NASCAR
Richard Petty looks back on career before NASCAR returns to North Wilkesboro Speedway
NASCAR returns this weekend to the North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time since 1996. It's the site where Richard Petty won 15 times.
All right. Well, boy, you're a busy man. As we just mentioned, you were just at Dakota, man, not only checking out these new race tracks, but why is it so important for you to, you know, continue to be a presence at all of these races? I was still involved with the 42 the 43 car and, uh, you know, been racing for 74 years, been around racing and, uh, it's just the way a lot and, uh, like I say with Texas this week, uh, I gotta go Friday and Thursday and Friday, I go to Kentucky and do some stuff and then I come back home and then we go to Richmond to race. So we're on the road about half the time. Do you still get that fire when you go to these new tracks? Uh, it's different than it did when I, when I drove it was one thing and then as you become a car owner and you get involved, you look at it a little bit different. But, uh, yeah, you, you're still interested in what's going on and, uh, you wanna be part of it but being not driving. I'm not, not, uh, not as much involved as I used to be. How much did you learn from your father when he made that transition from a driver to then, you know, it's kind of taking that. Yeah, he was, he was my teacher. Ok. And I learned, I learned driving from watching him drive, watching Junior Johnson or Fireball Roberts or Tim, some of the guys and each one of them had a different way of, of driving. So I looked at this and I like what he does. I like the way this guy does this and then I, I, I guess I developed my own driving style and, uh, sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. How long did that take? I feel like it was fascinating. Maybe that 1st 10 or so years, how much racing changed, I think. Uh, it probably took right close to the year, maybe, uh, 2030 races and stuff. So you got these guys coming through now and that starts in the cup series. But they've been racing since it's five years old. I didn't start till I was 21 by the time I was 22 I started and win races. So I had all my learning to come in a very short period of time during that time. What made petty racing so different than everyone else. I mean, the, the, the groundwork was being late for the sport kind of as you were going along. But you know what, what made that really? It was a family, a family deal. Uh, my dad drove the car and then the deal. Uh, myself and my brother and my first cousin, Dale, we worked on a race car and so it was a family deal and at that time, uh, you didn't have sponsors and stuff. So it's what you did on Sunday is what you done for the next week. So if you, if you had a good week, you could put more money back in the race car. And, uh, that's just the way it was and then it was a family business and everybody looked at it like a farmer, you know, farmer, farmer, son, you gotta do everything so that, uh, you got food on the table for your kids and stuff. And, uh, so we just looked at it from, it was just a family business and, uh, we was probably the first, uh, organization that looked at it as a business. A lot of people would just come and run and, uh, maybe somebody in the car or somebody else to drive the car, somebody else to work on the car. We had it all in one place. You think that's what's helped to create, maybe the longevity and the success of the petty name. Yeah, I think that's what it was. It, it started off with a good foundation. Ok. Uh We had the nucleus was a family, ok? And then the families spread out and then their part and my mother kept the books, but she told my daddy how much money you spend on the race car, you know, all the whole deal. So, uh, again, being it was a family, a, a family business. Uh, I, I think that what made it successful for you had your many successes. We know all about the championships and the wins. I wanna hit you with your final win in 1984. Obviously couldn't have scripted it any better. I've got to get your memory from that day. You know, fate, whatever circumstances be beyond our control. Uh, you know, the race came down to the very last couple of laps myself and were the best cars and we got away from everybody. And, uh, so we knew he was racing for the, for, uh, the win. And to me it was just another race. But you gotta figure that president of the United States and flying in and said, gentlemen, start your engine. So you knew the president was coming and stuff, but that was the furthest thing from your mind to deal with you trying to win a race. And, uh, we, uh, we came across the start finish line and just as we did then I was leading the race to run the second. Somebody turned over in the first corner. So we knew that they was going through the first car back, was gonna win the race. And, uh, so we run and at the back he passes me and then going in the 3rd and 4th corner, I get back up beside it and, and we run down through the front street 200 mile an hour, smoke flying and all this stuff. And, uh, it just blew the president's mind that we run 200 mile an hour running into each other. But anyhow, I was able to beat him by a couple three ft and, uh, you know, it, it worked out. It couldn't have been a better script for me because it was the last race I won, but it was the 2/100 race and from the president of the United States on July the fourth. And uh what made a big deal out of it too was being the president was there. We got him in the sports page and he got us on the front page. So, uh it couldn't have been a better situation. I think a picture I've seen, which is the best picture K F C you President Reagan, you know, you kind of mentioned too that ended up being the final win of your career. Obviously, hindsight's 2020. But did you think you take it in all in, in that moment? You know, it just, it's one of those deals when things like that happen, they happen so fast. You take them in and a lot of times you don't take time to really enjoy it because there's so much going on and you say, man, I wish that have slowed down and remembered more of who was there, what was going on. And, uh, so you, you look back and you, you miss a lot because you're so jacked up and so excited about, you know, we won a race, we done this or whatever. So, uh, a lot of times we just, we miss the deal of really, really enjoying some of our good times looking at this car over here. Can you believe it's been, uh, about 30 years since, since that last race? You know, sometimes I look at it as like a years ago, sometimes like a couple of years ago. And, uh, you know, people, we go to the race track and watching the race and people say, do you miss driving? And I say, yeah, I really miss driving until I seen him a car coming down through there on the back of it, truck where, where he's doing. I said that's the reason I'm not out there anymore. Well, the evolution since you've raced and, you know, till today, obviously, it's incredible how much the sport has changed. What is the biggest change that maybe you like in, in today's NASCAR and what's something that maybe you don't like, you know, the changes are coming where you like them or not. So you have to learn to accept them and the big deal with NASCAR, we started with a stock car and they kept working and modifying it. And so finally it got, they were more, they could modify the car. So they just started with a new car, uh, last year and just did, just had a NASCAR car and all that is so much technology, everything now is done off of a computer. Uh, the NASCAR has got the rule so close that everybody, it's got the same equipment. They don't let you work on the car, they sell you the piece, you put it together, you go run. And so it took a lot of ingenuity away from the racing people that, that really like to build stuff and change that. But again, uh, technology has been the big change. It's made all these changes once they got, I mean, you know, you got a race car and you got 12, 14 people working on a car and then you got five or six engineers sitting there punching them buttons all the time. And so it is what it is. So you just have to accept it and say I might not like it but nothing I can do about it going down the road. One of the things we have coming up of course is North Wilkesboro, the All Star race. So exciting. I got to be out there last week is they hit the track for tire testing. You had a lot of success there. I wanna first get your memories from that track and what made it so unique and what made you so successful, you know, it was a unique track because you run down here, going down the front street, you run through one and two, you go up the back stretch and then you get three and four. It's completely different than one and two. So it was a pretty challenging race track, uh, and it had more than one groove also. So it made, it made a good race track out of it. And uh we was just really at that particular time that, that we was running and stuff was, was having good years, good cars and a crew chief. And we had such a car that my brother built the engines and you knew what kind of horsepower it took for that particular race track and all the combinations just came together and uh we had some good luck and we had some bad luck, had better, good luck, I guess. So, it was just one of the, uh I won't say it was one of my favorite track, but I guess it was because we won a lot of races there, but it was just another race track and we didn't think about the history and stuff. Then it went away, what, 30 years ago or so. And then all of a sudden you read back if you keep up in NASCAR, NASCAR Bristol uh was a big part of uh NASCAR getting started and then the NASCAR grew, uh, there was a crowd came in, bought the racetrack and took the dates and took one to Maine or somewhere and one to Texas. And they bought the racetrack for the dates and just left the race track. So now it's been rejuvenated and, uh, it, it's good to see that. Uh, all of history is not going away. Right. You kind of just alluded to it though. How important is it for the sport though? That the cup series that NASCAR is going back that week into the track? I think it's, the timing is really good, I think because NASCAR is 75 years old. Ok. And this goes back and says, being with 75 years ago, oh, this is where we started, this is what it took to get NASCAR 75 years down the road. So it's, it's just a real good combination. Well, since we're from Raleigh, I've got to ask you quickly if you don't mind about, um, you know, the dirt tracks there, I know you, you raised in the last one there at the state fairgrounds. So, what do you remember about those dirt tracks? And what made them seem, you know, you know, we at the fairground, uh, I think we, we ran the very last dirt track, I think 71 72 somewhere now. And, uh, I guess the one thing I remember about the was down there one year and I come down in front and something happened, I went off the, went down to one of the barns down there where they had the cows and stuff, of course, were no cows there at that time. And, uh, so I remember that more than winning the races, I guess because that was something I'd never done before. So I had one races before, but I've never been in a, went to the race track and been in a cow barn, wound up there. So, that was interesting, definitely unique setting there. I have to ask, what was your favorite track? Any of them? I could win on. I'm trying to be, but it didn't make any difference. I mean, we're in New York, we're in 1/5 of a mile track of New York and then we run road courses. It's 2.5, 3 miles long and then we run everything dirt, uh, asphalt. It didn't make any if it's a race track, if you went out here in the parking lot and put up a bunch of cones and said that's a race track that would have been fine with me. Obviously very competitive still to this day. Right. I just, I just love to drive a race car. I, I think that's the only time I could get away from all this stuff that's going on your own by yourself. If you, if you can run fast, you run fast if you want to slow up. And so that's the only time I feel like I, I had control over what Richard Petty was doing. You get that from Lee Petty? Uh, probably, probably as much as anything. Yeah, there is one thing that you take away from your dad. Maybe still to this day. Uh, a lesson. What is that? You know, I, I guess it's just going with the flu. Uh, there's so many things in life, so many things in racing or everyday life that you can't change. So what you take out of what's going on is what's gonna be the best for you and your family. So I guess, uh, from that standpoint, I learned, you know, you just take it as it is and get the best out of what's going on, the wins, the records, the championships, the king, the name, everything. And now as a car owner, you know, what is the one thing he wants Richard Petty to be remembered for? Ok, everybody's gonna remember Richard Petty from a different angle where they like him or don't like him or what he's done or what he didn't do the big deal is that they just remember you no matter what the, what the memory is for them. If they remember you remember me, then that's, that's all we can ask for. We're living in this incredible museum, a time capsule where we can come and remember you. It's just incredible. Uh Thank you very much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we have time then. Ok. Oh, ok. Oh, ok. I was like, I was sweating, I don't know if we were ok. Yeah. Well, one of the things I think is so unique is, you know, that you've always been out there with the fans and it seems to still be something that you do, um, the autographs and what not, you know, why was that always so important for you? You know, when we first started racing, uh there was no sponsorship. Ok. So right early in my career, the I said, ok, those people in the grandstand, ok. If uh they, they're buying a ticket, they give it to the promoter. The promoter gives, if I run the, the promoter pays me, but the promoter just handles the money, the money comes from the fan. So you look at, if those fans don't show up, I don't get paid. Ok? So you say, ok, we gotta, we gotta to satisfy the, the customer, the fan is the customer. So, you know, every time you sign Richard Petty or whatever, thank you for being a fan. Even if you're not a Richard Petty fan, thank you for buying a ticket because I'll make a little bit of money, take it home feed, the kids pay the bills and uh so I appreciate it. I know times have changed obviously in kind of in, in what NASCAR drivers and the endorsements of things they do. But has that ever kind of been a message to the drivers that ha has, have driven for you? Yeah, I, I, I think a lot of people look at, uh, in NASCAR and how it progressed and even though it went from the Spectators uh to getting sponsorships and stuff like that, so I think people look back and see that's the way it needs to be done. You don't just hang out with your sponsor. Ok, because he's, he's paying the bills, but he's getting the bills, getting, he's getting paid or selling his product from the grandstand. So you need to always look at the grandstand because those are the people that paid the money to begin with goes through three or four hands before it gets to you. So, uh, you can't lose, uh, contact with who's paying the bills in the long run the.