NOTE: Some of you may recall my series “Remembering Dale,” written last year over a one week period following Christmas, a tribute to the legendary Dale Earnhardt. In that same vein, we’ll devote a week to NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty.
Some just have it. Some would call it “presence,” others would call it “command.” It’s that ability to walk into a room and suddenly, all the attention is fixed on you.
It has nothing to do with his size, though at 6 foot 2, the man is hardly a small fry. It’s not really his looks, either- possessing neither the Madison Avenue polish of a Jeff Gordon, nor the rugged, cowboy handsomeness many associated with Dale Earnhardt.
Though he didn’t adopt the accessories until sometime after he became a legend, the wrap-around shades and “Charlie One Horse”
hat are synonymous with cool, and they are synonymous with one Richard Lee Petty, better known to NASCAR fans as “The King.” In his very unique way, the seven time NASCAR Cup champion was coolness personified.
A Sports Illustrated writer once honored early NASCAR stud Curtis Turner as the “Babe Ruth of NASCAR.” Looking back, such a pronouncement may have been a little bit of a stretch, but nonetheless, a case can be made. I submit that if the writer is correct, then Richard Petty is the “Cy Young of NASCAR” with numerous records, many of which will never be broken.
With 200 wins, Petty is 95 victories in front of David Pearson, and 116 in front of Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip. It’s not completely crazy to think a Kyle Busch or a Joey Logano could catch the Level Cross, North Carolina native, but like Hank Aaron’s pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record, it would take multiple DECADES of high level consistency to track Petty down. Let’s take Busch as an example. As of today, he has 16 Cup wins, needing 184 to catch Petty. To tie the legend, the 23-year-old Busch would have to average 10 wins a season for 18 seasons, plus grab four more along the way. Either that, or Busch would have to have at least a handful of seasons where he absolutely stunk up the show in a way that not even Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon even dreamed of. It’s danged tall order, like Yao Ming tall.
It doesn’t end there. In 1967, Richard Petty won 27 races, including a staggering 10 in a row! He also won races in 18 consecutive seasons. Petty shares the “Modern Era” (1972- forward) record for wins in a season (13) with Jeff Gordon. He also earned 127 poles, and made 1,184 starts. In 32-season career, Petty raced some 303,662 miles.
While one may debate whether it’s Petty, Earnhardt, or Pearson that is the unparalleled greatest of all-time- there’s no denying this: the man is NASCAR’s original giant. He was the first stock car driver to be written about in Newsweek, he also caught the attention of Life, and his association with STP was perhaps really the first where a driver and a brand were so linked to each other on a scale the transcended the serious fan base.
Speaking of fans, it is perhaps in this arena where Petty stood most tall. The late David Poole once wrote only Muhammad Ali had given more autographs. To this day, Petty still possesses a ready smile, and though there may be those more articulate, he’s not one to duck a question. Though he retired from driving 17 years ago, Petty was never truly dropped out of sight.
A perfect man? No. No one is. I’m sure we wouldn’t have to dig too deep to find those who would dismiss his achievements, or maybe even a scorned fan who caught the man on a bad day. Heck, in this day and age of tabloid culture and urban myth, we could probably tear down Billy Graham or Mother Teresa in fairly short order.
Having said that, there’s absolutely NO question that the man who started out racing against his dad, Curtis Turner, Ned Jarrett and Fireball Roberts, and then finished his career running with Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and Bill Elliott and his son Kyle is one of the pillars on which NASCAR stands.
Recounting the career and contributions of 7-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty should be great fun for this history buff over the next few days. I hope you have fun with it as I do.
In a sport where we have an rough and rugged “Intimidator,” a crafty “Silver Fox,” and a vaunted “Alabama Gang,” there is only one they call “The King.”
Though not the forebear, no one stands taller than Richard Petty in NASCAR’s royal family.
PHOTO CREDITS- Petty at Hall of Fame announcement by John Harrelson/ Getty Images for NASCAR. Petty in red shirt by Marc_714. Lower right photo by aresauburn. To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the link.
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In the days before Nascar was an omni-presence on TV or a national sport, you could say the name, “Richard Petty” and everyone knew who he was and what he did…and no doubt remember the ever present rag in his mouth as he raced around the track in the famed Petty blue # 43 (and we can thank him for bringing huge car sponsorship to Nascar–his deal with STP)…
King Richard’s accomplishments in Nascar are legendary (and don’t forget he took time off to go drag-racing after a snit with Nascar, so his win total would be even higher), but my favorite moment is that wreck at Daytona with David Pearson. If Petty had kept his foot in it (and just ket the car from stalling out) he’d have 8 Daytona 500 wins. I can’t see anybody ever touching his win total.
NASCAR DOES NOT NEED DALE JR THEY TWO SEE
THAT 43 UP FRONT WITH THE 21 UP THERE WITH
HIM AND ARE RUNNING FOR THE LED
JIM
I’ve been a NASCAR fan since the late fifties and I remember the first time I saw Richard Petty race was at Greenville-Pickens speedway. He didn’t win, but I remember the big-finned blue ‘59 Plymouth being the only Chrysler product in the top 5. My father always like Richard’s father, Lee, and so it was natural that I would become a Petty fan. I never regretted it. I followed him closely all through the remainder of his career. I even saw his last race in 1992 in Atlanta, the one that was Jeff Gordon’s first and the one that sealed the deal for Allen Kulwicki’s championship. Even in that last race, Richard showed class. He wrecked out early, but insisted that his crew do everything possible to get him back in the race so the fans could share his presence. With only one or two laps remaining, out came the King again without a hood on his car and with fire extinguisher powder all over the the fenders. Just showing his appreciation. A class act all the way through. i still miss seeing him on the track.
The first time I met The King was in 1964 when I literally ran into him on pit road at Daytona. Imagine the surprise for me being 9 years old at the time bumping into The King. the only thing I could say was “You’re Richard Petty”. He said “That’s right” and rubbed my head. The only thing that topped that was meeting AJ Foyt about 5 minutes later and asking AJ if he thought he could win and him saying “Easy money boys, easy money”. Sure enough, AJ won. I had the chance to meet AJ again at TMS back around 2001 and we talked about that day again and he still remembered his statement prior to winning the Firecracker 400 in 1964. Quite a reunion.
My wife’s dad took her to an appearance The King was doing at a hamburger joint called Ray’s King Burger when she was about 4 years old. The King gave her a pinch on the cheek which sort of embarassed her. She told her dad, “I found me a boyfriend”. The King and her dad both got a good chuckle out of it. She still wants to meet The King again and hopefully she will.
The King has always been a class act as have the other drivers from the good old days. Even if he’s rushed to be somewhere, he still signs an autograph for the fans. Guys like him, Rex White, Marvin Panch and the others from the Golden Age are a cut above the drivers of today.
@Everybody- love the stories. Thanks for sharing. That’s what articles like this are all about- getting people to throw in their own first-hand recollections to go with the history. Thanks. You know what’s funny Madman, A.J. was my original favorite. I was an Indy fan as a kid, my dad was a Texan and kinda had Foyt’s attitude, so he was a natural to root for.
I liked AJ’s overall attitude and his ability to drive just about anything on wheels Jim. I would root for AJ anytime I managed to catch a race on the radio and it didn’t matter if it was open wheels or stock cars.
For AJ to finish #2 behind Mario Andretti as the greatest driver of all time says something about AJ and the drivers of that generation. We’ll never see anything like those drivers again.
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