Founder: A.A. Rick Woodson   Daughter: Sally Woodson Our History         We'll have more content for this section coming soon. Until then, read a brief article that was published in 2001 by the Roanoke Times & World News. For 60-plus years, Woodson family has served Western Virginia's car needs When Aurich Rick Woodson saw his first Honda, he said it looked like a like a football helmet on roller skates. He was working in Richmond at one of the largest car dealerships in the state in 1971, when his father, A.A. Rick Woodson, signed on to be a Honda dealer. His father had owned Rick Woodson Pontiac in Roanoke since 1954 and had been in the car business in the Roanoke Valley since 1937. Woodson said he thought his father lost his mind - that is, until he drove one of those early model Hondas. "I drove it home for lunch and said, 'man, we've got a winner here.'" All you have to do is drive one, Woodson said of the cars he now sells at Rick Woodson Honda, one of the two dealerships he owns in Roanoke. The Pontiac dealership is on Williamson Road, where the Honda dealership first opened. Rick Woodson Honda was moved to its present facility at 3311 Peters Creek Road in 1986. Woodson worked for his father at the Pontiac dealership when he first started out in the business. His father trained him the way Woodson trained his own daughter, Sally Woodson, who has worked for her father for 15 years. Rick Woodson drove a parts truck, then worked in parts & service, then sales, and on from there was promoted to assistant sales manager and then general manager, leaving the business in 1969 to work for Hyman Bros. Pontiac in Richmond. "It was the largest Pontiac dealer in the sate. I went as far as I could with my dad," he explained. At Hyman Bros. he said he learned a lot in the four years he spent with them. "They gave me a masters degree," he said. But about the time his father became one of the first Honda dealers this side of the Mississippi, Woodson was looking around for a dealership of his own. His father called him and asked him to come back to work for him, as he was nearing retirement. By 1973, his father had put in almost four decades of work. Back to Roanoke, to the dealership on Williamson Road, Woodson came. But the Hondas took off and the space on Williamson Road became cramped. "We didn't have enough room. Sales were soaring. There was a waiting list for Hondas, and the service department was overloaded. We could not take care of our customers if we didn't expand," he explained. Woodson bought 10 acres on Peters Creek Road and built a new Honda dealership. "I was actually one of the first car dealers on Peters Creek Road, and I was very apprehensive. But, about two months after we open the facility, I knew I'd made the right decision. The first month we sold over 100 cars. The next month we again sold over 100," he said. Rick Woodson Honda is now ranked fourth in the nation in customer satisfaction at delivery. Woodson says he wouldn't have done anything else. When he first went to work for his father, he said he took a cut in pay from a job as manager of Household Finance, but he's never looked back. "I love sales. I love the contact with people. You have to be ambitious. I look for people who are loyal, clean cut and trainable. This can be a tough business, depending on the year. The last seven years have been good. But it's very, very competitive," he said. Woodson said he owes his success to his people, especially his department heads. They acknowledge that Woodson's style of management is hands-off, which they like and under which they can function well. "I'm very selective in the people I hire who will be in some type of supervisory level. They've been my success. My daddy once told me, "You're no better than the people you surround yourself with.' We don't run a real tight ship here. We've hired the right managers, and they do their jobs," said Woodson. Woodson also said Honda was the right car for his father to choose, because they hold their resale value, they're quiet and they get great gas mileage. His children are also sold on selling cars. Sally Woodson is now the Honda dealership's general sales manager and vice president, and his son, James, works for a General Motors dealer in the Dallas area. Woodson has been a member of the General Motors Dealer Council and has served on the board and as president of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association. "I can't think of anything else I'd rather do. I appreciate the people in Western Virginia being loyal to us," he said.   Quick Fact: The Woodson organization is one of the oldest automotive dealers in the Valley - in fact, its the oldest Honda dealership east of the Mississippi, picking up the Franchise in 1974.   Welcome message from Sally Woodson here.