Long Live The King
Ever since I realized you could race cars, I was a Richard Petty fan. It started one summer in the early-1970's when I was at my cousin's house, and he had an AFX slot car track with a box full of cars. Put two cars on the slots, pull the trigger as hard as you could, and hope the car didn't fly off the track when you hit the corner.
"The Closest Thing to Real Racing," Jackie Stewart told me. (For you readers who may not have heard of Formula 1 in the 1970's, Jackie is not related to Tony Stewart.)
One of them HO scale cars was a sporty blue Road Runner with sidepipes and a 43 painted on the side. "That's Richard Petty's car," my cousin told me.
"He's won more races than anyone," my other cousin told me.
"They call him King Richard," my brother said.
From then on I was a race fan and a Richard Petty fan. We didn't get much NASCAR news in central Texas. The Indy 500 was usually broadcast on tape delay back then, and I wondered why Richard Petty wasn't in it. That was OK though because I rooted for A.J. Foyt just the same. He was from Houston, had won 4 Indy 500's and, and that was cool. (I still like A.J.)
Not long after I got to see the 1979 Daytona 500 on TV. You know the one. The one where Cale Yarborough and the 2/3 of the Alabama Gang fought on the back stretch while King Richard went on to win his 7th Daytona 500.
When I finally started being able to attend races live in 1994 (Hey to Fireball Doowah and my VT buddies), I kept that sentimental attachment to the 43 even though I knew it wasn't doing that well. Over the years, that seat has been occupied by a long list of meh drivers.
Lots of potential but little payoff.
When I heard Bobby Labonte was going to drive the 43 I got excited. Hot Damn! A former Winston Cup champion and a guy from Texas to boot. While the team enjoyed a little bit of a resurgence, the overall results were still unremarkable. Sadly, Bobby Hamilton and John Anderetti have 3 more wins in the 43 car than Bobby Labonte does.
So now in 2008, Richard Petty has sold a controlling interest in Petty Enterprises to Boston Ventures. Boston Ventures has unceremoniously fired Kyle Petty. Bobby Labonte has left the 43 team for lack of a sponsor. As of this writing, Petty Enterprises has laid off 65 employees according to the latest ticker on jayski.com. And now there is a reported merger of Petty Enterprises and Gillete Evernham Motorsposrts (GEM). For the life of me, I can figure out what GEM wants with a struggling team, slow cars, an empty shop, and no driver.
I guess the only thing of value left at Petty is the number on the car.
"The Closest Thing to Real Racing," Jackie Stewart told me. (For you readers who may not have heard of Formula 1 in the 1970's, Jackie is not related to Tony Stewart.)
One of them HO scale cars was a sporty blue Road Runner with sidepipes and a 43 painted on the side. "That's Richard Petty's car," my cousin told me."He's won more races than anyone," my other cousin told me.
"They call him King Richard," my brother said.
From then on I was a race fan and a Richard Petty fan. We didn't get much NASCAR news in central Texas. The Indy 500 was usually broadcast on tape delay back then, and I wondered why Richard Petty wasn't in it. That was OK though because I rooted for A.J. Foyt just the same. He was from Houston, had won 4 Indy 500's and, and that was cool. (I still like A.J.)
Not long after I got to see the 1979 Daytona 500 on TV. You know the one. The one where Cale Yarborough and the 2/3 of the Alabama Gang fought on the back stretch while King Richard went on to win his 7th Daytona 500.
When I finally started being able to attend races live in 1994 (Hey to Fireball Doowah and my VT buddies), I kept that sentimental attachment to the 43 even though I knew it wasn't doing that well. Over the years, that seat has been occupied by a long list of meh drivers.
Lots of potential but little payoff.
When I heard Bobby Labonte was going to drive the 43 I got excited. Hot Damn! A former Winston Cup champion and a guy from Texas to boot. While the team enjoyed a little bit of a resurgence, the overall results were still unremarkable. Sadly, Bobby Hamilton and John Anderetti have 3 more wins in the 43 car than Bobby Labonte does.
So now in 2008, Richard Petty has sold a controlling interest in Petty Enterprises to Boston Ventures. Boston Ventures has unceremoniously fired Kyle Petty. Bobby Labonte has left the 43 team for lack of a sponsor. As of this writing, Petty Enterprises has laid off 65 employees according to the latest ticker on jayski.com. And now there is a reported merger of Petty Enterprises and Gillete Evernham Motorsposrts (GEM). For the life of me, I can figure out what GEM wants with a struggling team, slow cars, an empty shop, and no driver.
I guess the only thing of value left at Petty is the number on the car.
Pretty sad when you think about it.
Long live the king.
Long live the king.
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