In the year of 1937 “The King” of NASCAR was born in Level Cross, North Carolina, as the son of famous racecar driver named, Ralph Petty. In this small town, Richard Petty received a few years of formal education, but more importantly he was educated about automobiles and what it takes to be a racer. Before he was even able to get behind the wheel of a car, Petty was infatuated with stock car racing and he longed to be the Chief Mechanic of his dad’s team. However, when Richard Petty got in and drove a car himself he wanted to start racing as soon as he could. After discussing it with is father, Petty had to wait until he was 21 to begin driving, and that is exactly what he did.
Petty started in his first of many races in 1958, but he did not win a race until the season of 1960. After that race, it was nothing but success for Richard Petty from that point on. In 1964 Petty won his first of seven victories at the Daytona and his first NASCAR series championship. He was also the first driver to win a second race at Daytona 500 in the 1966 season. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Petty raced extremely well and became one of the biggest names in the sport. He set many records, such as his 1967 season when he won 27 races, and in 1971 he took first place 21 times, won the Daytona 500 and the Dixie 500, and also reached careers earnings of $1 million. It was his accomplishments on and off the track that made him adored by the fans and adopted him the nickname as “The King.”
Sponsored by STP for that majority of his racing career and driving the car #43, Petty’s driving stats just grew and grew. He was awarded awards such as the Most Popular Driver in NASCAR nines different years, and went on to win seven Winston Cup Series Championships by the end of his career. Petty has won more races than any other driver, 200 races to be exact, and Petty finished out his amazing driving career in 1992. Though he may be a retired driver he will always be known as the driver that truly helped increase the sport’s popularity and the only driver that seems to have seen the sport changes over the years. Currently, Petty is still very involved in the sport. While he runs Richard Petty Enterprises, which contains three different NASCAR teams and two Busch Series teams, and he also follows the sport watching his son, Kyle and his grandson, Adam, race.
As you can see, Petty is very important to the sport and has very much
contributed in making it the sport that it is today. By being involved
in the sport for so long he has seen it change and grow immensely,and has
played and important role in developments like television converage and
the making of superior stock cars. He has also maintained close
fan base, while at the same time developing a business for himself.
It is these qualities and his amazing record of races and awards that he
has one that make him a legend of NASCAR.
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