Richard Lee Petty

Richard Lee Petty was born July 2, 1937 in Level Cross, North Carolina to Lee Arnold Petty and Elizabeth Toomes. Richard is a second generation NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. "The King", as he is nicknamed, is most well-known for winning the NASCAR Championship seven times (Dale Earnhardt is the only other driver to accomplish this feat), winning a record 200 races during his career, winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times, and winning a record 27 races (ten of them consecutively) in the 1967 season alone. (A 1972 rule change eliminated races under 250 miles (400 km) in length, reducing the schedule to 30 [now 36] races.) Petty is widely considered one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time. He also collected a record number of poles (127) and over 700 top-ten finishes in his 1,185 starts, including 513 consecutive starts from 1971–1989.

Petty married his wife, Lynda, in 1958. Together, they have four children:

• Kyle Eugene Petty b. June 2, 1960 m. Pattie
• Sharon Petty m. (a Farlow)
• Lisa Petty m. (a Luck)
• Rebecca Petty m. (a Moffit)

The family still resides in Petty's home town of Level Cross, North Carolina and operates Richard Petty Motorsports. The Richard Petty Museum is in nearby Randleman, North Carolina. Since January 7, 2008, Petty Enterprises has been the newest resident of Race City, U.S.A., moving their race team into the vacated Yates Racing 115,000-square-foot (10,700 m2) facility in Mooresville, N.C. Throughout Petty's career, but especially during his prime, Petty was known to stand for hours, backed against a fence, signing autographs to everyone who asked.

Related websites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Petty
• http://www.drivepetty.com/
• http://www.richardpettymotorsports.com/
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0678809/