Richard Petty
Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty, nicknamed The King, is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He is best known for winning the NASCAR Championship seven times, winning a record 200 races during his career, winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times, and winning a record 27 racesin the 1967 season alonein length, reducing the schedule to 30 races). Statistically, he is the most accomplished driver in the history...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRace Car Driver
Date of Birth2 July 1937
CityLevel Cross, NC
CountryUnited States of America
I don't now what situation they came from and I don't know what they were offered to go somewhere else. It's the times now, There's not a any loyalty for anyone or anything -- a whole lot. Wherever the money's at, that's where they're going, so I don't blame them. They've got just a few years to get it done and if they don't get it done then, then they aren't going to get it done.
A rivalry doesn't happen in one or two races or in one year. It happens over a period of time to really get a rivalry going. We race together three or four races and get to beating on each other, that's not a rivalry, that's just a happening. You do that four or fives years, that's a rivalry.
Denver's pretty quick. They couldn't keep up with him in the open field.
There's probably not a crew chief out there who hasn't tried something that seemed like a good idea.
If Kyle had ever been dedicated to nothing but driving, he'd have been really, really good. But he wanted to do a lot of other things. He's always been that way. Still is.
He was going to make it. He had a passion for driving a car ... Adam was never interested in anything else.
They said, 'Well, it can be done, but we'll have to do it a different way (rather than purchasing the series).' So here we are.
Kyle saw the things he didn't accomplish but he could help Adam accomplish.
He was at Richmond from the time I was a little boy. He was one of the originals in PR, in working with the drivers and the newspapers. He was one of the first to realize you don't just stick up a sign and say we're going to have a race Sunday. He went out, dug up PR and really got the job done. Any time we ran at Richmond, the place was always full.
A lot of them also looked a little further down the line in the future than we did. We always did everything out of Level Cross (N.C.) in the backyard and we were fairly successful with the thing. Then it started being a bigger and bigger business. It started going and bringing more people in, more money, more technology, that kind of stuff. We still sat there in the backyard. By the time we got ready to do something about it, we were so far behind on our money and our engineering and all that stuff it's just taken us a little time to get going.
Every race is a chapter. Those are two important races. Who knows what Sunday will bring?
I don't particularly tell my guys to cheat. I just tell them not to get caught.
I am very proud of the titles I have earned. However, the honorary title I have been given this year as chairman of the VA National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans program is one I accept with great humility and pride. I encourage all Americans to visit some true champions this Valentine's week and find out how you can serve those who have served us so well.
Two Sundays don't make a season. But if we keep it together, we are going to win a whole bunch of races this year.