Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty was born on July the second, 1937 in Level Cross, North Carolina, and is a well-known NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver. He won the NASCAR Championship seven times, has an overall record win of 200 races and he also won the Daytona 500 seven times. In 1967 he won a record of 27 races during the season, of which 10 were won consecutively, and nine Most Popular Driver awards. One can say that Petty is the greatest NASCAR driver to take part in these races. He also has a record for the most pole positions, 127 to be specific, and out of his 1185 starts he had over 700 top-ten finishes, which includes 513 consecutive starts during 1971 to 1989.
Richard Petty is a second-generation driver, his father, Lee Petty, being the first to win the Daytona 500 back in 1959 as well as a NASCAR champion. Richard married his wife Lynda Owens Petty in 1958 and together they had four children – Sharon Petty Farlow, Kyle Petty, Rebecca Petty Moffit and Lisa Petty Luck – as well as 12 grandchildren. Petty’s son, Kyle is also known as a talented NASCAR driver. The family still lives in Level Cross, NC where they operate Petty Racing as well as the Richard Petty Museum.
Richard Petty’s NASCAR career began when he was 21 years of age, on July 18, 1958. His first race took place at the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds in Toronto where he finished 17th in an Oldsmobile. Both 1966 and 1967 were outstanding years for Petty, not only because of all his wins but because he was the first driver to win the Daytona 500 twice in a row. Over the years his dominance soon earned him the nickname “King Richard”. Richard started racing the Plymouth and in the end made it famous in the 2006 Pixar film “Cars”.
In late 1991, after many successful years as a NASCAR driver, Petty announced that after the 1992 season he would retire. Unlike other drivers Richard Petty drove the entire 1992 season. He organised a year-long “Fan Appreciation Tour”, which took him around the country where he participated in different events and ceremonies to thank his loyal fans.