Kyle Petty

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Kyle Eugene Petty
Born: June 2, 1960 (age 46)
Birthplace: Flag of United States 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
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.
A dated Kyle Petty NASCAR picture.

Kyle Eugene Petty (Born June 2, 1960 in Randleman, North Carolina) is an American NASCAR driver, the son and grandson of racing legends Richard Petty and Lee Petty, respectively. He drives 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 through the 2008 season. 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 Talladega 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 successful 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.

Contents

[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] Hair Incident

At the 1996 Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis Kyle Petty had an extremely hard crash on the 39th lap. 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.[citation needed]

[edit] Background information

  • Despite his father Richard being nicknamed "The King", Kyle has never been referred to as "The Prince", the term for the son of a king.
  • Kyle Petty won his first Winston (now Nextel) Cup race at Richmond International Raceway in 1986 when his two closest competitors Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip crashed in the fence while battling for the win and Petty avoided the mess and came home for his first win.
  • Kyle Petty does not put his name above the window of his car like most drivers do. Instead he leaves it blank in honor of his son Adam Petty.
  • Kyle Petty has driven a black paint scheme every year at New Hampshire, the site of his son's death.
  • Kyle Petty drove in place of Kevin Harvick during the fall race at Bristol in 2004 as Harvick had to get out due to arm pains. Since Petty's own car was damaged he got in the car and drove it to a 29th place finish.
  • Petty drove the #12 Mobil 1 Ford for Roger Penske at the Brickyard 400 in 2000 because then-current driver Jeremy Mayfield announced he was leaving the team.
  • Kyle Petty was the second driver to be featured in a video game, Kyle Petty's No Fear Racing a game for SNES.
  • Kyle won the 1987 Coca Cola 600 when his closest competitors faltered in the final miles.
  • Kyle's best race track was the now-defunct North Carolina Speedway. He notched back-to-back wins in 1990 and 1991 and earned a million dollars, which carried over from the previous year.
  • Kyle Petty has been featured in STP Commercials for his father's former sponsor.
  • Kyle Petty was the first driver to drive under the Coors Light and Felix Sabates's affiliation, and Coors and Sabates have maintained that relationship since 1995.
  • Kyle Petty won a race at Watkins Glen in 1993, and with the win, helped Pontiac win the Manufacturer's Championship.
  • Kyle has a cousin named Ritchie Petty who ran a handful of Cup races during the 1993-1994 seasons.
  • Kyle Petty does an annual motorcycle ride for charity purposes.
  • In 1991, Kyle Petty suffered a broken leg in a 21-car wreck in the Winston 500 at Talladega. It put Kyle on the sidelines for 11 races. Bobby Hillin, Kenny Wallace and Tommy Kendall took over in Petty's absence. Kyle made his return in the Southern 500 at Darlington in September.
  • Kyle was associated with the infamous wrestling stable the New World Order when he was introduced on a 1996 of WCW Monday Nitro as the driver for the nWo NASCAR Busch car.

[edit] External links

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