Apart from being one of the greatest motor sports athletes of all time, Richard Petty was a good friend to his loved ones. Even with people he used to work with, the 7-time Cup Series champion took the time to get to know them on a personal level. If there was a connection, a lengthy friendship blossomed. That is what happened with The King and his personal secretary Martha Jane Bonkemeyer. The two became such good friends that they went on double dates along with their significant others, and Martha even wanted to claim Richard’s son, Kyle Petty.

Martha was already quite close to Richard Petty’s wife, Lynda. The two were the best of friends growing up, going to the same school and spending almost all of their time together. So it wasn’t much of an issue for Martha to get into The King’s close circle and eventually become his personal secretary. Together, they had the best of times, and Bonkemeyer recently recalled the time she spent with them.

Richard Petty insider reveals the time she changed his son’s diaper

Martha Jane Bonkemeyer was being interviewed by none other than Richard Petty’s son, Kyle Petty. Speaking to Kyle, she revealed her intentions of wanting to claim him for herself when he was a baby. At the time, she and her husband (Willis) did not have a child and the couple would often tend to a baby Kyle Petty if need be. Martha had even changed his diapers on some occasions, which she heartily unraveled to the public as her claim to fame.

“Lynda Gale and I go back way back. She was my very best friend, his mother and we grew up in the same church, we went to school together, we did cheerleading together, and then when she started to date Richard Petty, they asked me and Willis to go to the races with them,” she said.

“Well, Willis and I got married in 1958, they got married one year later and then she had Kyle and we didn’t have any children, so we said we were going to claim Kyle and I changed his diaper. That is my claim to fame is I have changed his diaper,” Bonkemeyer added.

As Kyle Petty sat beside her and laughed his heart out, Martha Jane Bonkemeyer went a little further back in time to the days when he was not born. Richard and Lynda Petty were not even married at that point. The couple, along with Martha and her then-boyfriend Willis, often used to go to theatres. Maybe The King even showed them a few moves in a civilian car.

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Where did The King go during his younger days on dates?

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The theaters used to be a frequent place of visit for the two couples and there were two theaters that they used to frequent. One was called the Sun Theatre and the other, supposedly a bit more pricey, was called the Carolina Theater. After Richard Petty started to race more frequently than before, the race track became the place to go. Back in those days, pit crews did not consist of as many members as it does today, so Martha’s husband Willis often had the job of a gas man.

“We started to double-date and we’d go to Sun Theatre. We’d really splurge if we went to the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro. Richard had the car so we’d double date with him to go to the car. We go way back and I feel like it was part of the family Lynda Gale and I were so close friends. When Richard started racing, they said well let’s go to the races and they’d invited me and Willis to go to the races,”
she said.

These stories are what makes NASCAR so appealing to a younger audience, apart from the racing. The sport has been in existence for several years and some of these stories get lost in time. But the ones that survive capture the imagination of thousands of fans.

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