Richard Petty brought his '72 Charger to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2006. His shops restored this car -- the one he won his 4th Winston Cup championship with. The English crowd loved the behemoth. (Dodge motorsports photo)

What do you ask an icon? What interview question has the King of stock car racing never heard before? How can he suffer yet another journalist? Richard Petty started racing in 1949 and Petty Enterprises is still owned by him. The 69-year-old is unique in motorsports as a racer, multi-champion, and team owner who has been at the beginning of NASCAR up to its present day.

He shared his one-of-a-kind perspective with OvalTracking   .com in a freewheeling interview at the Level Cross shops. It was so freewheeling we’ve enough tape for two parts. He was in good humor  – despite having had a bone spur removed a few days before in his left foot and wearing a soft cast. As he has been over 50 years of dealing with the press, he was generous with his time and candid with his answers.

Richard Petty Fan Appreciation Day Every year the Richard Petty Fan Club gathers at Petty Enterprises for an open house hosted by the organization, and this year they were kind enough to let me join their activities. Being a Fan Club member has its perks on this day... Click here to read more.

OvalTracking .com: (Pointing at cast.) Who’ve you been kicking?

Richard Petty: (Smiling that megawatt smile and taking a step toward me.) Anybody who can’t get away fast enough!

OT: I was here a few weeks ago for the Richard Petty Fan Club open house and it’s amazing that you had fans come all the way from Australia.

RP: Kinda weird. Haven’t been in a race car for 15 years or whatever and they still jump right in there. (Chuckling)

We went to Goodwood [Festival of Speed] in England and it’s amazing. People come up to you that are 15 years old, or 35 or 55 or 95, and they had heard tell of you. They didn’t knowyou, but there had been enough stuff that went across the ocean over a period of time – you have to look at it that we have been here for 50 to 60 years – so it makes a difference.

It isn’t a deal like a Jimmie Johnson where you come in and do good for four or five years and then you go somewhere and nobody’s heard tell of you. It’s taken time for that to happen. Just like a Michael Jordan, or a Tiger Woods. It takes a long time to get to everybody. My longevity has done a lot of that [recognition].

OT: How involved are you with the teams now? What does Richard Petty do day to day?

RP: Not much. As little as he can get by with. I still own the company, but over a period of time I have turned it over to other people to run. My job is to keep those people in line, so we’re on the same page. The major deal is to work with all our partners. From NASCAR to General Mills or Wells Fargo, whoever it may be. When you get this far along in life then there is a lot of extra stuff to do, whether it has to do with the race cars or not. People want you to do a personal appearance, or personal service deals.

I’m busier now really than when I was driving a race car because when I was driving, I was working on the car and here every day, and didn’t have time to do that stuff.

I have a full schedule every day. Interviews on what happened in 1949 and what’s going on today. When you’re talking with me – I was at the very first Cup race they had in 1949, at Charlotte. And probably haven’t missed 50, maybe 100 races that NASCAR has ever had that I haven’t been there. I have been to more Cup races than any other one human being.

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OT: Are you involved with the Victory Junction Gang camp too?

RP: I’m partly involved with that. Kyle spends a lot of time with that – he and his wife. I do what I can -- make appearances for it and talk to sponsors and fans.

My dad started the racing business and over a period of time I wound up with the whole thing. We’ve got Petty Enterprises, The Richard Petty Driving Experience. Kyle started the Kyle Petty motorcycle ride for charity. Then he started the Camp, and it has got to be a big, big deal. Those are our main focuses.

OT: You rebuilt the race team somewhat last year. What is the goal for it in 2007?

RP: We stopped the bleeding. We’re starting in the healing process for sure. The cars have stepped up a lot this year (2006). We didn’t win any races, but if you look at 2005 against 2006, you see a marked improvement.

OT: What did it take?

RP: We brought Robbie Loomis back. He took over the day-to-day managing. What happened is that over time I turned it over to Kyle. He was really in there digging; then he got involved in the motorcycle ride. Then he got so involved in the Camp. He has to make personal appearances for all the sponsors, so he couldn’t be here day-to-day-to-day. We needed a manager to do that.

So we brought Robbie in. Then we looked around and we needed someone to drive the #43. We got Bobby Labonte, which is a great asset. Bobby had been driving for Gibbs and they’d had pretty good success from time to time.

We really didn’t know where our cars were at. Kyle had been driving them all along, and we brought in other drivers from time to time. They were good drivers, but they couldn’t consistently win. Bobby can win any day if we have the right circumstances and right equipment. He was really able to help us improve the breed.

Robbie had been with Hendrick Motorsports so he knew some of the shortfallings that we had, and Bobby knew some of the other shortfallings that we had. We could not see the forest for the trees – we do it every day and we think its right, but we had nothing to compare it to.

So they come in and open up our departments – the cars got better as far as mechanical-wise and aero-wise. There was no magic bullet. To help 10% they had to take ten different departments and get 1% improvement out of each one of them. Hopefully that will continue on into next year.

OT: Let’s talk about NASCAR. They just decided to give up on a track in New York on Staten Island.

RP: They didn’t have enough money to buy off all the politicians. (Laughs)

OT: Is it time for franchising the teams in NASCAR Cup racing?

RP: It’s been time for franchising. They done a little bit toward franchising by guaranteeing the top 35 in points a starting position. If you had a franchise, that would be automatic – you would make the race. It’s a step in that direction without going there.

I just feel like for NASCAR to be a major player in the sports world -- that’s a part they are lacking – franchising. Football, baseball, basketball – they are all franchised in order to make the system work for everybody. In NASCAR we have a bunch of individuals trying to help themselves, and NASCAR. So we’re all going in a direction that from time to time we help other people, but we’re not looking after them, we’re looking after ourselves.

With franchising, I think the tracks, NASCAR, the owners, and drivers would get in one room.

OT: Cohesive?

RP: Even though they don’t have to have organizations – the drivers don’t need to be telling the car owners what to do, and the car owners don’t need to be telling the tracks or NASCAR what to do. I don’t like that part. That’s not what I’m looking at. I’m looking at continuity to the rest of the world, to our major sponsors.

If you had a franchise – when General Mills comes in and wants to put their money with Petty and paint their brand on a car and have us do advertising for them and all the rest – then they’ve got a guarantee. They know they are buying into a legitimate operation. We’re going to be here next week, next month, next year.

The way it is now, the way these players are playing – guys will come in for two or three years and if they don’t do any good, they go home. Most of the major players have stayed over a period of time. But over that period of time you’ve lost Holman-Moody, Bud Moore, Junior Johnson. These were the people that helped establish NASCAR. So why should they just go away? Why shouldn’t they be supplemented for the work that they did to get NASCAR in the position they are in.

We’ve been here like I said from the first day [of NASCAR]. If I decide to close this place up all we got is material – we might get 10 cents on the dollar. That’s all you’ve got man!

OT: How do you get franchising done?

RP: NASCAR is the only one that can do that. They would have to eventually see that’s the way they need to go.

OT: Do you think they would do it?

RP: I don’t think they will. Let me put it this way, I don’t know that they won’t in the future, but right now that is not a big player in their domain because they’ve got control over everything like it is. If I’m the top dog, and I’m dictating what comes down to everybody, why should I let them be involved in whatever it may be?

If you do franchising – say 35 cars – those 35 have some control. They have more power than one or two or four. They are not going to agree – it doesn’t work that way. But if you’ve got an organization and the organization agrees to do something – even if you dissent from that – you still belong to that organization and that’s the way it’s going to be. 51% gets it done.

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OT: A counter-argument might be, “Everything is going fairly well with a benevolent dictatorship.” Your experience with the PDA would indicate that it doesn’t look like you could organize all the owners to get franchising.

RP: The only way you could have an organization [of owners] is everybody pay into it. Then they buy into it, they just walk in and say, ‘I’m a member.’ You buy into it – whatever the money is it takes. To legitimize the sport, my concept is sell, for example, 35 franchises and leave it open for the remaining teams up to 43 to have a chance to buy in when one of the original 35 franchises becomes available. Just like it’s done in football or baseball.

You have established with a franchise, something that’s worth something because you are a guaranteed participant if you buy in.

OT: What do you think of the Car of Tomorrow?

RP: I think it’s time. I was confused with NASCAR because they’re trying to bring it in a little at a time. Why blend it in? Now we have two sets of cars we have to worry with for the next two years. We run 16 races with the new car and the rest of the races with the old car. We’ve got to upgrade and build “new” old cars because we’ve learned things, and our competition is upgrading and improving their old cars, so we have to do that, too.

We’ve got to build two fleets – they take different rear end housings, different A-frames. So we have to buy new parts for old cars because parts have a shelf life. It’s running the expense clean out of here [up].

OT: Any idea on what kind of money you’ve spent on the COT and upgrading?

RP: We just spend whatever it takes. It’s hard to be budgeted.

OT: NASCAR makes a rule…

RP: And we spend the money. The owners make NASCAR work. No matter what rule they send at us. If they come in today and say the first race is going to be at Daytona and you’re going to run it on three wheels, we’d figure out how to get around that race track on three wheels and put on a show.

No matter what the rules are, whether they are good, bad, or indifferent, we as owners make NASCAR look good. That’s our business, we’ve got to survive, we’ve got to compete. So no matter whether it’s a restrictor plate – we went to Talladega and they thought they were running too fast – come in Sunday morning and they give everybody a smaller plate. You don’t do that in professional sports, man.

Had no idea on what was going to happen. They knew we were going to run slower, but didn’t know if we were going to burn the motors up or whatever. But luckily the engine builders were on top of it enough the race was no different.

Except maybe that it hurt some engines more than others. It hurt the Dodge engine more than it hurt anything else. Because the Dodge is such a long engine -- the way the manifold distributes air it has so far to go front to back – the shorter the engine was the less the restrictor plate would affect it. The bigger they go with the plate, the better the Dodge engine is going to be.

I think they’re going to run Talladega next fall with the new car [COT] and they’re going to try that [larger plate] because the cars are going to run so slow because they are so boxy. That should put us more even with the competition than when we run at Daytona and the first Talladega race.

[To be continued in Part 2 ]

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Kings For A Day

Richard Petty Fan Appreciation Day

Words and photos by Glen Grissom

Every year the Richard Petty Fan Club gathers at Petty Enterprises for an open house hosted by the organization, and this year they were kind enough to let me join their activities. Being a Fan Club member has its perks on this day – you get to roam through the Petty shops fairly unrestricted. Amazingly, and such is a measure of the man, Petty’s fan club is still going full steam even though he hasn’t raced a stock car for more than a decade. I don’t think there are many athletes in any sport that have such a loyal and continuous following.

Fro the general public to get behind the locked doors at Cup shops is very unusual these days (even harder for certain members of the press); let alone a mass of people with cameras in hand. Yet Club members got to get up close to see the 2007 paint scheme for the #43, and to look over the Car of Tomorrow. Plus, they had hours with Richard for him to patiently sign memorabilia and get photos taken.

The Fan Club has a strong purpose besides gathering to meet and greet each year – they raise funds for the Victory Junction Gang camp created by Kyle and Pattie Petty in memory of their son Adam. Throughout the course of the open house, the Club has a couple of charity auctions and a swap meet where they generously open up their wallets to bid on Petty memorabilia and assorted racing stuff supplied by members.

Want a rare copy of “Speed Age”? It was there. Need a Petty car hood for over your fireplace? You could get that too. The money raised goes to Victory Junction, less some basic and essential expenses to put on the event. Club members volunteer to staff it and run the Club.

I interviewed a couple of the prime movers of the Petty Fan Club: Barry Kurman, who was working everywhere on this day and the auctioneer enthusing up those prices for a great cause, and Linda Ritchie, National Director of the Club. As she said, she is in charge of making sure they are still having fun at it.

OT: Barry, just what is this open house day about?

Barry Kurman: We have a Fan Club convention every year at the shops here in Level Cross. Richard is generous with letting us have full tours of the race shops, taking pictures, and signing autographs for hours.

We have our charity auctions, which I lead, and all the money raised goes to the Victory Junction Gang camp.

OT: What have you auctioned so far on the high end?

Barry Kurman: The most expensive item was a hood for $400, and couple of specialty hats for $300.

OT: How many people are attending this year?

Barry Kurman: The total is about 1,500. The Fan Club members that came the farthest are a husband and wife from Australia. This is the first time they’ve attended.

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OT: How long have you been in the Club?

Barry Kurman: I have been involved for about 35 years, and doing the auction for 25 years. We’ve been meeting at least 35 years at Level Cross.

OT: What’s your favorite King memory?

Barry Kurman: Once at a large open house, a book publisher had Richard in an autographing assembly line before he went out to meet people. There was a stack of new, unsigned books; then Richard signing, and then stacks of the new signed books about him being made ready for visitors to buy.

After about a half hour of signing, Richard sat back and said, “You know the worst thing about this deal? I’m going to sit here for two hours and sign all these books, and then I’m going to go outside and sit and sign and autograph things for all those people. And all these books I just signed are going to come back there and I’m going to have to sign them again, because they don’t believe it’s my signature!”

OT: What does the Club do with the auction money?

Barry Kurman: Every dime we raise that doesn’t pay our basic expenses for the fan gathering here, goes to the Victory Junction Gang camp. None of the members or volunteers make any money. So far we’ve raised about $6,000 from our auctions and swap meet sales this time, and we’ll probably have another $2,000 when it’s all done. Our goal each year is to shoot for $10,000 to give to the camp, and we come close each year.

OT: What do you think is the reason Richard Petty still has so much appeal?

Barry Kurman: The fact he has been so accessible to his fans and the Fan Club. I have never been around him where he is not accessible. Now, he has plenty of sponsor commitments; but if he can, he will always talk to you. He has always attended any event the Fan Club has put on.

He’s real. He’s down-home. He’s not “above and beyond” like some professional athletes are. His rapport with the fans and the public has made him what he is. There is a definite affection because he relates to the people. He never acts like he is above anybody around.

OT: What first got you interested in racing and Petty?

Barry Kurman: Well, I was into cars in high school and there was a race track at Dover. I went to a race there, and that was it. Now I’ve got three rooms of my house dedicated to Richard Petty.

OT: Linda, how long have you been National Director of the Fan Club?HoLinda Ritchie/National Director

Linda Ritchie/National Director: Since 1993. He had no fan club in ’93 and so many people had come back to him and asked him to continue the Fan Club after he retired. He came to Jerry (my husband) and I and asked us to be the Directors. He said as long as we were having fun, he’d be right beside us. I’ve been a member since 1971, when the Club was first started.

OT: I’ll ask you the same question I asked Barry. What about Richard Petty inspires such loyalty? He hasn’t been in a race car for over a decade.

Linda Ritchie: It’s his kindness, and that he a downright, everyday man. He’s real, and he’s not better than anybody else, and he respects children especially. He just enjoys meeting people after all these years and after all those autographs – he’s still signing, and still smiling. That’s what keeps him going I think. He’s special to all of us because he is the same man every time you see him. He has always been here for the Fan Club.

We’ll have about a 1000 members here today, and overall we have about 2500 members all over the States, with the most living in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennyslvania, and then New Jersey next.

OT: How do people join the Richard Petty Fan Club?

Linda Ritchie: Send a check or money order to:

Jerry & Linda Ritchie
National Directors / Petty Fan Club
1028 East 22nd Street
Kannapolis, NC 28083

A new membership is $10.00 per year for an individual U.S. resident, and international is $15.00 (U.S. currency). A family of four in the U.S is $15.00 per year; an international family of four is $20.00 (U.S. currency). You get three newsletters per year, a membership certificate, membership card, photos, post cards, and various decals.  

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