Have you wondered how your favorite driver on the grid reached that position? Is it their hard work, their perseverance, the coaches who trained them, or the best team? Yes, it’s all that, but first, it is the driver’s family! Drivers in motorsports start young, and when you are young, you don’t know how everything works—that’s when the parents’ and grandparents’ roles become paramount.

Behind every great driver is a family, and in that family is a woman, and in the King’s case, it was more than one woman. Yes, there was this silent force that shaped the destiny of NASCAR’s finest driver, Richard Petty. His youngest daughter, Rebecca, recently came forward and shed light on all the roles the ladies had to take in the household.

Behind every NASCAR champion are the family’s unheralded women

Richard Petty, who is 86 years old, and was the first driver to win a Cup Series championship seven times, has four children: Kyle Petty, Rebecca Petty Moffit, Lisa Petty Luck, and Sharon Farlow. Recently, hi, and how they are the driving force behind the success of their loved ones on the track.

Rebecca gave a lovely example of how her mother supported her dad, the king throughout his racing career. She explained how her mom did everything for her dad. She even packed all the bags and got everything ready so her dad could just go out the door carefree. Can you believe, Richard Petty didn’t have to even pick up his bags because she had them loaded in the car and ready to go? That’s what families do-they support.

Richard Petty also agreed. He said, “When she went down, uh, then it took what six or seven people to do the same thing that she was doing looking after me.”

She further went on to talk about her grandmother, who supported the family in her own right. Rebecca said, “I don’t think people realize what the women of my family did for this sport. I mean, my grandmother, y’all would have no idea like where the money went. If grandmother hadn’t sat there and counted every penny, y’all would have no idea where to stay. If grandmother didn’t say, we’ve got two rooms at this hotel.”

It’s certain that Richard Petty is blessed not only because he has had a legendary career but also because of his well-decorated family. During his career, Petty had a crew of supporters; it won’t be a stretch to assume that every member did their part to help him. But he isn’t the first Petty that the family was all in for.

The Petty that started it all

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Before Richard Petty, there was Lee Petty. He was the one man around whom Petty Enterprises revolved, and he was the new company owner, the accountant, the manager, and the lead driver—all in one. Winning the first Daytona 500 is one of his key accomplishments, among many.

Lee Petty was also the first driver to capture three championships in what we now know as the NASCAR Cup Series and had won 54 races, and this number still to this day ranks at a ninth all-time high. He ruled all through the 1950s, but in the early 1960s, a bloody crash led him to give away the reigns of the kingdom he built to his son. Before this point, the company didn’t open itself to many drivers, but after Lee Petty was sidelined, things changed. Now more drivers were invited, which brought more sponsorship deals with them.

Then, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Richard and his son Kyle Petty were the primary drivers. Beyond Richard and Kyle, other members of the Petty family dabbled in racing. Maurice Petty’s son, Mark, made a few starts in the Craftsman Series, while another son, Ritchie, competed in Cup, Craftsman, and ARCA races. Timmy Petty, Maurice’s eldest son, didn’t drive but contributed to the team’s engine and race setups.

The greatest legacy that Lee Petty, the father of King Richard Petty and grandfather of Kyle Petty, created was the lineage! What do you think about this little throwback in the Petty lineage? Let us know your thoughts below.