Richard Petty

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Richard Petty
Richard Petty
status not active
NASCAR Cup Series statistics
Best placement 1. - (1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10
1184 200 123 712


Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937 in Level Cross , Randolph County , North Carolina ) is a retired American NASCAR racing driver. Alongside Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson, he is one of three drivers who have won the title seven times in the Cup series . He is also known for having achieved a record 200 wins over the course of his 35-year NASCAR career. Other records include seven times victory at the Daytona 500 , 27 wins during the 1967 season, 10 of them in consecutive races, 123 achieved pole positions and 712 top 10 results in his 1,184 starts. From 1971 to 1989 he competed in 513 consecutive races. Richard Petty is widely considered to be the greatest NASCAR racing driver of all time. His nickname is "The King". He is currently part owner of the Richard Petty Motorsports racing team .

family

Richard Petty was born in Level Cross, North Carolina. His parents were Elizabeth Toomes and Lee Arnold Petty. He is a second generation racing driver. His father Lee Petty won the very first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was also a NASCAR cup series champion. His son Kyle Petty is also a well-known NASCAR driver. Richard's grandson Adam Petty died in an accident at New Hampshire International Speedway on May 12, 2000, just five weeks after Lee Petty's death. Richard Petty was married to Lynda Owens Petty from 1958 until her death in 2014, with whom he has four children: Kyle Petty, Sharon Petty Farlow, Lisa Petty Luck and Rebecca Petty Moffit, as well as twelve grandchildren. The family lives in Level Cross and runs the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman .

Racing career

Richard Petty began his NASCAR career on July 12, 1958, just 10 days after his 21st birthday, while competing in a NASCAR Convertible Division race at Columbia Speedway . His first race in the Grand National Series drove Petty on July 18, 1958 at the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds in Toronto, Canada . He finished 17th after completing 55 of a total of 100 laps in an Oldsmobile . The following year, Petty was named Rookie of the Year after recording nine top 10 results, including six top 5 results.

The 1960s

Petty's famous Plymouth Superbird on display at the Richard Petty Museum

In 1960 he finished the championship in second place. In 1964 he started the Daytona 500 with a powerful Plymouth with a new Hemi engine . He led 184 of the total of 200 laps in the race and finished it as the winner. This was the prelude to nine more victories in the season in which he won over $ 114,000 in prize money and clinched his first Grand National Championship. On February 27, 1966, Petty again won the Daytona 500, which was shortened by two laps to a total of 198 laps due to a thunderstorm. Petty was the first driver to win this race twice.

In 1964, after other drivers complained and protested that Petty would use larger engines than them, he retired from NASCAR for a year and dedicated himself to drag racing. His career as a dragster pilot came to an abrupt end when he was in an accident while racing on the Southeastern Dragway in Georgia that injured seven people and killed an eight-year-old boy.

1967 was a milestone. That year, Petty won 27 of the 48 races in which he started, including ten in consecutive races between August 12 and October 1, 1967. He also secured his second championship that year. One of the 27 victories was the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway , which would be his only victory at the Southern 500. His dominance this season earned Petty the nickname "King Richard" after he was previously known as "The Randleman Rocket". For the 1969 season, Petty changed manufacturers and went to Ford because he thought the Plymouth was not competitive on the superspeedways. He originally wanted a sleek Dodge Charger Daytona , but Chrysler management insisted that he keep using the Plymouth. After moving to Ford, he won ten races and finished the season as runner-up. With the sleek new Plymouth Superbird with the shark nose and gate-like rear wing, Chrysler Petty won back for the 1970 season. This car, considered one of his most famous driven cars, is also the car that Petty voiced in the Pixar film Cars .

The 1970s

Petty's IROC racing car from the 1970s

On February 14, 1971, Petty won his third Daytona 500 with over a lap ahead of teammate Buddy Baker . This made Petty the first driver to win this race three times. He won 20 more races that season and was the first driver to rack up more than $ 1 million in prize money in one season. At the end of the season was his third championship in the Grand National Series. His fourth championship, the first since the series was renamed the Winston Cup, followed the following year, when he competed for the first time with his well-known main sponsor STP . On the way to the championship, Petty won eight times and got 28 top 10 results, including 25 top 5 results. At the start of the 1973 season in Daytona on February 18, 1973, he delivered a duel with Baker. When Baker retired with engine failure six laps from the finish line, Petty secured the fourth Daytona 500 victory. Only a year later he won again in Daytona, which was shortened by 20 laps due to the oil crisis , on the way to his fifth championship. During this time, at the zenith of his career, Petty was known for spending hours handing out autographs to his fans and not turning down their wishes.

The 1975 season would be another historic year for Petty as he won the World 600 for the first time in his career , and 13 more races on the way to his sixth championship. The 13 wins in one season are still a record in the modern NASCAR era since 1972, which was only set in 1998 by Jeff Gordon . In 1976, Petty was involved in one of the most famous finishings in NASCAR history. Petty and David Pearson dueled at the end of Turn 4 on the final lap of the Daytona 500. When Petty tried to overtake Pearson at the end of the turn, the right side of his rear bumper hit the left front corner of Pearson's bumper. Both spun and hit the boundary wall on the home straight. Petty's car stopped just a few meters from the finish line, but the engine had stalled. However, the engine of Pearson's car was still running. Pearson was able to drive to the finish line on its own, while Petty's car would not restart. Pearson passed Petty on the infield grass and won the Daytona 500 while Petty was awarded second place. The 1978 season would be the only one during Petty's heyday of his career that he couldn't win a single race. The new Dodge Magnum could not be adjusted satisfactorily to the individual conditions of the racetrack, although a lot of time and work was invested in it. Dissatisfied with only seven top 5 results, Petty switched to a four-year-old Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the middle of the season after 17 races . However, this change did not bring him a victory. But Petty recovered from this setback and won his seventh, but also last championship in the following season in 1979.

The years of dusk

Richard Petty 1985 in Pocono

Petty won the Daytona 500 two more times in 1979 and 1981. In the 1979 season, he finished the 45-race winless period and won for the sixth time at Daytona. It was the first race that was broadcast live on television from start to finish and became notorious for a boxing match between two participants who dueled because of the controversial finish. Petty won the race when top two Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough were involved in an accident on the final lap. He won ahead of AJ Foyt and Darrell Waltrip . Foyt had previously backed off his efforts as he was only familiar with the USAC rules that a race is neutralized as soon as the yellow flag is waved, while NASCAR rules required drivers to continue the race to the start and finish line and it is only neutralized from there. This race is also considered to be the origin of NASCAR's popularity.

Petty's Pontiac Grand Prix 1989

For the 1981 season, NASCAR required all teams to use the new, scaled-down 110 "wheelbase cars produced since 1979. Although Petty was successful with the Chevrolets and Oldmobiles, he wanted to go back to Mopar . His team built one 1981 Dodge Mirada and brought it to Daytona for speed tests in January 1981. It reached top speeds of 186  mph , which was about 8 mph slower than General Motors cars . Petty said goodbye to the idea of ​​racing a Dodge and bought a Buick Regal for the Daytona race, and at the final pit stop 25 laps before the checkered flag, he gave instructions to just refuel and not change tires in order to outsmart Bobby Allison and claim his seventh and final daytona 500 victory This victory would also mark a turning point in Petty's team: Dale Inman, his longtime crew chief, left the team.

On July 4, 1984, Petty won his 200th race in the memorable Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway. On lap 158 a newcomer had an accident, whereupon the yellow flag was waved. This made this lap practically the last lap in racing conditions when the drivers raced to the start and finish lines. Petty and Cale Yarborough drove out the victory, with Yarborough initially in the lead. Petty passed him on the home stretch and won with a margin of about a fender length. During the race, Ronald Reagan, the first incumbent president at a NASCAR race, was present. Reagan celebrated this milestone with Petty and his family on Victory Lane.

Petty's last race

In late 1991, Richard Petty announced that he would step down after the 1992 season. In contrast to many other drivers, he decided to drive the full season. In his “Fan Appreciation Tour” he took part in special events, honor ceremonies and fan events. There were two notable races in his last season.

At the Pepsi 400 on July 4, 1992, Petty qualified second. Before the start of the race, he was honored in a special ceremony that included a meeting with President George Bush . Petty led the first five laps but left the race on lap 84 due to fatigue.

Despite the busy schedule and mediocre race results, Petty managed to qualify for all 29 races in the 1992 season. On the last visit to a track, he led the field into the introductory lap behind the pace car to greet the fans.

He drove his last race at the season finale, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway . In this race, the later multiple NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon completed the first start of his career. In addition, the tightest championship decision in NASCAR history was made here when six drivers still had academic chances for the title. The record crowd of 160,000 watched Bill Elliott win the race and Alan Kulwicki the championship.

Due to the enormous pressure, Petty just managed to qualify for the race in Atlanta and started from 39th place out of a total of 41 cars that started. Since he was not automatically qualified based on the points in the championship, he had to qualify using the lap speed. On lap 94 of the race, Petty was involved in an accident in which his vehicle caught fire. He maneuvered the car off the track and got out of the burning car unharmed. His crew worked tirelessly to get the car running again. Two laps before the end of the race, Petty went back into the race and was classified as driving finishing the race. In his last race he finished 35th. After the race he drove a lap of honor for the fans around the race track with his trademark, the STP Pontiac.

The following year he returned to a racing car one more time. On August 18, 1993 NASCAR took part in a tire test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the Brickyard 400 in the 1994 season. Petty drove a few laps around the circuit and then donated his car to the museum at the speedway.

Ten years later, in 2003, Richard Petty got into a racing car again for the week of the final race of the Cup Series under the Winston banner at Homestead Miami Speedway . He drove a single lap in honor of his seven championships, including four in the Winston Cup, as part of Winston's Salute to the Masters.

Petty as the owner

In the later years of his career, Petty was instrumental in the career of Crew Chief Robbie Loomis, who was Crew Chief at the helm of Petty Enterprises in the 1990s . He was able to win three races: The Checker Auto Parts 500 in Phoenix 1996 and the Subway 400 in Rockingham 1997, both with Bobby Hamilton at the wheel, and the Virginia 500 in 1999 at Martinsville Speedway with John Andretti as driver.

After retiring from active motorsport, Richard Petty moved directly to the commentary booth for a few seasons. However, he remained the team owner until his son Kyle Petty took over the day-to-day business.

On a knife edge

In addition to all the races that Petty has won, three of his many accidents are remembered:

  • In the 1970 Rebel 400 in Darlington, Petty was injured when his Plymouth Road Runner suffered a puncture and hit the concrete wall that separates the pit lane from the circuit. The car rolled over several times before coming to a stop lying on its side. In this accident, Petty injured his shoulder, which helped Bobby Isaac win the 1970 championship. During the accident, his head touched the track several times, which resulted in NASCAR adopting the safety nets developed by Petty that cover the driver's window.
  • In a race at Pocono Raceway in 1980, Petty hit the wall at Turn 2 so hard that his car almost overturned. He almost broke his neck in the process, but withheld the injury from NASCAR officials in the next races, even though he knew that another accident could possibly have cost him his life. Such an incident is no longer possible in modern racing, as NASCAR requires a medical examination after every accident.
  • At the Daytona 500 in 1988, Petty distributed parts of his car down the entire start and finish straight in his spectacular accident on lap 106. Despite the large number of rollovers, he got away without serious injuries, except for a temporary blindness due to the high g-forces .

Life after racing

Richard Petty is the press officer for Cheerios and GlaxoSmithKline . His trademarks include sunglasses and the Charlie One Horse cowboy hat. In 1996 he ran for the Republican Party as Secretary of State of North Carolina, but was defeated by the Democratic State Senator Elaine Marshall . A charge of reckless driving and hit-and-run had a major influence on this defeat. He had rammed a vehicle on Interstate 85 that he was trying to overtake. He was fined $ 65 because of this incident.

Petty's legacy

Accessibility was Petty's trademark. In a sport and a sports world where the big stars don't have much time to give every fan an autograph or to give autographs at all, he set the tone by staying until everyone had got an autograph. His work on the track on the one hand and the accessibility for the fans on the other are seen as an important element in the transformation of NASCAR from the dirt tracks in the 1950s to the super speedways and the multi-million dollar sponsorship deals.

Races won

Teams

Honors

1992 gave US President George Bush Petty, as the first racers ever, the Medal of Freedom ( "The Presidential Medal of Freedom"), the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Others

  • In 2007 Petty attended the Kentucky Derby and the Indianapolis 500 for the first time .
  • Petty always had a wet towel in the car that he chewed on during pit stops to absorb fluids.
  • Andy Granatelli offered Richard Petty $ 10,000 if he would replace the familiar Petty blue on his car with STP's Day Glo red. He declined the offer and advocated a two-color color scheme. The STP Wildcat-Cosworth, with which Gordon Johncock won the Indianapolis 500 in 1982 , had a similar design .
  • Petty voiced "The King" in the Pixar cartoon " Cars ". Petty's racing car, the Plymouth Road Runner Superbird in its distinctive petty blue and starting number 43, served as the model for the car in the film. The accident in "The King" towards the end of the film is a replica of Petty's actual accident at the Daytona 500 in 1988, except that it was not an intentional accident as depicted in the film. The scene where Lightning McQueen helps him cross the finish line is based on an incident in 1976. Petty's wife Lynda also starred in Cars and took on the role of The King's wife.
  • He had an appearance in 1983 in the film " Der Rasende Gockel " by Burt Reynolds and in 2008 in the film " Swing Vote " with Kevin Costner in the lead role.
  • Petty is one of seven drivers in NASCAR history to win the Grand Slam of the four most important races in his career.
  • Its colors were adopted by other racing teams outside of NASCAR, which were also sponsored by STP. Including a Kremer K8 Spyder , which competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1996 , and a Honda Civic in the Japanese Touring Car Championship in 1995 , which was driven by Keiichi Tsuchiya .
  • In the song "How Forever Feels" by Kenny Chesney , Petty is mentioned in a line of text where it says " Now I know how Richard Petty feels. "
  • Petty made several comments against women in NASCAR.
  • Petty is mentioned in the song "On My Mind" by the rock band Royal Trux , which was released on their first EP "Radio Video" in 2000.
  • The band " Alabama " dedicated the song "Richard Petty Fans" to Petty on their album "American Pride".
  • In 1984 the Cosmi company released a racing game entitled "Richard Petty's Talladega" for the Commodore 64

Web links

Commons : Richard Petty  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1996/Le_Mans-1996-06-16-002.jpg
personal data
SURNAME Petty, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Petty, Richard Lee
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American NASCAR racing driver, team owner, and motorsport commentator
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Level Cross , North Carolina