The Petty family name has been synonymous with royalty, especially in the NASCAR world. Why wouldn’t it be? Seven-time Cup Series winner Richard Petty is widely considered to be one of NASCAR’s all-time greats. So it should come as no surprise that excitement was at an all-time high when Adam Petty, the fourth generation driver in NASCAR’s top tier, made his Cup Series start at The DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

However, the buzz was shortlived, as Adam Petty was killed in a car crash just 40 days later during a practice session for the Busch 200 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. While history remembers him as a driver who was gone too soon, some NASCAR fans believe he could have given Jimmie Johnson a run for his money.

Is Adam Petty a case of ‘revisionist history’?

Adam Petty got his NASCAR break at the tender age of 17, in what is now known as the Xfinity Series. His first race came in 1998 at Gateway in St. Louis, where he finished in 27th place. While the result was nothing to brag about, his mere appearance in the NASCAR circles brought about a buzz, as expectations from the teenager were at an all-time high. However, the teenager finished 38th at the North Carolina Speedway in the next race and secured another 27th-place finish at the Homestead Miami Speedway during his debut season.

The 1999 season started on a high, as Adam Petty finished in an impressive sixth place at the Daytona 300, the first race of the Xfinity Series calendar. He followed that up with a fourth-place result at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, and secured fifth-place results at Nazareth Speedway as well as Memphis International Speedway. With four top-six finishes all season, Adam Petty had shown enough promise that another Xfinity Series season was on the cards, along with a few Cup Series starts.

However, his 2000 Xfinity Series season didn’t get off to a good start, as he failed to secure a single top-ten result in the opening 11 races and was outside the top 20 in points ahead of the race in New Hampshire. While Adam Petty made his first Winston Cup Series start at Texas Motor Speedway that year, his debut resulted in a 40th-place finish, a result that didn’t live up to the buzz surrounding him.

However, everything changed while Petty and his team were practicing for the New Hampshire race, as the throttle on his car got stuck as he entered turn 3 and his car barreled into the outside wall virtually head-on. Suffering from a basilar skull fracture as a result of the incident, Adam Petty was killed instantly at the age of 19, on May 12, 2000.

While the NASCAR community at that time came to terms with the magnitude of the incident, fans couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Adam Petty hadn’t tragically lost his life. Would he have followed his grandfather’s footsteps and become an all-time great? Or would he have faded into obscurity, having not shown enough promise in the Busch Series to justify the buzz around him?

Fans share their views about Adam Petty

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If there’s one thing we know, NASCAR fans love to speculate about what could have been. Romanticizing an alternate scenario, particularly when it involves tragedy, is nothing new, and the same is applicable for Adam Petty. He may have lost his life at the age of 19, but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating whether he could have been as good as his grandfather, Richard Petty. However, one fan took a more rational approach during a conversation about Adam Petty on Reddit, saying, “The truth is no one knows how good he could have been or not been. He was 19 when he died, and back then the Busch series was stacked with Buschwhackers and veterans. 19 year olds weren’t going to win any races. It’s impossible to know.”

Echoing that sentiment, one fan believed that Adam Petty’s 40th-place finish in his only Cup Series appearance had more to do with Petty Enterprises, than his ability. The fan wrote on Reddit, “It’s 100% revisionist history. And not because Adam was bad, but because his team was awful. Unless Adam left the Petty banner or the Pettys became more motivated to not suck, he wouldn’t have made a career out of Cup.”

During the 1999 season, Adam Petty had a staggering 12 DNF finishes while driving the No. 45 Chevy for Petty Enterprises. In his three seasons in the Busch Series, Petty had a total of 16 DNFs, highlighting reliability concerns. On that note, one fan wrote, “We’ll never know his true talent considering he was so young in average at best cars but he would have needed to get his crashing under control to be successful. He had the same amount of DNFs in 43 starts Xfinity starts than Ross Chastain has had in all of his 206 starts.”

He may not have won a NASCAR race, but Adam Petty had secured a victory with Petty Enterprises in the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series, finishing first at EasyCare Certified 100 in 1998. With four top-six finishes in the Busch Series, Petty had shown glimpses of his talent during his short NASCAR career.

However, one fan believes that those aren’t the metrics to judge Adam Petty by, saying, “Wins and top 5s don’t paint a whole picture. Average running position, ability in handling the car, maturity, quickness of adapting and learning new skills along with a laundry list of unquantifiable skills all go into consideration… part of being a prospect is the unknown and unproven ability but the glimpses of skill and talent open doors to opportunity.”

According to one fan, Adam Petty could have shown his true potential only after leaving Petty Enterprises. Highlighting how his family’s team was holding Petty back during his short NASCAR career, one fan wrote on Reddit, “I think he was very talented, but was driving pretty bad cars and probably wasn’t going to show much unless he left the family teams. We’ll never know, but I do think the kid could wheel.”

Do you think Adam Petty could have followed his grandfather’s footsteps and become an all-time NASCAR great? Let us know in the comments!