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Petty (above) and son Kyle (at right) visit Victory Junction, a camp in Randleman, N.C., for seriously ill children that honors Kyle’s son Adam, who died in a racing accident.
who'd go to Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, South
Carolina. They were out one night and started giving
out nicknames. (David) Pearson was 'The Silver
Fox,’ and then one of them said, ‘Okay, Richard,
you're "King Richard.”’ Once they wrote it two or
three times, others just started picking it up.”
Petty, the essence of feet-on-the-floor royalty, also is
The King to his fans. He’s credited with being the first
driver to actively promote driver-fan friendliness, con
sistently going over to the fences after each race to sign
autographs and chat with adoring admirers.
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Petty shares a memory with cousin and crew chief Dale bunan.
'Today’s drivers are in great demand for appearances,
but I’m not sure that some of them can stand up to
what his standards were,” says Dale Inman, Petty’s
cousin, longtime friend and crew chief. “Years ago,
when he did spend that kind of time with the fens, he
did it because he realized that the fens were what was
making the sport go at that time.”
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Tragedy and Victory
For the driver who has won everything
NASCAR has to offer, including a record seven
Daytona 500 s, the sport’s crown jewel, there are
still new worlds to conquer.
"I’d like to win more races as an owner,” says Petty,
who fields two racing teams and attends most of the
races in the NEXTEL Cup series. 'Tve won as an
owner-driver, but since I've been an owner, we haven't
won but three or four races. Stuff like that bothers me.”
While racing’s ups and downs may chafe the leg
endary driver, they take a backseat these days to chari
table projects that Petty generously involves himself
with, a major one being the Victory Junction Gang, a
camp for seriously ill children in Randleman, N.C.
(pop. 3,557).
Victory Junction honors Petty's grandson, Adam,
the son of 24-year NASCAR racing veteran Kyle Petty,
whose own commitment to charitable causes has been
recognized by the racing industry. Adam, a promising
young driver and the fourth generation of Pettys to race
professionally, was instrumental in starting the camp.
He died in a racing accident in 2000 at age 19.
“All the racing people, plus the fens, contributed
over 20,000 donations, whether it was a dollar or a mil
lion dollars," Petty says proudly. “We got donations
from all 50 states.”
The camp has been vital in mending the Petty fam
ily in the wake of the tragic loss. “I think the camp is
the healing process. I think Kyle sees it that way. If we
didn’t have this, if the camp wasn’t there, then I think
the loss would have been greater,” Petty says. “Now,
when we think of Adam, we think of what he helped
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generate. We traded Adam for what the camp is and for
the many people whose lives he brightened.”
The sport that Petty grew up with and helped
change, of course, continues to change. Not all of it, how
ever, is to Pettys liking.
“Now, they look at it as show business first and, oh,
by the way, there’s a race,” scoffs Petty. “Hey, come to the
race, throw the green flag, let ’em run, throw the check
ered flag, let 'em go home. That’s what I came to see. I
didn’t come to see people jumpin’ out of the sky, airplanes
runnin’ at each other, people shootin' at each other, peo
ple jumpin' cars.”
Despite the changes, King Richard takes them all in
stride from a familiar vantage point in Level Cross.
“This is home. I went to school here, I grew up with
these people. I’m just one of the neighbors, and I like
that,” he says. “You’re not special here. You move to some
other place, you'd get to be special, and it would get to
workin’ on your mind. Dad always said, ‘Don’t get above
your bringin’ up.’ It’s a happy life for me here.”
And for the King of NASCAR, that happiness is
emphatically the highlight of his illustrious career.
“I’m still here. Still kickin', still enjoyin’ most of it,”
Petty says. ‘To me, that’s what its all about. Gettin’ from
Turn One to Turn Two to Turn Three to the checkered
flag. And I ain't got to the checkered flag yet.”
Alan Ross is a freelance writer from Bisbee. Ariz.
For more information on Petty Enterprises,
log on to www.pettyracing.com.
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