Number 200…………. Fit For a King

In a land of presidents, America's had two "kings." in our 20th century culture.  Depending on who you talk to, rock fans say it was ELVIS.  Talk to a race car fan, and he'll tell you it was Richard Petty.

"King Richard", as he is still called today, although he retired after the 1992 season, set records that will most likely never be broken.  One of those records is well beyond the probability of ever being APPROACHED, let alone broken.--------200 career wins in the big leagues of NASCAR.

As THIS is my 200th blog, this would be a good story to write, about the man who won 200 races.

To write the Richard Petty story would take forever, so I'll just touch on some highlights and toss in a few photos.   Richard Petty is considered by most to have been the greatest stock car driver in history.  His father Lee, was one of the early pioneers in a sport that was actually started by moonshine runners.  Richard started driving in 1958 and over the next 34 years became an icon.

Darrell Waltrip might have put it better than anyone, when he said in an interview, that besides being a good guy, Richard's numbers speak for themselves.  "Richard has 3 fans to every other driver's ONE fan" said "D.W."........."If YOU won a race HE won 200 of 'em"..........".if YOU won the championship, HE won it 7 times"............"if YOU won the Daytona 500, HE won IT 7 times"..........."if YOU won a dozen races one year, HE won 27------TEN in a row."........"He ain't even got his NAME painted on the car, everybody KNOWS who the king is!"

And so it was, as the "Petty Blue Hemi-powered Plymouths and Dodges  ruled the NASCAR tracks until finally age and endurance started to catch up with the "king."  But that number 43 car always got respect from the entire cast out there.  He made stock car racing such a popular sport, that more viewers watch the Daytona 500 for example, than any other football game in America, and the sport has grown into a "monster" now.

I visited Richard's Museum in Randleman, N.C. and SOMEWHERE around here, I've got some photos in a car album.......(I'll find them sooner or later), but I MET him there in 2003, got my mugshot taken with him and he signed a shop photo...........(see below), neat guy.

Even years after he retired from driving, the fans still lined up, where Richard would still be meeting fans and signing autographs long after all of the other race teams had loaded up and left.

It would probably take me a couple of years to sort through all the boxes out in the shed, (and that's where I think those museum shots are)..........except for the two ABOVE that I'd had 8x10's made of.   But IN the museum, you almost need sunglasses like Richard's to keep from being blinded by all of the trophies......not just the 200 wins, but the championship trophies, 126 poll trophies, Most Popular Driver of the Year trophies........wall plaques.......you can't believe what all is in there.

Many of his original race cars are in there as well, (which I wanted to show here........but I'm gonna just have to dig those pictures out......and KEEP them out when I do.

In the meantime though, I CAN show you a couple of "Petty" cars that I built.   (I used to build model cars for competition)....and still have a "few" out there in the garage.............

176 of Richard Petty's 200 NASCAR wins, were at the wheel of a Plymouth.....Belvederes & Furys, powered by the famous "426" Hemi's.

Then came the Plymouth Superbird, which gave all new definition to "aerodynamics."

I was in Suwon, Korea when he won his 200th race, and it was one of the most memorable moments in sports.  It was at Daytona, the Firecracker 400, on our nation's birthday, July 4th 1984.  President Ronald Reagan gave the command to "start engines' from Air Force One.  He was driven to the track when he landed and watched the rest of the race from the broadcasters booth.  It was the FIRST time a president had ever attended a NASCAR race, and he watched Richard and Cale Yarbrough trading a little paint, going door-handle to door handle at nearly 200 mph as Richard edged him out at the finish line.  The president was amazed at what he saw, and Petty was hustled up to the box, where Reagan congratulated him for the win, and Petty in return, thanked Reagan for coming to a NASCAR race.

But what a SCENARIO to win # 200!  (only one other driver in history has even  won 100,,,,,,,,,David Pearson with 105).  But #200, on the fourth of July, photo finish with a President in live attendance............it was a storybook finish!

There's a lot more to being a "champion" than just winning the season points title.  Richard Petty's even-keel attitude, not blaming others when he DIDN'T win, "fair-play" out there on the track, all the time for the fans, the visits and charity donations to children's hospitals & such..............Richard Petty was truly "the King."

I have a few old NASCAR race films, and never tire of watching those old cars that still WERE stock cars, battling on dirt, asphalt and even the sand on the beach of early Daytona.........Monty Flock, Curtis Turner, Junior Johnson,, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Fred Lorenzen...........and just every now and then, you'd get a glimpse of that old "Petty-Blue" #43 Plymouth........and this was BEFORE 2-way radio communication or spotters, (you had to read the "pit board" as you flashed by)....no "cool-suits" or roll cages, huge big block V-8's and a lot of rough & tumble out there!

The cars didn't "almost drive themselves"..........man-handling 4,500 lbs of Ford Galaxies or Pontiac Bonnevilles on DIRT was no easy chore, and some of those old boys who'd hauled moonshine on backroads had a decided advantage here.

In the earliest days of NASCAR, their "safety restraints" were BEDSHEETS tied around their wastes, anchored to the front seat, and they wore leather helmets and goggles like the old fighter-plane pilots......full dashboards....radio, heater....everything.

You were on your own out there and really had to be a "heads-up driver" and navigate by the seat of your pants.  There weren't any 13-second "pit stops" either.  A driver had time to smoke half a cigarette if a tire needed to be changed!

If some of these overpaid corporate-sponsored "superstars" of TODAY had to climb into some of those old chariots, run on dirt with those skinny tires, no radios or cool-suits........these modern dudes would be in serious trouble.

But anyway.................Long live the King!

This also inspires me to write a blog......maybe my next one.......about a THIRD "King" that a lot of us knew when we were kids.

POST-NOTE--------after all the excitement calmed down from the 200th win, the Smithsonian Museum wanted that car for their collection.  The Petty's agreed to give it to them, but not until after the race at Atlanta, where THAT particular car always ran very well.

During the Atlanta race, the Smithsonian guys were on "pins & needles" hoping the car wouldn't be involved in a crash or anything.  It finished the race un-marked, and the story is that the Smithsonian crew had that car loaded up in THEIR semi-van before the moter ever cooled down!

I had hoped to see that car when I was back in D.C. last year, but they "rotate" their stock every few years, and Richard's 200-win car was in the warehouse at the time I was back there.

Darn!

Oh well.............I DID get to see and photograph Archie Bunker's chair....so all was not lost!...........

.....and somewhere out in the garage, there are a couple of more Petty kits................

................I KNOW they're out here SOMEWHERE!............