• Decrease font size
  • Reset font size to default
  • Increase font size

Main Menu

Articles

Newsletter


Receive HTML?

Information

Petty Driving PDF Print E-mail
Written by Denise I Smithson   
Richard Petty is a racing legend, winning a record 200 races during his career and winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times. Besides Dale Earnhardt, he is the only other driver to win the NASCAR Championship seven times, and is the record he is most known for.
by DeniseISmithson


Richard Petty is a racing legend, winning a record 200 races during his career and winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times. Besides Dale Earnhardt, he is the only other driver to win the NASCAR Championship seven times, and is the record he is most known for.

Born in 1937, Richard Petty ran 1184 NASCAR Sprint Cup races over 35 years. While he has won 200 races, he has 712 top ten finishes in his career. Richard Petty is considered the greatest NASCAR driver of all time with 513 consecutive starts from 1971 to 1989.

Richard Petty is actually a second generation racecar driver. Lee Petty, his father, won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was a 3 time NASCAR Champion. Richard Petty's son, Kyle is also well-known in the NASCAR circuit. His grandson, Adam was killed in a racing accident at New Hampshire International Speedway just five weeks after the death of Lee.

The Petty family owns and operates their own racing team, Petty Enterprises. The team is based out of a former Yates Racing facility which boasts more than 100,000 square feet of space. Although his professional racing days are long behind him now, he is still frequently mobbed for autographs at his public appearances.

He got his start in racing at the age of 21 and was 1959's NASCAR Rookie of the Year with a record of 9 top 10 finishes (6 of these were top 5 finishes!). He continued to be one of the sport's top racers right up to his 1992 retirement; his last top 10 finish was in the 1991 Budweiser at the Glen race.

Petty is well known for surviving three dramatic crashes, including one at the 1970 Rebel 400, where his car lost a tire, slammed into the wall and flipped several times. Amazingly, Petty suffered only a shoulder injury, although the incident prompted the league to begin requiring safety netting for the driver's seat in all subsequent races.

After a 1980 race in Pocono, Petty hid a broken neck, running a few more races afterwards. Most recently, Petty walked away with only minor temporary vision damage from a crash which sent parts of his car flying in all directions - this was in 1988's Daytona 500.

Richard Petty was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1997. He was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers in 1998 and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by George H W Bush in 1992, the first sports figure to receive the honor.

Always known as a fan favorite, Petty would take hours after races to sign autographs for fans and acted as an effective ambassador for NASCAR racing. He has appeared in several films (as himself), including Stroker Ace, Speed Zone and Swing Vote.

Richard Petty has spent nearly his entire adult life in the world of racing and he is still active in NASCAR (though no longer behind the wheel) even now.

About the Author:

NothingButSports.info is a great place to get tips and information about everything from improving your golf swing to how to jump rope for your health. If you're looking for helpful information visit Nothing But Sports.

Kindly provided by 4Girls.dk You are welcome to use this article on your own website, if you include this link.
 
Members : 2569
Content : 3681
Web Links : 3
Content View Hits : 538967