team Owner
Larry Stephen Hedrick, past president of the National Auto Auction Association (NAAA), founder of Statesville Auto Auction, and former NASCAR team owner, passed away Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, following a battle of Acute Leukemia.
Larry Stephen Hedrick, past president of the National Auto Auction Association (NAAA), founder of Statesville Auto Auction, and former NASCAR team owner, passed away Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, following a battle of Acute Leukemia.
Hedrick founded the Statesville Auto Auction with his father-in-law Dwight Goforth in April 1976. And as a member of the NAAA, he was elected president from 1991-1992. In 1993 Hedrick and Goforth sold the auction to Manheim, which is now the Manheim Statesville Auto Auction.
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He was later inducted into the NAAA Hall of Fame in 2004. He also formed the NASCAR race team Larry Hedrick Motorsports in 1990 and fielded his first Winston Cup race car.
Early in his life, he served as a hull structure designer for several years before returning home to work in North Carolina with Goforth in his farm machinery business. While attending a farm machinery auction, Hedrick became interested in the inner workings of the auction business.
He soon became an auctioneer at High Point Auto Auction. Together Goforth and Hedrick started Tarheel Auction & Realty in 1967 and conducted hundreds of auctions over the years in farm machinery, business liquidations, estates and real estate auctions. Hedrick was appointed to the founding licensing board in 1973 for the North Carolina Association of Auctioneers and helped establish the original laws.
Hedrick was very active in many charities and fundraisers serving as lead auctioneer over the years including the Speedway Children’s Charities, Heart Ball Association, Grandfather Home for Children, RJ Reynolds Winston Cup Preview & Media Day, Field of Dreams, Hospice of Iredell County, High Country Charitable Foundation and many more.
He spent the last years of his life enjoying his grandchildren and being actively involved in his family businesses, Statesville Collision Center and Tarheel Realty.
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He is survived by Sue Goforth Hedrick, his wife of 58 years, his son Chris Hedrick; his daughter Suzanne Hedrick Osborne (Derek); and four grandchildren, Brandon Hedrick, Bradley Hedrick, Taylor Osborne, Nicole Osborne; and sister Vickie Hedrick Bennett.
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