Kyle Petty

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Kyle Eugene Petty
Born: June 2, 1960
Birthplace: Randleman, North Carolina
Awards: 2005 Pocono Raceway Spirit Award

2004 National Motorsports Press Association Myers Brothers Award

2004 USA Weekend’s Most Caring Athlete

2003 American Motorcycle Association Hazel Kolb Brighter Image Award

2002 True Value Person of the Year Award

2002 March Of Dimes Sportsman of the Year Award

2000 NASCAR Illustrated's Person of the Year

2000 NASCAR USG Person of the Year

2000 National Motorsports Press Association Myers Brothers Award

1999 NASCAR Illustrated's Person of the Year

1998 NASCAR USG Person of the Year
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics
Car #, Team 45 - Petty Enterprises
2006 NEXTEL Cup Position: 32nd
Best Cup Position: 5th - 1992, 1993 (Winston Cup)
First Race: 1979 Talladega 500 (Talladega)
First Win: 1986 Miller High Life 400 (Richmond)
Last Win: 1995 Miller 500 (Dover)
Wins Top Tens Poles
8 172 8
All stats current as of October 22, 2006.
A dated Kyle Petty NASCAR picture.
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A dated Kyle Petty NASCAR picture.

Kyle Eugene Petty (Born June 2, 1960 in Randleman, North Carolina) is an American NASCAR driver, the son of racing legend Richard Petty. He pilots the #45 Marathon Petroleum Company Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises. The Marathon Petroleum Company announced the sponsorship on August 8,2006. Marathon will remain the Sponsor throughout 2006. Petty originally did not intend to become a race car driver. He was a star in many sports in high school, including football and basketball and received scholarship offers from many colleges.

However, Kyle did eventually decide to follow in his father's footsteps and he won his first stock car race, the ARCA 200 event at Daytona International Speedway in 1979 using a retired (but refurbished) 1978 Dodge Magnum race car that his father campaigned the previous year. He then tried to enter the Winston Cup soon after that, but crashed during qualifying in March, May, and just before the July 4th Daytona races. Using one of the few remaining Magnums (the others were wrecked beyond repair), Kyle qualified for the August '79 Talledega race and finished a very respectable 9th place. The following year, when spare cars were available, Kyle raced as often as he could, but did not have a sucessful year, driving as a teammate to his father at Petty Enterprises. He left his father's team in 1985 to drive for the Wood Brothers team. His first Winston Cup win came the following next year at Richmond International Raceway. Petty returned to driving for Petty Enterprises in 1996 and is now CEO of that team.

Petty's son Adam Petty had begun a promising career in racing as well, but was killed in 2000 in a practice accident at New Hampshire International Speedway. Upon his son's death, Petty finished the 2000 season racing his son's car in the Busch Series.

Petty is active in many charitable causes, such as the Victory Junction Gang Camp for terminally-ill children, which he established to honor his late son, as well as an annual charity motorcycle ride across the country.

He appeared in the 1983 Burt Reynolds movie Stroker Ace.

[edit] Teams/Sponsors

Below is a list of all of the different NASCAR teams for which Kyle Petty has driven at the Nextel Cup level, and the companies who sponsored him in each year.

Teams

Sponsors


[edit] "get a haircut, son"

One time at a race at Martinsville in 1991 Kyle Petty had a hard crash. Rescue workers had to remove him from his car and put him on a stretcher. Petty roared in pain when the rescue tried to lift him from the ground. The safety workers asked Petty "what's hurting?, is it your leg or your neck?" "No" Petty said "someone's been standing on my ponytail while y'all trying to pick me up". Soon after Petty began wearing a shorter ponytail.


[edit] External links

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