They Call Him “The King,” Part II- Family Business

Richard Petty had an uncanny knack for interfacing with other greats in the sport during the course of his long career. His NASCAR debut came in 1958, while his father Lee was winning the second of his three championships. Ironically, it was his father he dethroned as the all-time leading winner in Cup competition in just his 10th season of racing.

As many of you know, Petty’s driving career ended the same day a future champion was making his debut in 1992. That young driver was a California kid-turned Hoosier named Jeff Gordon. In 1979, Richard Petty won the last of his seven championships. Do you care to guess who the “Rookie Of The Year” was that year? Some of you know this: it was another seven time titlist. His name? Dale Earnhardt, who would win his first points race the following season.

You don’t hear of the two being compared that often, except when attempting to determine the greatest of all time- an impossible task, though the two often shared the same track for parts of 18 seasons. The elder champion was clearly in the lengthy twilight of his illustrious career, while the Intimidator’s was quickly gaining steam after a spotty start. Their personalities were different, their driving styles bore little similarity, and they both achieved their greatest accomplishments in different eras.

However- both Petty and Earnhardt were similar in some ways. Both hailed from the heart of NASCAR country- North Carolina. And, both were second generation racers in their respective families. Almost from birth, Richard Petty was out at the race track. He tells stories of he, his mother and his siblings crossing the country side as father Lee traveled from race to race.

Lee Petty has been described as one of the first “professional” racers. Richard recalls that Lee’s mindset was to get up in the front pack, and not use up the equipment in getting there. That if you got yourself running up in the top five, more often than not, you were in a position to win, but if you didn’t- the money was a heck of a lot better than ringing up a DNF going flat out and incurring costly repairs to the car.

Racing was a family affair for these NASCAR pioneers. Richard and brother Maurice served as Lee’s crew and young Richard became crew chief at the age of 12. The formula was a winner, as the Petty family patriarch achieved 54 wins and 3 championships in the 1950s. One of the younger Petty’s great memories of that time was taking apart engines, and putting them back together. He was one of those people who just HAD to know what made an engine work and made a car operate. It’s interesting how if you go through a book like NASCAR, The Complete History, how many pictures of a teenage Richard Petty you will find trackside during that era.

Throughout his youth, Richard  told his dad of his own desire to climb into a race car. Lee held his protégé off until the age of 21. Until then, Richard ate, drank, and slept racing.

Petty made his NASCAR debut in a rare race outside the United States in Toronto, on July 18, 1958. Young Richard crashed out on lap 55, and placed 17th out of 19 entries. The winner was the old man- picking his fifth win of the season en route to his second championship. In 9 races, the younger Petty registered one top 10.

The Petty’s loved competition. Lee said he played all kinds of sports, because he liked competing. In a 1970 interview, he said racing “just caught my fancy because it was competitive. I got into it as a hobby first and just stayed with it.”

How competitive was he? Richard thought he has his first Cup win on June 14, 1959 at Lakewood Speedway outside Atlanta. “Dick,” as he was known at the time, took the checkered flag, but another driver challenged the scoring. Upon further review, the officials awarded the win to the protesting driver, recalls David Poole in NASCAR Essential. The protesting driver? It was none other than Lee Petty. Richard said, “I didn’t question it, because it was family.” There’s even a story out there where Lee once ran Richard out of his way in a race.

Richard would ultimately pick up that elusive first win on February 28, 1960, the first of three that year, it came at North Carolina Speedway. Along with Richard’s trio of wins was five more for Lee.

As quickly as Richard’s star began to rise, Lee’s began to fall. While running the last lap of a second 100-mile qualifier at Daytona, the Petty patriarch and Johnny Beauchamp became tangled, causing both drivers break through the guardrail and sail out of the speedway. Lee Petty suffered serious injuries and was hospitalized for four months. In the earlier event, Richard sprained an ankle flying over a fence.

Lee ran a handful of races, never winning again. He ultimately hung it up in 1964. This same season was filled with other bitter sweetness as NASCAR pioneers Fireball Roberts and Joe Weatherly were killed. 1964 also marked the year Richard Petty won his first of seven championships.

Kyle Petty will tell you that racing is just what his family did. They didn’t hunt, they didn’t fish, they didn’t play golf (though it should be noted that Kyle’s prowess at football and baseball drew the attention of recruiters to play those sports at a higher level). The Petty’s raced and it’s amazing to see what they achieved. Between three generations of Petty racers, there are 262 NASCAR Cup victories.

A fourth generation Petty, Kyle’s son Adam, lost his life at New Hampshire at the age of 19 in 2000. Between the passing of Adam, and Kyle’s loss of a ride in 2009, this past season was the first in NASCAR history where there wasn’t a Petty on the track.

They are far from done, though. Richard is regularly visible as a goodwill ambassador and the face for Richard Petty Motorsports. It was sweet to see Petty celebrating with driver Kasey Kahne at Sonoma- breaking a long string of futility for Petty-owned teams. Kyle continues his role as a broadcaster at TNT, and the Petty family honors the memory of Adam with Victory Junction- an organization dedicated to easing the suffering of children with serious illnesses.

No less than three-time champion Darrell Waltrip says the Petty’s are a “national racing treasure.” He adds new fans, to better understand the essence of NASCAR, need to examine the contributions of the Petty clan.

With this reason in mind, we recount their story. Stop by tomorrow, as we tell the story of NASCAR’s greatest rivalry of all-time.  

PHOTO CREDITS- The Pettys at Bristol courtesy of Bristol Motor Speedway. Lee Petty by amanda480744. To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the link.