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Kyle Petty
Kyle Eugene Petty (born June 2, 1960) is an American former stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and father of racer Adam Petty, who was killed in a crash during practice in May 2000. Petty last drove the No. 45 Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises, where he was CEO; his last race was in 2008. He is also an active philanthropist and has run the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America since 1995.
Petty was born in Randleman, North Carolina to his parents Lynda and Richard Petty. Petty is a third generation NASCAR driver his grandfather, Lee Petty, won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was also a three-time NASCAR champion. His father Richard is a seven-time NASCAR champion. He has three younger sisters. Petty graduated from Randleman High School where he was a notable quarterback and basketball player even being offered scholarships to play in college however he turned them down to pursue racing. He was later inducted into the schools Hall of Fame in 2016.
Petty also played Little League Baseball growing up and in 2010 he was inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence. Which is the highest honor Little League can bestow.
He made his major-league stock car debut at the age of eighteen. He won the first race he entered, the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200, in one of his father's old 1978 Dodge Magnum race cars, at the time, Petty became the youngest driver to win a major-league stock car race.
Petty made his Winston Cup Series debut, again driving a passed down STP Dodge Magnum numbered No. 42 (a number used by his grandfather Lee Petty) for his family's team. He ran five races and had a ninth-place finish in his first series race, the 1979 Talladega 500. In 1980, he made a total of fifteen starts in the No. 42 (after crashing the last of his father's Dodge Magnums in one of the Daytona 125 qualifying races) and had six top-ten finishes, garnering a twenty-eighth-place points finish. He began the 1981 season driving his father's No. 43 for one race, before running a full schedule in his regular No. 42, finishing in the top-ten ten times and finishing twelfth in points.
Petty began the 1982 season with two top-ten finishes, but later began splitting time between his No. 42 and the No. 1 UNO/STP car owned by Hoss Ellington, and ended the season fifteenth in points. In 1983, he picked up funding from 7-Eleven and accordingly switched his number to 7. He had only two top-ten finishes but improved to thirteenth in the standings. He followed that season up with six top-tens the following year, but fell three spots in points.
Petty took his number and sponsorship to Wood Brothers Racing in 1985, where he had a then career-high seven top-fives and his first top-ten points finish. The next season, he won his first career race in the infamous 1986 Miller High Life 400 at Richmond and finished tenth in the final standings. In 1987, he switched to the No. 21 and received new sponsorship from Citgo, as well as winning the 1987 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. He failed to pick up a win in 1988, and fell to thirteenth in points, causing him to be released from the ride.
Petty signed on to a part-time schedule in 1989 for the new SABCO Racing team. Originally beginning the season unsponsored, he and SABCO later picked up sponsorship from Peak Antifreeze after he drove their car to a top-ten finish at the Daytona 500, filling in for Eddie Bierschwale, as well as Ames Department Stores. Petty and the No. 42 Pontiac team competed in nineteen races that season, his best finish being a fourth at Atlanta. Peak became the team's full-time sponsor in 1990, and Petty finished eleventh in points after winning the GM Goodwrench 500 at North Carolina Speedway with a 26-second margin of victory. Mello Yello would replace Peak as sponsor of the No. 42 in 1991, and Petty was running eleventh in points when he suffered a broken leg at a crash in the Winston 500 at Talladega, 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 31st in points.
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Kyle Petty
Kyle Eugene Petty (born June 2, 1960) is an American former stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and father of racer Adam Petty, who was killed in a crash during practice in May 2000. Petty last drove the No. 45 Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises, where he was CEO; his last race was in 2008. He is also an active philanthropist and has run the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America since 1995.
Petty was born in Randleman, North Carolina to his parents Lynda and Richard Petty. Petty is a third generation NASCAR driver his grandfather, Lee Petty, won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was also a three-time NASCAR champion. His father Richard is a seven-time NASCAR champion. He has three younger sisters. Petty graduated from Randleman High School where he was a notable quarterback and basketball player even being offered scholarships to play in college however he turned them down to pursue racing. He was later inducted into the schools Hall of Fame in 2016.
Petty also played Little League Baseball growing up and in 2010 he was inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence. Which is the highest honor Little League can bestow.
He made his major-league stock car debut at the age of eighteen. He won the first race he entered, the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200, in one of his father's old 1978 Dodge Magnum race cars, at the time, Petty became the youngest driver to win a major-league stock car race.
Petty made his Winston Cup Series debut, again driving a passed down STP Dodge Magnum numbered No. 42 (a number used by his grandfather Lee Petty) for his family's team. He ran five races and had a ninth-place finish in his first series race, the 1979 Talladega 500. In 1980, he made a total of fifteen starts in the No. 42 (after crashing the last of his father's Dodge Magnums in one of the Daytona 125 qualifying races) and had six top-ten finishes, garnering a twenty-eighth-place points finish. He began the 1981 season driving his father's No. 43 for one race, before running a full schedule in his regular No. 42, finishing in the top-ten ten times and finishing twelfth in points.
Petty began the 1982 season with two top-ten finishes, but later began splitting time between his No. 42 and the No. 1 UNO/STP car owned by Hoss Ellington, and ended the season fifteenth in points. In 1983, he picked up funding from 7-Eleven and accordingly switched his number to 7. He had only two top-ten finishes but improved to thirteenth in the standings. He followed that season up with six top-tens the following year, but fell three spots in points.
Petty took his number and sponsorship to Wood Brothers Racing in 1985, where he had a then career-high seven top-fives and his first top-ten points finish. The next season, he won his first career race in the infamous 1986 Miller High Life 400 at Richmond and finished tenth in the final standings. In 1987, he switched to the No. 21 and received new sponsorship from Citgo, as well as winning the 1987 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. He failed to pick up a win in 1988, and fell to thirteenth in points, causing him to be released from the ride.
Petty signed on to a part-time schedule in 1989 for the new SABCO Racing team. Originally beginning the season unsponsored, he and SABCO later picked up sponsorship from Peak Antifreeze after he drove their car to a top-ten finish at the Daytona 500, filling in for Eddie Bierschwale, as well as Ames Department Stores. Petty and the No. 42 Pontiac team competed in nineteen races that season, his best finish being a fourth at Atlanta. Peak became the team's full-time sponsor in 1990, and Petty finished eleventh in points after winning the GM Goodwrench 500 at North Carolina Speedway with a 26-second margin of victory. Mello Yello would replace Peak as sponsor of the No. 42 in 1991, and Petty was running eleventh in points when he suffered a broken leg at a crash in the Winston 500 at Talladega, 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 31st in points.