There is a reason only one NASCAR driver is called the ‘King.’ Richard Petty came to the sport and took it by storm. Despite his father Lee Petty barring him from professional racing before 21 years of age, he still managed to unleash a force like no other. To this day, Petty holds some unchallenged records – holding the most Cup Series race wins (200), first stock-car racer to exceed $1 million in earnings, and winning 10 consecutive races during his bellwether year of 1967.
To achieve these relentless sparks of glory, Richard Petty had an unchallenged style of racing. Firstly, he treated NASCAR genuinely as a sport, diverting all his energy on the racing alone. His individual approach tipped over the edge as well – as Petty disregarded traditional norms of speed.
Richard Petty comes clean on lightning-fast policy
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NASCAR cars already run at tremendous speeds. This story of speed began in the 1940s when the moonshiners of North Carolina had to beat hot pursuits by law enforcement to smuggle alcohol or tobacco. When Richard Petty entered NASCAR in 1958, he stayed true to the sport’s roots. Petty scored his first Cup victory at Southern States Fairground in Charlotte, at the age of 22 and in his 35th start. But his fastest racing speed recorded came at Daytona International Speedway. Petty recorded 175.165 mph when he captured the pole spot for the 1966 Daytona 500.
Now at 87 years old, Richard Petty still remains proud of that lightning speed. In a recently posted video by Petty Family Racing, the veteran driver cheekily admitted to never obeying the big cautionary boards on the sides of the road. “They just put them deals on the side of the road that say, 55 mph, 65, 70. They put them on there for somebody else.” Petty also put forward a valid reason for his reckless acceleration tendency. “The basic deal when I drive is, I like to run a little bit faster than everybody else. To me, that keeps me sharper on watching the traffic.”
However, it also meant Petty had to face the law when he broke the rules. In 1996, when Richard Petty attempted to pass a car on Interstate 85, he bumped another driver. Later, after the driver reported Petty’s driver’s plate number, a trooper pulled The King to the side.
Evidently, the more risk you put yourself in, the more sharpness and alertness you will cultivate. Richard Petty strengthened this argument further, “You get along and run at the same speed as somebody else, the first thing you know, you’re not paying full attention. So if I run a little bit quicker, I’m watching traffic on each side of me, in front of me, and behind me. So I think I pay more attention.”
He also cheekily added a joke to his claims, drawing a line of difference between talking and racing. “Okay, talking to all the state men in the country, I never speed. But talking to you, you better get out of my way.”
And Richard Petty did have worthy adversaries whom he ‘put out of the way’ several times.
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Petty never backed away from a fight
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Not even if that meant with his own family. Lee Petty was the family’s patriarch and won three Grand National championships in the 1950s along with 54 race trophies. During his first year as a NASCAR racer, Richard Petty thought he won – but his father Lee protested and claimed the win as his own. Yet Richard got back at his old man soon enough. In 1967, he broke his father’s race win record, winning 27 races of the 48 he started that year. Besides his father’s equation, Petty’s rivalry with David Pearson was iconic. Between 1963 and 1977, Petty and Pearson finished one-two 63 times, with Pearson holding a 33-30 edge.
However, one race between the two veteran drivers was memorable. Petty and Pearson were running bumper to bumper on the final lap of the 1976 Daytona 500 when they collided. Petty ended up being the unlucky guy, as Pearson somehow managed to cross the finish line. Still, fans hailed Petty as the ‘King.’ During the 1979 Daytona 500 race, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed in the third turn on the final lap. Petty took advantage of that and inherited the win. The post-race activities included a famous fight between Yarborough and Bobby Allison, Donnie’s brother. Richard Petty hilariously asked the press at the time, “Where’s the fight?”
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Evidently, the fire of racing that burned in Richard Petty was a bright one, indeed. And the legend is still proud of that, as is evident from his gleeful smiles at high speeds.
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Does Richard Petty's rebellious speed make him the ultimate NASCAR legend, or just a reckless driver?
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