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Wednesday, April 5
Lee Petty was a part of our history -- NASCAR's history.
Lee Petty was there for the first NASCAR race. When they
ran that first Grand National or Winston Cup race, or
whatever you want to call it, Lee Petty was there.
With his passing, we lost part of our history. We lost a
guy we could all go to and ask, 'What was that first race
like?' And he could tell us because he was there. And any
time you lose that, you've lost a great deal.
Honestly, the only time I remember Lee Petty driving
was back growing up in Wilkes County. A group of us
went to a race at North Wilkesboro, it had to be the early
60's because the track was still dirt. There was about
four or five of us and everyone chose a car. I'd been
reading about Lee Petty, so I chose Lee Petty to win the
race. He did not run well that day. I was crushed.
Lee was never as outgoing as his son Richard. But his
legacy will be that he started Petty Enterprises. When he
retired, he left Petty Enterprises for Richard and Maurice
to run. And when he left, he left. It was their deal to run.
He was a frequent visitor to the races, but he didn't have
much to do with the race team's operation. I'm sure they
met at the shop, and he had his voice in things, but at
the race track you never would have know it. He was just
a visitor, just a fan.
About 10 years ago or so, I was at Petty Enterprises to
interview Richard for a story. Lee was hanging around
the shop, so I said, 'Lee, let's sit down and talk for a
while. I'd love to have your thoughts and recollections
on tape.' His response was, 'They (Richard) have to do
that (now). I don't.' That was just Lee Petty.
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LEVEL CROSS, N.C. -- The No. 42 flag flew at half-staff Wednesday at Petty Enterprises to mourn the death of Lee Petty,
winner of the first Daytona 500 and patriarch of one of racing's royal families. Petty died Wednesday at 86.
Petty, who died at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro several weeks after undergoing surgery for a stomach aneurysm, was the
father of Winston Cup great Richard Petty, grandfather of Kyle Petty and great-grandfather of Adam Petty, who made his Winston Cup debut last weekend in Texas.
Lee Petty was one of the princes of racing during the stock-car circuit's infancy in the 1940s and 1950s.
Beginning with an eight-race schedule in 1949 -- the same year he founded what became Petty Enterprises -- he went on to record 55 career victories. He was a three-time champion on what now is the Winston Cup circuit, and he won the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959, driving a 1959 Oldmobile '88 bearing his trademark No. 42.
"There wasn't any better driver than Lee Petty in his day," Junior Johnson, another early stock-car racing star, said
Wednesday. "There might have been more colorful drivers, but when it came down to winning the race, he had as much as anyone I've ever seen."
In Level Cross, home of Petty Enterprises, people remembered Lee Petty as a plain man who never let success change him.
"He was a great guy. You never would know he was who he was," said Jean Handy, a service station assistant manager.
Petty and his wife lived in the same simple white frame home at
Petty Enterprises, next to the race shop and museum, where they
raised their sons Richard and Maurice.
"They are tight, a real family," said Doris Gammons, who works
at the Richard Petty Museum. "They are just plain, simple country
people."
Richard Petty began racing under his father's tutelage in 1958
and eventually surpassed his father's Grand National championships.
Along the way, he inherited his father's fierce competitive streak.
During Richard Petty's first race at a North Carolina dirt track
in 1959, when it initially appeared he had beaten his father to the
finish line, the elder Petty protested loudly. Race officials later
changed their ruling and declared Lee Petty the victor.
"I would have protested even if it was my mother," Lee Petty
said.
Petty's best season was 1959, the year he beat Johnny Beauchamp
at Daytona in a photo finish that wasn't decided for three days.
His 55 career wins placed him seventh on the list of the
winningest drivers in NASCAR Winston Cup history. Richard Petty
ranks first with 200 wins.
Lee Petty adopted a business-like approach to racing when the
sport was rougher than it is now, Johnson said.
"We never had anything vicious on the track," Johnson said.
"If he could get in a hole, he got in it. ... When the race was
over, he hooked up and went home."
While serious about racing, Petty could also be a gentleman, said Ned Jarrett.
"He was a hero of mine," said Jarrett, who recalled a 1959 race in Columbia, S.C., when he was filling in for the ailing Johnson in a No. 11 Ford.
After getting a feel for the car, Jarrett began moving up in the pack, and soon found himself behind Petty on the one-groove dirt track.
"I bothered him for 10 or so laps," Jarrett recalled. "I tried everything in the world to get past him, and I finally bumped him."
Jarrett finished second, only to find Petty waiting for him at the pay window.
"He said 'Boy, were you driving that car Number 11?' I said 'Yes,sir.' He said, 'You need to learn your manners on the race track; you don't run over people to pass them."'
Jarrett apologized but encountered Petty again a few days later at North Wilkesboro. When Petty asked if he was racing, Jarrett told him he didn't have a ride.
"He said, 'Well golly, if I had known you didn't have a ride, we would have brought a car up here for you."'
"You can't imagine how that made me feel," Jarrett said. "I learned right then that I'd got the man's respect... I'll never forget it."
Petty's career sustained a serious setback on Feb. 24, 1961, during a 100-mile qualifying race at Daytona. He tangled with Beauchamp and their cars hurtled over a guard rail and soared more than 100 feet before crashing in the parking lot.
Petty suffered a punctured lung and broken leg. He raced
occasionally during the next three years, starting six times,
before retiring from driving in 1964 to devote more time to the
mechanics side of racing.
Petty, a master mechanic, was voted Mechanic of the Year in 1950
and most popular driver in 1953 and 1954.
"I've always felt the man who works the hardest gets the most
out of it," he once said.
At the Richard Petty Museum, two of the nine cars are devoted to Lee Petty -- a 1926 Ford Model T similar to the first car he owned, and a '59 Oldsmobile like the one he rode to victory in at Daytona.
On three shelves beside the Model T are the 64 trophies Lee Petty
won during his racing career, including the three Grand Nationals
from 1954, 1958 and 1959.
"All of us at NASCAR are saddened to hear of Lee's passing and
extend our deepest sympathy to his family," president Bill France
said in a statement.
Petty is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; sons Richard and
Maurice; nine grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and one
brother.
A private graveside service for family will be held this week.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Dale Earnhardt says it's tough to see Lee Petty go.
avi: 1517 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Bobby Labonte remembers Lee Petty.
wav: 110 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Ward Burton remembers Lee Petty.
wav: 102 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Dale Earnhardt talks about the elder Petty.
wav: 123 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Michael Waltrip is saddened by the loss of a stock-car legend.
wav: 108 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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