Motor Racing Notes : Richard Petty, at 51, Is Still Eager to Race

“The King” has not won a stock car race in more than four years and his 1988 season is best-known for a spectacular, spinning wreck in the Daytona 500.

But Richard Petty’s zest for racing is unaffected by the lack of victories since he captured the 200th win of his career July 4, 1984, in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Petty, known as “The King” to race fans, still is in the process of setting records on the Winston Cup circuit.

The 51-year-old resident of Randelman, N.C., has competed in 496 consecutive races in a streak begun in 1971 and expects to reach the 500 milestone in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan International Speedway Aug. 21. His streak of consecutive starts is unmatched in stock car racing and Petty has no intention of letting up.

Petty started his first stock-car race in 1958 and notched his first Winston Cup win in 1960 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Fairgrounds. Although he appreciates his records more as he grows older, Petty does not regard spending 30 years in racing as a great accomplishment.

“When I started, I never looked at 30 years,” he said. “I was 21 years old. I didn’t know if I’d make it to be 30. It’s just another deal, just like you work from year to year and whatever, and you don’t really think about it until somebody says you’ve been doing this job for 10 years, 20 years, or whatever.

“From that standpoint, I feel like I’m 30 years old just trucking along. My body don’t always feel that age, though.”

His wreck at Daytona in February, in which he spun like a top down the front stretch along the grandstand fence, had some wondering how much longer Petty would keep racing. But he suffered only an ankle injury in the crash, and came back the next week to finish third at Richmond.

His best race of the year came at Pocono, Pa., where he ran for the lead until he wrecked late in the race. Though he failed to win, that race showed Petty and his STP Racing Team that with some hard work and a little luck, finding victory lane again is a possibility.

Racing is one of the few sports in which an athlete can compete for 30 years and still be considered a threat to win. But for a driver like Petty, who was the dominant force in stock car racing for years, doesn’t the lack of success make him want to chuck it in and retire?

“You’ve got to figure I’ve been doing this since I’ve been 10 years old,” Petty said. “I haven’t been driving, but I’ve been messing with a race car. This is my life. Most everybody tries to separate the personal Richard Petty, say ‘OK, what does Richard Petty do beside racing?’

“Everything you get into, you start around the corner and you run smack into racing. So racing is my life. It always has been and I guess it will always be.”

Petty started his career driving against his father, Lee, and has raced the last several seasons against his son, Kyle, the only third-generation Winston Cup driver.

But he is not driving because he has to, rather because he wants to. Darrell Waltrip, after winning the pole for this year’s Firecracker 400, spoke of the last two seasons, and said when he wasn’t winning it was hard to keep up his enthusiasm for racing.

Petty said that has never been a problem for him.

“Darrell is doing it for sort of a stop through, I guess, he’s looking further down the road, going into other things,” Petty said. “I’m not. I’m looking at racing down the road. I think from that (Waltrip’s) standpoint, the enthusiasm and stuff would vary. I get just as excited getting in a race car now as I ever have.

“I still look forward to getting in the car and running, whether running good or bad. Although I look forward to it a little more when I run good, that’s for sure.”

NASCAR Winston Cup drivers are off until July 24.

Motor Racing Notes

Nissan GTP driver Geoff Brabham set a single-season International Motor Sports Association record by winning his fifth straight race in the Camel Continental at Watkins Glen, N.Y., July 3. He and teammate John Morton handily defeated the Miller High Life Porsche 962 team of Derek Bell and Chip Robinson, who had their best effort of 1988.

The victory vaulted Brabham into the lead in the season point standings, ahead of Jaguar driver Jon Nielsen, who failed to score any points at Watkins Glen.