Richard Petty has had a lot of firsts in his storied lifetime, but
entering a car in the 93rd Indianapolis 500 for John Andretti is one of
his most memorable accomplishments. His memories of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway go back more than a half century, and he recalled many of
them during a press conference prior to Pole Day at the famed track.
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A.J. Foyt and Richard Petty. Photo by Chris Jones - IRL.
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"My first visit to Indianapolis was with my dad (Lee Petty) in 1954,"
the 71-year old NASCAR megastar said. "We had raced somewhere in this
area and came here to talk with Firestone. A few years later I came to
qualifying and remember seeing the old garage areas and it looked like
a bunch of barns for horses, cows and stuff. Then you come back and you
see they have modernized the deal. It's just growed up a little bit, and
it's just that much more impressive to me."
While being sponsored by STP, Petty attended Indianapolis qualifications
for a dozen years, but he saw the race for the first time only a year
ago. "Last year I got to do the Kentucky Derby and the Indianapolis 500
for the first time, and when you've been to the Super Bowl and the World
Series, it was quite a thrill to see the biggest race there is. I think
what fascinated me about the Indy deal was the cars, as I've always been
mechanical working on my own cars."
Petty acknowledged he had listened to the radio broadcasts of the famous
race often, which makes his debut as a car owner even more special. "The
Indianapolis 500 has always stood out above everything else to me," he
said. "John (Andretti) talked to me about doing it last year, as he was
talking with (sponsor) Window World, but it came up too late. As quick
as the race was over, John started working on all of us trying to get
ready for this year and a couple of months ago, he told me he had it all
put together, so I contacted the boys (Dreyer & Reinbold) with the car
and it all worked out. And now we are here pushing John on around the
race track."
Petty said a good finish would please him, even a top-10 finish. "John
doesn't run these cars all the time, but he understands what's going on.
We do have to calm him down sometimes, as he gets so enthusiastic about
the deal. If we could just finish in the top-10, it would be a big, big
boost for him, our team and Window World because it's hard to run 500
miles and not have any trouble. And to outrun a few people makes you
feel even better."
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John Andretti, Richard Petty Motorsports/Dreyer & Reinbold. Photo by Michael C. Johnson.
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Andretti and Petty are famous names in racing, and their driver-owner
relationship goes back many years when Andretti drove stock cars for
Petty. From the outset, the two personalities clicked. "Sometimes on the
race track we weren't that good, but we had a lot of fun doing it. As
long as STP was paying the bills, we were in good shape, man."
Petty confirmed that A. J. Foyt offered to put him in an IndyCar years
ago, but he declined the offer. "I made two laps around the car, looked
at it and said, 'See y'all, guys, I'm going back to Level Cross, North
Carolina.'" The tall driver said he was awestruck when comparing his
roomy stock car to the tiny IndyCar and couldn't figure out how to wedge
himself into the sleek racer, especially with his big feet, although
Foyt offered to outfit him with a pair of smaller shoes. Petty declined
the offer and said it was as close as he ever came to stepping into an
IndyCar.
Discussing the difference between racers and drivers, Petty said, "All
the drivers that make into (NASCAR Sprint) Cup racing, they're really
good drivers or they'd never get there. A lot of them are not good
racers; they're not winners. And I don't have a clue what makes them
different; if I did, I'd get one of them in my car.
Some people just rise a little bit above other people. Winners know what
to do under certain circumstances, and the good drivers don't, so they
don't wind up winning a lot of races."
Petty credits the success of the Indianapolis 500 has made NASCAR what
it is today. "Until they built the Darlington Speedway in 1950, the
biggest thing we ran on was a half-mile dirt track. With Darlington,
they wanted to run a 500-mile race just like Indy did, and that was
the beginning of our super-speedway era. I think Bill France looked at
Indy and said, 'Okay, we build Daytona, we could compete.' They built
Charlotte, too, and in doing so, this let NASCAR grow, grow, grow and
grow. NASCAR was able to put a bunch of small Indy races all over the
country where the Indy deal is still Indy. It's either here or just wait
until next year if you miss the race."
Wherever he goes, Petty continues to attract a large following and fans
gathered in large numbers on Saturday to catch a glimpse of the famous
driver. Although he doesn't have an Indianapolis 500 plan beyond the
2009 race, he doesn't rule out the possibility, especially if they could
win the race.
Andretti may be a long shot going into the 93rd running of the
Indianapolis 500, but so was "Mine That Bird" in the Kentucky Derby a
week ago.
