Richard Petty
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Template:NASCAR former driverRichard Petty (born July 2, 1937 in Level Cross, North Carolina is a renowned former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and is now a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series owner. Driving his famous No.43, Petty won the NASCAR Championship 7 times; Dale Earnhardt was the only other driver to accomplish this feat. Petty also won an unprecedented 200 races during his career and in the 1967 season alone won a record 27 races, including ten races in a row. His 200th win came in the Firecracker 400 on July 4, 1984 at Daytona International Speedway. President Ronald Reagan was in attendance, and celebrated the milestone with Petty and his family in victory lane. He also collected a record number of poles (127) and over 700 top-ten finishes in his 1,185 starts, including 513 consecutive starts from 1971-1989. He Won 7 Daytona 500s and 9 Most Popular Driver Awards.
Petty is known to NASCAR fans as "The King."
His entire family has been involved in racing. His father, Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was also a NASCAR champion. His son Kyle Petty is also a well-known NASCAR driver. Richard's grandson Adam Petty was killed in an accident at New Hampshire International Speedway on May 12, 2000.
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The Early Years
Richard Petty began his NASCAR career on July 12,1958,10 days after his 21st birthday. It was a NASCAR Convertible race at Columbia, S.C.,and he finished sixth in an Oldsmobile. In 1959,Richard was named NASCAR Rookie of the Year, after he produced 9 top 10 finishes,including 6 Top 5 finishes.In 1960,he finished 2nd in the NASCAR Grand National Points Race.
The Championship Years
Four years later,driving a a potent Plymouth with a new Hemi engine, Richard Petty led 184 of the 200 laps to capture his first Daytona 500,en route to 9 victories, earning over $114,000 dollars and his first Grand National championship. On February 27,1966 Richard Petty overcomes a 2-lap deficit to win his 2nd Daytona 500 after when the race was stopped at lap 198 of 200 because of a thunderstorm.
1967
In 1967, Petty won 27 of the 48 races he entered, including a record 10 wins in a row (that streak ran from August 12 to October 1, 1967) en route to his second Grand National Champion. One of those victories was The Southern 500 at Darlington, it was his only victory there.
Close calls
Of all the races he won, Petty is also remembered for the two incredible crashes that he survived. The first was in the 1970 Rebel 500 when Petty was injured when his Plymouth flipped on the front chute. Eighteen years later, in front of the worldwide television audience at The 1988 Daytona 500, Petty's spectacular crash on lap 106 hurled parts all over the front stretch at The Daytona International Speedway. Incredibly after so many flips, Petty would walk away with no serious injuries.
The 1970s
On February 14,1971, Richard Petty won his third Daytona 500, beating Buddy Baker by one lap en route to another historic year. He won 21 races, became the first driver to earn more than $1 million in career earnings and won his third Grand National Championship. In 1972, now driving in a red and blue STP car, Petty won his 4th Winston Cup Championship thanks to his 28 top-10 finishes, including 25 top-5 finishes and 8 victories. On February 18, 1973, in a driver’s dual, Richard Petty outlasted Buddy Baker to win his fourth Daytona 500 after Baker's engine gave out with six laps to go. One year later, Petty won the shortened Daytona 500 (due to energy crisis) for the fifth time en route to his fifth Winston Cup Championship. The year 1975 was another historic year for Petty, as he won the World 600 for the only time in his career, one of 13 victories en route to his sixth Winston Cup Championship.
The Twilight Years
Petty would win 2 more Daytona 500s in 1979 and 1981, in 1979, he won his 6th Daytona 500 in the first Daytona 500 to be televised Live Flag-To-Flag, that win snapped his 45-race winless drought en route to his 7th NASCAR Winston Cup Championship beating Darrell Waltrip by 11 points, and in the 1981 race he used only fuel in his last pit stop with 25 laps to go to grab his 7th and final Daytona 500 win.
Petty's Last Ride
In 1992, Richard Petty retired from NASCAR but not before he had two last great moments. In one, he led the Firecracker 400 for the first five laps before he would drop out on lap 84 due to fatigue. In the second, in his last race (The Hooters 500), he raced against Jeff Gordon who was making his first Winston Cup start.
Life After Racing
Richard Petty is a current spokesman for Cheerios and Goody's Headache Powder. He almost always is seen wearing his trademark sunglasses and an elaborately decorated Stetson hat. His ornate autograph can take more than 10 seconds to complete. His work on behalf of his sport and his accessibility to fans are seen as crucial elements of NASCAR's transformation from the moonshiners and dirt tracks of the 1950s to the superspeedways and multi-million dollar sponsorships of today.
In 1997, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
See also: List of NASCAR drivers
