Richard Petty

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Summary

Son of famous NASCAR Driver Lee Petty, father of NASCAR Driver Kyle Petty, Grandfather of NASCAR Driver Adam Petty, The King Richard Petty and his STP car #43 was the most famous of the Petty Dynasty -- and maybe the most famous NASCAR Driver of all time.

Personal Data

• Full Name: Richard Lee Petty
• DOB: July 2, 1937
• Place of Birth: Level Cross, North Carolina
• DOD:
• Place Interned:
• Spouse: Lynda
• Children:
  • Kyle Petty
  • Sharon Petty Farlow
  • Lisa Petty Luck
  • Rebecca Petty

Race Statistics

• First NASCAR Race: 1958 Jim Mideon 500 (Canadian Exposition Stadium)
• Last NASCAR Race: 1992 Hooters 500 (Atlanta)
• First NASCAR Win: 1960 untitled race (Southern States Fairgrounds)
• Number of NASCAR Starts: 1,184 races run over 35 years
• Number of NASCAR Wins: 200
• Number of NASCAR Poles: 126
• Number of NASCAR Top 10s: 712
• Number of NASCAR Championships: 7
  • 1964
  • 1967
  • 1971
  • 1972
  • 1974
  • 1975
  • 1979

Childhood

Richard Lee Petty was born July 2nd, 1937 to Lee and Elizabeth Petty. His father Lee Petty had already made a name for himself throughout the decade of the 1950’s by winning three Grand National Championships and fifty-four races.

Richard desired to follow in his father’s footsteps, knowing that he would be a tough act to follow.

Petty spent the better part of his childhood around race cars. He built engines, painted bodies and worked in the pits long before he was old enough to legally drive. When he did reach NASCAR's age limit, he asked his father, three-time NASCAR champion Lee Petty, for a chance.

Lee Petty pointed to an old car off in a corner and told him to cut the top off it and use it in a convertible series race at Columbia.

Richard Petty jumped at the opportunity. No one knew it was the start of something special.

"I just think I was a lucky son of a gun to be born at the right place at the right time under the right circumstances with a little bit of talent and a lot of talented people around me to put me in a position to be where I'm at today," Petty says.

Six days after his debut, Petty made his first Grand National (now the Sprint Cup Series) start. He finished 17th in a race his father won. On July 18th, 1958, Richard, at the ripe age of 21, competed in his first Grand National event in Toronto, Canada. He would drive his Petty Oldsmobile with the now legendary #43, to a 17th place finish. Just a year later he would become the NASCAR Rookie of the Year. He did so by impressively recording nine top ten finishes along with six top five finishes.

In 1960, Richard Petty won his first of 200 career victories at the Southern States Fairgrounds. His sophomore season in stock car’s uppermost echelon of competition proved that his 1959 rookie season was no happenstance as he finished second in the final NASCAR Grand National Points standings.

Education

University of Western Vermont

need a reference for this

Driver/Owner

the 60s

In 1960, he finished 2nd in the NASCAR Grand National Points Race. In 1964, driving a potent Plymouth with a new Hemi engine, Richard Petty led 184 of the 200 laps to capture his first Daytona 500, en route to 9 victories, earning over $114,000 and his first Grand National championship. On February 27, 1966 Petty overcame a 2-lap deficit to win his second Daytona 500 when the race was stopped on lap 198 of 200 because of a thunderstorm. This made him the first driver to win the event twice.

In 1964 Richard became unhappy with the sport because other drivers were saying that his engines were bigger and they protested. Richard spent 1965 competing as a drag racer. His career there was cut short when he crashed his car at a race in Georgia, Injuring 7 people and killing an eight year old boy at the Southeastern Dragway, in Dallas, Georgia. 1967 was a milestone year. In that year, Petty won 27 of the 48 races he entered, including a record 10 wins in a row (between August 12 and October 1, 1967). He won his second Grand National Championship. One of the 27 victories was the Southern 500 at Darlington, which would be his only Southern 500 victory. His dominance in this season earned him the nickname "King Richard". He had previously been known as "the Randleman Rocket". In 1969 Petty switched brands to Ford, due to his belief the Plymouth was not competitive on super-speedways - he wanted a slippery Dodge Daytona but Chrysler executives insisted he stay with Plymouth. He would win 10 races and finish second in points. Won back in 1970 by the sleek new Plymouth Superbird with shark nose and goalpost wing, Petty returned to Plymouth for the 1970 season. This is probably his most famous car, and the car in which Petty is cast in the 2006 Pixar film Cars.

As a Drag Racer

Joining in the Chrysler boycott of NASCAR due to the organizing body's ban of the Hemi engine, Richard spent 1965 competing as a drag racer. His career there was cut short when he crashed his car at a race in Georgia, Injuring 7 people and killing an eight year old boy at the Southeastern Dragway, in Dallas, Georgia.

Important Accomplishments

• 200 NASCAR wins
• 7 Championships
• 10 Consecutive wins in 1967
• 7 Daytona 500 Wins
• 1959 Rookie of the Year
• 513 consecutive starts from 1971-1989
• 127 Poles
• Over 700 Top Tens
• In 1997, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• He was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
• He was sole stock car representative in the first class inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1989.
• He was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President George Bush in 1992, the first motorsports athlete ever to be honored with this award.

References

Wikipedia

Related Links

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