Kyle Petty

Petty at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2007

**Kyle Eugene Petty** is an American former stock car racing driver, and current racing commentator. He is the son of Richard Petty, grandson of Lee Petty, and father of Adam Petty. Petty last drove the No.54 Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises, where he serves as CEO; part time in 2008.

## Career

### 1979-1980: First Starts

In August 1979, Petty made his Cup debut, driving a a passed down STP sponsored Dodge Magnum numbered No. 42 (a number used by his grandfather Lee ) for his family's team at Talladega. He qualified 18th on the grid, to which he would end up finishing 9th, five spots behind his father. He ran four more races in '79, with that top ten being his best finish. He placed 37th in points.

In 1980, Petty increased his schedule to sixteen races (All but one event were run with Petty Enterprises' no.42 Dodge (1 race) /Chevrolet (11 races) /Oldsmobile (1 race) ). He attempted to make that year's Daytona 500, but missed the field after crashing the last of his father's Dodge Magnums in one of the Daytona 125 qualifying races. He was able to qualify for his other starts. He did well throughout 1980, getting six top tens throughout the year. The only race he did that was not in the 42 was the 1980 CRC Chemicals 500, where he drove the no.75 STP Chevrolet for RahMoc Racing, where he finished 23rd in the event.

### 1981-1984: First Full Seasons

Petty began the 1981 season driving his father's No. 43 at Riverside, while his father was in his usual 42. However the father and son would swap back to their usual rides beginning at the Daytona 500, Petty would run the full season in 1981, finishing in the top-ten ten times, and scoring his first and only top five of the year in the 1981 World 600 at Charlotte by finishing 5th in the 600. He would then place a then career-high twelfth in points.

The following season in '82, would be a disappointment for Petty as he would only score two top fives and four top tens. Petty's 1982 season would also be marred with a whopping sixteen DNF's thanks to fifteen mechanical issues and one crash. Petty additionally ran the full season split between Petty Enterprises' no.42 Pontiac for 23 races, and Ellington Racing's no.1 Buick (5) /Chevrolet (1) for six races. Petty would also not participate in the finale at Riverside. Despite it, Petty dropped three spots down to 15th in points.

1983 would be a better year for Petty, as he would now drive the no.7 Pontiac sponsored by 7-Eleven for Petty Enterprises, running the full season this time around. Although he didn't get any top fives, he would get two top tens. His DNF count went down to nine. Despite the two top ten's, he would finish in the top twenty, eighteen times. Petty would rise two points higher in points to 13th.

The following year he would triple his top ten count to six and one top five in the 1984 World 600. However six finishes outside the top 21 and six DNF's led to a 16th place points finish.

### 1985-1988: Wood Brothers Racing

Following '84, Petty, the no.7 and 7-Eleven would depart to the Wood Brothers, who relinquished their world-famous No. 21 car number and adopt the No. 7 in favor of the 7-Eleven sponsorship. This led to a major discourse with fans of the team, who knew the No. 21 synonymous with the legendary team from Virginia.

in '85, Petty would have the greatest year of his career at that time in his first year at WBR, scoring seven top-fives, which included a runner up finish in the 1985 Winston 500 at Talladega, accompanied by twelve top tens en route to a 9th place points finish.

Then in 1986, Petty started off the year 16th in the Daytona 500. In the following race at Richmond, on the final lap of the race, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt tangled, causing a 5-car pileup. Running second at the time was Joe Ruttman, who led for 100 feet before spinning out due to hitting the apron while trying to avoid the pile-up, Petty would take the lead and ended up winning his first race. It was a win that was oddly similar to his father's 1979 Daytona 500 win in that the two competitors running 1-2 wrecked and the winner capitalized. This was also the only time since 1968 that a Wood Brothers car visited victory lane without the famed #21 vehicle. Along with the win in the season, Petty scored three top fives, and ten top tens. He dropped one spot to 10th in the points.

In 1987, WBR changed the 7 back to the 21 after Citgo became the new primary sponsor. That year, Petty scored five top fives with eight top tens, including his second career win in that year's Coca Cola 600. Petty would place higher in points with 7th place points finish.

1988 would be a disappointment with only two top fives and eight top tens, with his best finish being 5th at Atlanta and North Wilkesboro. Petty was released from WBR at season's end.

### 1989-1996: The SABCO Era

Beginning in 1989, Petty joined the new team, SABCO Racing in their no.42 Pontiac. Petty got six top tens, including a top five in the fourth race of season at Atlanta. However when they DNQ'd at that year's Daytona 500, Petty was put into Eddie Bierschwale's no.23 Peak Antifreeze Pontiac during the event and he placed 10th, but the finish went to Bierschwale as he started to the event.

Then in 1990, Peak Antifreeze became the sponsor of SABCO's 42. With the new sponsor, Petty would win his third race from his first ever pole position start in the third race of 1990 at North Carolina Motor Speedway. Petty however only had one other top five in 1990 with twelve top tens en-route to an 11th place points finish.

1991 began positive with new sponsor Mello Yello (Sponsor both Cole Trickle and Petty's cars) and a repeat of the previous win from the pole at North Carolina Motor Speedway. However things took a turn for the worst in the 1991 Winston 500, when Petty suffered a broken leg at a crash in the race, causing him to miss the next eleven races. His abbreviated schedule combined with only one top-ten in the second half of the season caused him to finish the season 30th in points.

In 1992, Petty rebounded to a career-best fifth-place finish in points, as well winning two separate races that season at Watkins Glen and Rockingham. The 1992 season would be the only year that he would win multiple races in a season. He came very close to winning the championship in 1992, however he had a flat tire at Phoenix (the second to last race) and broke an engine in the last race, otherwise he would have been neck and neck with Bill Elliott and Alan Kulwicki for the title as a gift for his father's final season.

He would duplicated his points finish in 1993 as well as picking up a win in the Champion Spark Plug 500 at Pocono including eight top fives, and fourteen top tens.

However in 1994, the performance could not be repeated after he was unable to finish higher than fourth (Which was at North Wilkesboro) , and lost the Mello Yello sponsorship at the end of the season, with only two top fives and five top tens, leading to a 15th points place finish.

Beginning in 1995, Coors Light would become the new sponsor for both Petty and the recently renamed Team SABCO. Petty would win his eighth and final race at Dover in the 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500. Outside that win, the rest of the year was nightmare with only one top five coming from that victory, five top tens, an average finish of 25.6, along with ten DNF's and a 30th points place finish.

Despite the horrific performance in '95, Petty would stay at SABCO for one more year in 1996, where he would only have two tens and finish only one spot higher than 95 in 29th. Petty then departed SABCO at the end of the year.

### 1997-1998: PE2 Motorsports

After leaving SABCO, Petty formed his own team: PE2 Motorsports in 1997. The year would be a bit of improvement for him, as he had two top-five finishes and nine top-ten finishes, and finished 15th in points, the highest points placement of all the new teams to run during the 1997 season in the the No. 44 Hot Wheels Pontiac Grand Prix, he fielded for himself.

However things weren't good in 1998 with only two top tens and a dismal 30th points-finish.

### 1999-2006: Return to Petty Enterprises

The dismal performance in '98 caused him to return to Petty Enterprises and run his team from their shop, and became Petty Enterprises' new CEO.

In his return to the team, despite nine top tens, he finished 26th in points.

In 2000, Petty had a very apathetic season, with only one top ten at Talladega in the spring. He finished the first season in the new millennium an awful 40th in points.

2001 only got worse as Petty would only get two top twenties throughout the year and finished an abysmal 43rd and was the worst performing Dodge driver in the manufacturer’s return to the sport that year.

2002 improved with one top ten at Talladega in the spring and nineteen top twenties. He finished off 2002, 22nd in points.

Things took a step in the wrong direction in 2003, as Petty only racked up three top twenties.  The only highlight of the year was when Petty crashed his No. 44 Dodge in a hard driver's side impact during the 2003 Food City 500 at Bristol, recording a hit of 80 g's.  Petty would be replaced by Christian Fittipaldi for the next race at Texas before returning the weekend race after Texas.   Petty held the record for hardest hit until Elliott Sadler’s crash at Pocono Raceway seven years later in 2010.  Petty ended the year 37th in points.

In 2004, Petty improved with six top twenties in the year, and climbed four sports higher in points to 33rd.

2005 bought more improvement to Petty as he would score his first top ten in three years by finishing eighth at Bristol in the spring, and another eighth at Dover in the fall.  The other highlight was during the 2005 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega when on the final lap when he crashed on the backstretch, but drove his wrecked 44 car to the finish in 24th place.  He placed 27th in points.

In 2006, Petty would repeat his two top tens but this time at Atlanta in the spring and Martinsville in the fall. Despite it, he ended 2006, 32nd in points.

### **2007-2008: Final Starts**

In 2007, Petty announced he would run part-time in the season because he was chosen to replace Benny Parsons on the TNT broadcast.

Petty only had two highlights in 2007, with the first being his incredible third place finish in the 2007 Coca Cola 600.

The second one came during that year’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon, when he served as a commentator while driving. However on the first lap when entering turn eleven Petty and Matt Kenseth crashed, causing Petty to yell, “What the f\*\*\* was that!?” on the broadcast.

Later in the year after a 43rd place finish at Watkins Glen, Petty punched a desk in the team hauler, causing him to have a broken hand. He would be replaced by Chad McCumbee in the following race at Michigan. He ended the year 38th in points after only participating in 29 of the 36 races.

In 2008, Petty shortened his schedule to 18 races.  His best finish of 2008 was 24th at the fall Richmond event.  He announced that he would make his final career start at Phoenix and would focus more on his position as CEO at Petty Enterprises. He closed his career with a 38th place finish.