KYLE PETTY

'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 year at Richmond International Raceway. Petty formed his own team in partnership with Petty Enterprises, known as PE2, in 1997. This later merged into Petty Enterprises and Kyle 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''.

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.

Background information

★ In 1995 grunge band Soundgarden released a song entitled ' 'Kyle Petty, Son Of Richard' ' on their Fell On Black Days single.

★ 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 mounted the fence while brawling for the win. Petty avoided the mess and came home for his first win.^[1]

★ 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. This resulted in a $ 40,000 fine from Dodge, as Kyle has an exclusive contract to drive only Dodges.

★ Kyle has a nephew named Brian Petty II who lives in upstate New York that he mentioned in a magazine interview, he gave a "Happy Birthday" shout out in the interview.

★ Petty drove the #12 Mobil 1 Ford for Roger Penske at the Brickyard 400 in 2000 because then-current driver Jeremy Mayfield was injured during a practice crash.

Boxart of Kyle Petty's No Fear Racing

★ Kyle Petty was the second NASCAR driver to have his likeness 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 edition of WCW Monday Nitro as the driver for the nWo NASCAR Busch car.

★ In a recent story by the Dallas Morning News, Kyle Petty admitted to listening to Sister Hazel during the race weekend to relax.

★ Kyle has not won a race since 1995 and his last top 5 finish since then was in 2007 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, where he finished third, this was his first top 5 finish since fall 1997 at Dover International Speedway.

★ As of 2007, Kyle Petty wears eyeglasses when he is racing in the NEXTEL Cup.

References

1. "1986 Miller High Life 400"

External links

★ Official Petty Enterprises Web Site

★ Career statistics at RacingReference.com

★ Victory Junction Gang Camp

★ Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America

★ Coca-Cola Racing Family's Kyle Petty profile

★ October 2005 interview with Kyle Petty from NASCAR.com

★ Kyle Petty's nWo #49 car revealed on Monday Nitro

★ Kyle Petty's Interview with FOX News Radio

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