Not All Are Made to be Broken : MOTOR RACING

Richard Petty’s 200 victories in NASCAR Winston Cup competition once loomed as unapproachable as Lou Gehrig’s streak of consecutive games played, and you know what happened to that.

However, Petty’s record may truly be unassailable. The second-best is long-retired David Pearson with 105. Tops among current drivers are Darrell Waltrip with 84, Dale Earnhardt with 71 and Rusty Wallace with 47.

Petty got his 200th win July 4, 1984, in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway with then-President Reagan in attendance.

“Where else but America could a country boy from Level Cross [N.C.] rub fenders with another country boy [Cale Yarborough] from Timmonsville [S.C.] with the president looking on with a hundred thousand other cheering folks,” said Petty after beating Yarborough to the finish line by a few feet.

Petty holds another seemingly safe record of 10 consecutive wins. Since he accomplished that feat in 1967, when he won a record 27 of 48 races, no driver has won more than four in a row. No one will probably better his 27 wins in one season because since 1972, there have never been more than 32 races in a season.

Petty’s record of seven Daytona 500 wins in NASCAR’s most prestigious event has also gone unchallenged. Only Yarborough, with four wins, and Bobby Allison with three won more than twice.

Juan Manuel Fangio, with his five Formula One world championships between 1951 and 1957, has the most impressive winning record among Grand Prix and European drivers. In the 48 years since Formula One became an international series, no one else has won more than three.

A.J. Foyt, with 67 Indy car wins and 159 victories in all types of United States Auto Club racing, is the runaway leader of American open-wheel racing. Michael Andretti leads active drivers with 37. Second among USAC drivers is the late Rich Vogler with 134.