Richard Petty

Richard Petty (born July 2, 1937 in Level Cross, North Carolina along U.S. Highway 220) is a renowned former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and is now a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series owner. Driving his famous No.43, Petty won the NASCAR Championship 7 times; Dale Earnhardt was the only other driver to accomplish this feat. Petty also won an unprecedented 200 races during his career and in the 1967 season alone won a record 27 races, including ten races in a row. His 200th win came in the Firecracker 400 on July 4, 1984 at Daytona International Speedway. President Ronald Reagan was in attendance, and celebrated the milestone with Petty and his family in victory lane. 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. He Won 7 Daytona 500s and 9 Most Popular Driver Awards.

The Twilight Years

Petty would win 2 more Daytona 500s in 1979 and 1981, in 1979, he won his 6th Daytona 500 in the first Daytona 500 to be televised Live Flag-To-Flag, that win snapped his 45-race winless drought en route to his 7th NASCAR Winston Cup Championship beating Darrell Waltrip by 11 points, and in the 1981 race he used only fuel in his last pit stop with 25 laps to go to grab his 7th and final Daytona 500 win.

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