Episode 228 -- Ritchie, Mark and Timmy Petty on Impact of 1983 Charlotte Controversy

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hello, My name is Rick Houston, and welcome to the Scene Bought Podcast,
your source for all things NASCAR history, presented by Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
America's racing show place. He said, you didn't put a code of
wax on that car without Richard knowingit. You didn't tell him what to

(00:23):
do. He told us what todo. Him getting out for a while
probably saved a man's life, becauseI mean he was anting down, you
know, high blood pressure, stressand all that, and you can only
imagine. So that first hit Iwas, I was out cold. I
finally come to. I guess Icouldn't breathe. It knocked the breath that

(00:43):
an I'm setting there And like I'vetold him before, I didn't know if
I was dead or alive. Theday NASCAR and all of us associated in
anyway, when NASCAR forget it's past, that's today, we don't have any
future. Hello everyone, I'm SteveWade, and my name is Rick Houston,

(01:07):
driver of the Lonesome Pine Raceway Parkpace car and member of the National
Motorsports Press Association Board of Directors.And Welcome to the Seam Bought Podcast,
presented by Las Vegas Motor Speedway America'sracing show place in a track that truly
cares about NASCAR history. Steve,you heard me right in mp A Board

(01:34):
of Directors, my plan to conquerthe NASCAR Media Corps is finally beginning to
come true, nearly thirty two yearsafter my first credential race. Now,
it was either that or they justcouldn't find anybody else to do it,
and they're scraping the bottom of thebarrel. I'm voting for the last.
Believe me, you have been partof that organization for about a thousand years

(01:57):
now, and you were the presidentfor how many years? I was the
president for twelve years, during whichtime I survived six assassin agent attempts,
four of which I was involved.Oh never. Now, in all honesty,
I don't know what to expect.What should I expect from my tenure,

(02:21):
from my reign of terror? Whatkind of ultimate power am I going
to be wilding as a member ofthe NNPA Board of Directors. Well,
I don't know about ultimate power,Rick, but I do think it is
You'll have a chance to help shapesome of the policies of the NMPA,
which is probably a good thing ofwill for you. Anyway, my platform

(02:44):
orreo cookies for everybody Chinese buffets andevery media center, and don't forget the
beer. Don't forget the beer.Do I at least get to vote anybody
off the island, because if wedo, I've got some thoughts. Really
don't know about voting anybody off theisland. But Rick, consider yourself lucky

(03:05):
that you have this job because inmy day, when the president appointed somebody
to the Board of Directors, thatpresident being me, Well, whoever won
the job had to pay me toget I was a true Pousasian man.
I will say this. I noticedthat during your tenure I never got asked
to be on the Board of Directorswhen you were the president. What was

(03:27):
up with that? Well, Idon't want to say you were overlooked,
Rick, you were looked at andthen quickly tossed the shot. Folks,
he ain't kidding. We had betterintroduced this week's interview segment. What do
you think? I believe we neededto move on to that quick, Steve.
If our listeners thought that last week'ssegment with the Petty brothers was good,

(03:50):
just wait until they hear what RichieMark and Timmy Petty have to say.
In this week's episode, they talkabout their dads and their uncle Richards
work ethic from very very early onin their lives and how that impacted the
rest of their lives. And thenwe get into the nineteen eighty three Fall
race weekend at Charlotte, which wasone of the most controversial moments in the

(04:13):
seventy five year history of NASCAR,and how their dad Maurice was directly involved
in that and very much impacted bywhat took place. Indeed, he wasn't
how could he not be given hisrole in it, Ricky, And in
a very real sense, it washis own son's careers in the sport that
helped Maurice begin to heal. Finally, Richie Petty takes us through that infamous

(04:39):
nineteen ninety three accident in Talladega inwhich Jimmy Horton flipped completely over his car
and over the wall out of theballpark at high speed in Talladega. He
went over the wall. I sawthat whole thing. I really thought that
was the last we were ever goingto see if Jimmy Horton, fortunately was

(05:00):
not the case. What was thelast week saw Jimmy Horton for a while
until he got back around to thetunnel and end of the enfield. Then
in our second segment, we're gonnago back to the February twenty eighth,
nineteen eighty five issue of Grand NationalScene, Maurice Petty gives some pretty straightforward
answers about keeping Petty enterprises going.Dale Earnhart wins at Richmond in a race

(05:25):
that was impacted by a new tireroll and mutilated guardrails. There's a feature
on Daytona's Winston Cup rookie meeting,and a beautiful column by Joe Whitlock and
a halfway decent one by Steve Waite. Well, if anything I do is
halfway decent, when next to Whitlock, believe me, I'll take it.

(05:46):
Steve. I got a phone callon Friday. I noticed the number and
I said, well, that can'tbe. He's still in the hospital.
Well I picked up and for thenext ten minutes I was berated and badgered
and pastored and belittled. So yes, Rambo is back and in full force.

(06:08):
And it was so good to hearhis voice, even though he was,
to put it bluntly, ripping mea new one, just like always
that being said, they still facea lot of bills coming in from that,
everything that they went through, everythingthat Rambo went through. So please

(06:29):
find Tony Liberretti's Rambo's go fund meaccount and help out as much as you
possibly can. And finally, justas a reminder, this show is not
affiliated in any way with American CityBusiness Journals, owner of the same brand.

(06:56):
You've talked about it, But whatwas the working relationship like between Richard
and your dad? They were prettydangn close for all the even till the
day they died, or he daddydied. This Daddy told you. But
I was just gonna say that,well, Uncle Richard, oh no,
no, go ahead and uncle ahead, and you might have a better story

(07:17):
than me. I'm just saying I'lljust le out just hind there right here.
If you messed again, if youmessed with Richard Petty, you got
the bull. That was daddy too. I mean, I think, all
right, I guess I'll just observeit. But to me, the working
relationship was when when Lee, Richard, her dad Dale, everybody worked together

(07:41):
and focused on their part, theywere unbeatable. And that's the record book
show it. But um, Daddy, I always thought, you know,
okay, Daddy's in charge, who'sthe final? Say, well, me
and Dandy was watching this is practiceat Daytona here, maybe four or five

(08:01):
years ago, you know, ona Thursday or Wednesday, Tuesday. He's
kind of like your mom when Daddywatched every practice everything on TV, all
way up till his last days.But and he could always tell you where
to forty three was, yeah,no matter what. But um so,
anyway, so it was down thereand they was talking about somebody sand bag

(08:22):
and they wasn't running full laps andyou really didn't know what speed they had,
and Daddy just kind of sniggers andthat ain't nothing new. We've done
that in the sixties. And Isaid, what would yall do? How
did y'all get him to like,what would you do? Time him at
a certain point on the track andsay okay, come in. And he
went from a conversation like this andwent listen and had a finger like he
said just stop, and he saidlisten. He said, you didn't put

(08:46):
a coat of wax on that carwithout Richard knowing it. And he didn't
tell him what to do. Hetold us what to do. And so
that right there was like, okay, that puts it in perspective where he
goes and he is the king.He goes, he goes back to Dady
always talking about Richard Weldon. Hewas he was the most talented welder he
ever seen. And Richard was selftaught. Richard could do about anything,

(09:07):
and and and he was probably hisbest chassis man, you know what I
mean, Like what he's saying,he's best whatever. If he like,
he said, anything's going on thatcar, he had a say on it.
I mean they're they're wise men forsure, you know, everybody coming
through the years. And now Ialways talks. I mean, I'll face
a little bit of the elephant andring. They always talked about Richard.

(09:28):
Maurice don't get along with Richard andMars don't get along. I never seen
him have across word ever. Andthem two loved each other and they still
and they did up until Daddy wasgone. But I think it was more
or less it wasn't them too thatdidn't get along as the rest of us
around. That's right. Well yougotta daddy, do you know Daddy.

(09:48):
Daddy had that polio, so hewas kind of a handicapped there for a
while, and he worked his wayout of it, and Richard kind of
took up. You know, theywere he was like his uh bodyguard coming
up, but then as his bigbrother looking after big brother, and as
they got older, Daddy become thebodyguard looking after his brother. I mean,

(10:09):
you didn't what they looked after eachother. Now again, like I
said about us, if you goagainst one of the family, you're gonna
have us all. Well, youdidn't. If you said anything about Richard,
you'd have Daddy down your throat.He took he took Richard's side over
us. Yeah, I mean true, that's factual, that's true. But
you gotta think those guys from whenthey were little, having nothing, growing

(10:33):
up with their mother and daddy buildingthis racing deal. Those two were the
first two employees of Petty Enterprise,and we know what we went through trying
to build our career. I don'tthink anybody can ever imagine what they went
through from being right children, beingpoor, right, not having to go
on to being the biggest thing thatwell, I'll tell you they're losing it

(10:54):
at all. Here. We talkedtalked about him being poor grandfather and they
would go up here and get atruck load of day old bread and and
and sweets and things like that tofeed the hogs. Richard and Daddy they
would jump in the back of thetruck and get the sweets, but they'd
get their feel of it before theyfed it to the holes. But they
went through growing up together because youknow, yep, just everything they went

(11:18):
through. And ye tell the storyabout what ain't at a hospital in the
brain that pocket, Well, canyou go back before that one? I
was gonna say, now we goto that one. But when they was
you know, the first floor atthe reapers shed that had cement, Richard
Maurice. They mixed it in awell burrow and they poured at themselves by
hand. There was a five hundredgallon fuel tank that was put in the

(11:41):
ground up here for for gasoline thatLee had a Morrison. Richard dug that
with a pickaxe and a shovel.They buried that that tank in the middle
of July and hard dirt. Daddywould tell us they had to do stuff
like that, the two of them, because you know, they were,
like I said, they were Lee'stwo employee that's from the beginning. So

(12:01):
they people don't see the work thatthem two had to do to build this
place up. And then you wantto go into that building, tell it.
I mean, you know what betterthan I do. But when I
know you tell that, I don'tknow, Well he won't, you know,
called my grandmother and that what wasit Duke hospital that he went,
Yeah, when he had polio andand and whatever. I don't remember the

(12:22):
doctor's name, but he was cuttingedge and all that. But that one
of the stories that Daddy told wasthey bring him a pike of chewing gum
and when they left him, he'dsit there and cry, but he would
chew that chewing gum, just thejuice side of it as quick as he
could, you know, because itwas like such a big pleasure, you
know, that was And he like, yeah, I got a recording of

(12:43):
grandmother telling that story, right,and and like she said, she didn't
know where Lee come up with themoney, but he'd always come up with
the money to buy him a boxof chewing gum, right, and then
so he would go down there withhis buddy at the Duke Hospital. They
would chew it all on the sameday. And so but my grandfather always
he always made your but you gotto go back to that polio story.
Polio back then, that was theywere all scared of it. Nobody they

(13:07):
didn't know where it was coming fromor how people were catching. And so
here you had those four in thehouse, and they lived in a little
one room shack, that's what theylived in, and or a two room
shack, had a bedroom in afront room. And he said when daddy
he woke up, he couldn't walk, and he come crawling into the kitchen
and grandmother was like, well,what get to get off off that floor.

(13:28):
He's not like three years old.She thought he was putting on.
Well, he finally figured out something'swrong. But they tried to take him
to the doctor up here in Greensboro. Nobody would see him. And they
finally found one guy come out tothe parking lot. Wouldn't let him come
in the building, let him up. You know, all this COVID stuff
going on, people getting but theywould not let him come in there.
They looked at him in a parkinglot, a three year old kid,

(13:50):
and then he seemed straight to duke, and then he took him the duke.
He had to set up. Theyhad to leave him. He said
he was he didn't know what tothink. So grandmother and grandfather would they
didn't, you know, there's twoyoung, twenty twenty year old people and
having to leave their three year oldkid up earth. So every time grandfather
got a chance, he would gobuy him a box at chewing gun.

(14:11):
And like grandmother said, I don'tknow where League come up with the money,
but he'd find him a way toget that chewing gun from marsh.
Where did Dale Endman fit into themix? Grandmother was that grandmother, Patty
and Exe were first cousins Dale's mother, so that's and Dale. He'd come

(14:33):
along here because grandmother was trying totake care of the tombs, so she
worked him away. She worked awaywith Exe and got him in there,
and Dale come along. I guesshe hung out for years with him,
but I don't guess he was reallyI'd have to go back and look at
the records. But as far asa real employee, because Dale had a
stint in the army for about twoyears and he worked up here at Weston

(14:54):
House, I don't know, sixtyfour sixty five. I guess he became
a full time employee for the firsttime because grandmother was kind of looking after
her family. The tombs that theyhit it right. I mean, that's
something you probably have to ask Dale, you know, begins. But my
memories of Dale um Dale's son,Jeffrey and I were the same age.
We growed up through school together.We played a little league ball together.

(15:16):
So during the early years, youknow, I'd be over there and hanging
out and playing her. Jeffrey beat my house. So I got no
Dale, but but Dale, Richard, Daddy, grandfather, they were all
my heroes. Yeah, I mean, you know, these weren't the guys
and what it means to this daythey are. But but I got to

(15:37):
see it a little bit of differentside of Dale growing up with Jeffrey,
you know, go out to eatingwith them and stuff like it. So
well, you know, if everybodysays that Dale and Richard are first cousins,
but they're not. I mean grandmotherand Xi were first cousins. So
that's Jean. Patty was the firstcousin that was Julie's son, and he
worked up here for a little bit. That's what that story I always got
mixed up. But Jean, anddon't let them I must trying to stay

(16:00):
with them. I hate to correctpeople, but I'm I like facts.
But you know, Julie and Leestarted Petty Brothers Racing back in nineteen forty
seven. They were doing street racingand stuff, and then they stayed with
it for a while and then Juliehe had his little team and Lee had
his little team. But Jean comealong and worked for the Petty enterprises for

(16:22):
them in the sixty But that's whereyour first cousin is. Dale. I
guess he would have been a secondor third cousin. Where did he fit
into the mix when it came todecision making, Well, we're not gonna
we were. We weren't there,so we don't know going up. I
want to say this, you knowDale being the crew chief when I came
along, you know, he was, like you said, you wanted to

(16:42):
emulate all of them because they wereall the best at what they did,
and no doubt I mean, andhim and Daddy called races together. I
was there and went, and theywas definitely good together. And he was
a good organizer, I think cousinback and when they all worked together,
it was unmatable, eatable and justlike anything else. When they quit working

(17:02):
together. But I'll just say this, Mars, Richard and Lee. That
was petty enterprises. They owned it. There's three of them. Dale was
come along. When he was there, Dale was a he worked for him,
okay, So if there was adecision to be made, it was

(17:25):
made by a petty, whether itwas Lee. And then if Ritchard changed
his mind or Mars, the lastpetty to tell somebody what to do was
what happened. So he had paidenterprises with Mars, Richard and Lee.
I mean, as far as Iwouldn't man, I was I was a
baby, said when they who Iwould say a corner what Daddy said after

(17:48):
a league got hurt. Richard wasprobably the ultimate in charge, you know
when it comes back in that store. Like I said earlier, like you
don't put a code of wax onthe car, and I think everybody run
their decisions. Three. Rich Youdon't have to ask Dale because and I'm
pretty sure they didn't really have totalk about it much. Whatever, you
know from what Dyll worked for them. Three right, say what you want
to say, but Dy'll work forthem. Three How much did any of

(18:11):
you three actually work at the shop, actually work well? When that was
out there in the warehouse, Iwas already at work, and I mean,
I will go out and play basketballwhen I could. But one of
the things I did was early onwatching them because they were the best pit
crew and well, you know,the Woods was good and all that,
but they were pretty good. Theywon pit crew contest right along the time

(18:33):
where period we've been talking about today. So I tried to sharpen my skills
as a tire changer, jackman orwhatever, and we'd come back here in
this area here in practice, youknow, and they'd be playing. But
that was one of their deals too. They would help me do that.
And now did you actually work onthe pit crew? Well not at first.

(18:55):
To me, I was still youknow, Daddy wouldn't let me do
it till I was eighteen, andthat was what did for three or four
years. Yeah. Well, well, I mean at the time we're talking
about, there was even a stintthere where Timmy worked the week here and
changed tires for Blue Max tim Richmondon the weekends, because yeah, when

(19:15):
Kyle had the seven eleven deal andyou know, things that kind of switched
up there in eighty three, likewe keep talking about. And yeah,
so I worked here in the engineshop, and I guess I wasn't good
enough to be on their pit crew. So I went and I actually started
just setting up pits for him.And then Brewer, Tim Brewer got hurt

(19:37):
tobow they cut his knee real bad, and so I was changing tires for
Richmond and winning races. You know, he got the gig because he's both
named Tim and the Yeah, andthat's yes, that's a good story.
Don't let that get in the wayof the facts. But yeah, for
sure, And it was good times. Man. Well, you know when
we was was we was kids,we wanted to come hang out like with

(20:00):
Daddy and so daring like the summer. We'd want to get up and come
over here and and be a partof But he wouldn't let us into the
garage working until later on. Butyou know, I guess Christmases and stuff
like that, grinding blocks and doingstuff like Yet when we were twelve thirteen
years old, just because we wantto be a part of it, and

(20:21):
he let us come in here andmore or less play working on the cars
and stuff. But they didn't theydidn't need us. Yeah, but Timmy
actually worked for Petty Enterprises when yeah, when they were all a group more
than any of us. We wereagain, we were just kids. And
I was born in sixty nine andthat's all over in eighty three, so
you know, it was I wasjust getting I was just getting started helping

(20:44):
into pitts and stuff in eighty twoand eighty three. Well I was fortunate
because that's I mean, I'll stilldo it to this day, you know.
That's what I do now. Iswhat I was doing was when I
h have you worked in the sportall along? Yes? Okay sir?
Now who all have you worked for? Um? Well, I believe it
or not. We had to shutthe doors here in eighty five because of

(21:07):
the one car, and a yearlater the king came back in eighty six.
But in between that time, I'dalready planned on getting married and I
didn't have a job. I mean, can you imagine that, not having
a job and getting married. Andbut I went to work for Keith Dorton
because at the time, everybody's justassumed that I would just come right back

(21:29):
to petty enterprises, and which wasn'tthe case. That's not the way it
went down. But Keith Dorton,man, he what a guy, and
the automoti specialist and h we're thereand was there probably a little over a
year, and I kind of misseda tire change. And I mean Keith
was just an engine shop and whichthere's a hundred stories there. But a

(21:52):
good friend of mine, Landy Barnes, was going to quit at Stavola's and
he was the front tire change andan engine guy. And he called me
one day at lunch and or Iseen him at Let's says, hey,
you ready to come to work over? I said yeah, And I thought
he was going to stay. Well, he had in his mind he was
leaving to go back to Bakers becausehe loved Buddy Baker, you know,
and which we all did. Butanyway, um, I went to work.

(22:15):
That's the bullets, and you knowthat's a tie in with Bobby and
Bobby Hellen and Keith Almond Herman.And how long are you there till ninety
something? I don't know, becauseI actually went to work for Close Racing
for right out of year and thenthat's when the food line cars came out

(22:36):
and Daddy helped orchestrate that, andthen I came back home. That's when
and we all got to be agroup again. But so did you help
build or did you build Bobby's eightyeight Daytona five. Yes, Sir,
a Petty helped in Alison when theDaytona five hundred. And we had talked
about that earlier. That that justthat just our pop read that doesn't was

(23:00):
on Bobby Bud Moore's Bobby Alice infifteen se and seventy eight and I was
William and eighty eight. So tenyears later, I mean, I'm telling
our family it just and we sometimeswe just have to ask each other.
And because you don't even you're immersedin it, and yeah, and you
don't think nothing of it because youlove it. I mean, it's just
the racing gig has always been nearto all our hearts. I mean,

(23:22):
you can say what you want to, but that's fight the matter. Now,
what did you guys do out ofhigh school? Did you go into
racing? Or when we eighty fiveafter the we were we were just trying
to help with that one car inthe pits and stuff. And before that,
like I said, eighty two eightythree, we were you know,
running gas and stuff like that atsome of these races, getting trying to

(23:45):
get our feet wet and doing stuff. And then that kind of end,
and then Daddy did that eighty fivedeal and we were, you know,
um what we call them gophers,that's what that was, because it's fifteen
sixteen years old. But then afterI guess my senior year, Daddy got
hooked up with that Shackelford out ofKenston to do that Winter Circle products.

(24:07):
And so I went to work forDaddy after high school and we were doing
them allinators and stuff, and hewas supplying stuff to like children, some
people like it, and then,uh, I guess eighty seven. We
uh we kind of hit up mamato get us, uh get Daddy's here
to tell him we wanted to goracing, and so uh we end up

(24:30):
getting us late model and the eightyseven Marion. We me and Mark started
driving late models around Caraway and doingstuff like that. And then it worked
this way up to the dark andthe cup side. And then when you
rest his history, so you hitup your mama, Is that the way
it worked? Richie asked, Mama, come o the no, that was

(24:52):
just you know, that was athat was a that was a sensitive issue
because you know, Timmy had comealong here in the two and he was
wanting to go racing, and Kylehas come along and and Daddy pretty much
told us if you're gonna go torace and you're gonna have to find your
own way. Jimmy went and runtingin the car and went down Eric caraway
and run for a few races anddecided to Daddy Brown pretty much ruin a

(25:15):
career. I thought it was justme good. So anyway, so we
get to this point, you know, all this water under the bridge,
and we were kind of apprehensive askingDaddy about us, and so we figured
the easiest way to to to gethis opinion about it about us was to
go through Mama. So we askedher winning and I'll say that you know

(25:37):
that was right and what not?Long after three years after they'd split up
over here and we didn't know howto approach Daddy because he was he had
at that point still been you knowthat intense to chief. Yeah, there's
one part that was Dad and there'sone part that was the Chief, and
that's something what everybody knowed him froma race track. But so as we
got to involve with the race cars, that was a way for us to

(26:02):
get no dat again in a waythat we had never known him and then
he became our buddy, and thenwe didn't have to go through mom.
No, well we we became menenough to go straight to him and have
man to man conversations, but didn'tbecome us. But yeah, but it
was like it's almost like the usracing was a healing process for him for

(26:22):
what he what he had lost andwhat he had been through. And we
we we talked about this a couplemonths ago. We always thought was trying
to build a race team, whichwe was obviously, but what we got
out of it was probably way morevaluable than what we thought we were going
forward. And it comes back tothe right here. It was the being

(26:44):
together as a family and Daddy wasgoing through a hard time because he you
know, he'd just lost everything hehad ever worked for his life. It's
just ten years old. And sowe was able to come together as a
family and it was healing for him, and it was you know, good
times and fun for us. Andso this is what our mom and dad
built for us, was this,Yeah, and we didn't know it.

(27:04):
And any given we were going racingany given saturday, fishing with grown men
and they're in our fifties and sixtybut you come down here on about every
Friday or Saturday, and the threeof us sometimes we're still hanging out together
and doing lansing. I think that'swhat it was all about. And I

(27:26):
don't want to freak you out,but Mom and Dad's still here and their
their ashes or in other rooms,so we all together on the weekends.
But but I really feel like thatwhy one of the reasons that we got
a race car and started racing thecaraway and stuff. I feel like it
was part of Dad's healing for us, is that I just he always he
wanted to be a part of racing, no matter what it was. Well,

(27:48):
that's what taught me by working onour own stuff. Um. You
know again, we thought our dadwas the engine guy, which he was,
but he knew everything. We gotto do it at arc of racing
on and we in the wall orsomething would wreck it somewhere and was trying
and Daddy was like, get outof the way, I'll show you how

(28:08):
to do this, And you know, you're thinking he knows how. The
next thing you know, he's wipingnowhere. He could do anything. It
was what, you know, Idon't know. I want to forget this
part of it. I'm gonna tellyou what. I always thought. It
was amazing about Daddy, no matterwhen his kids are older, until whenever,
anytime he's at the race track,he had somebody running up to him

(28:29):
with a plugboard and he'd get hislittle light out and he'd check out them
plugs. Tell him you need alittle bit more jet here, take a
little timing out here. He couldread a spark plug better than anybody in
the business. As a neural parker, Daddy was the man they went to.
I'm talking to big engine guy namesthe big drivers. They would bring
their spark plugs to him for himto read. And I was always amazed

(28:49):
that everybody had that much faith inhim. Yeah, because they were it
was a daytona beach or wherever,and he's telling them what to do.
You know, it was kind ofcool. Okay, so we've kind of
talked about it in a round aboutsituation or a roundabout way, but Charlotte

(29:10):
Fall of nineteen eighty three, Idon't really want to get into that.
To you, well, I don'tknow, let's see what what's the question?
What what do you what do youremember about all that? And what
leaves you want to go with it, I'll go listen. Number one,
there's nobody that has more respect forthe Petty family than I do. Okay,

(29:33):
I want you to go as faras you're comfortable. Well, I
mean it's like Richie said, there'sthere's things that probably shouldn't never say.
Well, it was that that moviethat The Few Good Men I guys says
you can't handle the truth. Wellthere's something can't well, let me try.
Well, all right, so Iguess yeah, everybody knows that the

(29:59):
about you know that's ever been involvedin racing. But you know, really
I don't think the big engine,the cubic inches really got him into much
trouble. Is the left side,you know, tires and switching all that
around, you know, putting thesofter tires. Well, if you go
back and look, they he runningthe middle metal of the pack all night
or all day and he didn't cometo the front and he put the tires

(30:21):
on it. So everybody was gripingabout not having horsepower, not having us,
and Daddy finally got tired of himand said we're gonna run, We're
gonna take care of this, andthey come. They shoot up with that
big motor. But to that daythey didn't run any different with a big
motor or a small motor did untilthey put them tires on. So where
does that tell you they had troublein the chassis department, not the engine

(30:42):
department. Well I didn't big,you know. Again, I was thirteen
years old, Rick, But Ican remember that night, and I guess
we're looking back. The biggest lessonI can take out of it is up.
It showed me the man my dadis. Yep. Yes, and

(31:03):
he took that on his shoulders.He took it wholeheartedly. He never denied
anything excepted all responsibility through. Whatany of us have to say about that
is an opinion. It's just heres No, it's an opinion, Yep,
exactly. But I'm gonna go withthis that our dad took it.
It cost him his career, andhe never wavered from it. And they
ain't no book to write to playthis or that. It is what it.

(31:26):
He took it. But what bothersme is these days that he lost
his career over it. Now yougot some of these mechanics that were on
the team coming back saying well Idid this and I did that. They
should have spoke up and took partof the heat back when you know where
was yet. But but he,uh, he he took it like a
man and and he never looked back. And it just it is what it

(31:51):
is. Yeah, and that andhonestly, you know, looking back,
how intense daddy was. And we'vetalked about this before. You know,
him getting out for a while probablysaved a man's life, yeah, because
they mean he was having them down, you know, high blood pressure,
stress and all that. And youcan only imagine because before Charlotte, yes,
okay, I'm talking about years before, and they look, man,
the way he did it, itwas day and night, especially when well

(32:15):
Gary Wagner was telling us the otherday that the hours of the of the
Daytona the preseason to Daytona was sevento seven and that's when the man was
here at seven o'clock and then thenthey left at seven. Some days he
didn't leave here until midnight. Imean, he'd be here all the time.
But that Charlotte Deale, like Marksaid that that that depth grinds my
gears a little bit too up.Well, it's just that the people trying

(32:42):
to take credit for it now,And like Mark said, this man,
he took it all and where.But that's that's what I get out of
that old Charlotte deal. What again, it is what it is, and
it was. It's what the goodLord had playing. And like it or
not, it changed the outcome ofPetty Enterprise from that day, for it
was the end. Sure it did. But looking back, you have to

(33:02):
realize it it wouldn't. It wouldn'tRichard's playing Daddy's playing, Dale's playing Lee's
plants, God's plan. And thatmight be exactly what took the pressure off
our dad for us to be ableto go racing and have a good time
with him. Otherwise he might have. So you got to take it as
a blessing. Well I do,I do, I think, I think
it. And when it's all saidand done, it got us all to

(33:23):
where we're at, and everything thathappened in between, you loved it so
right we would probably I'll just say, I'll just speaking a riddle here,
and you've heard, you've heard thestory what he's been laying down this whole
interview, and I know what thequestion you want to ask, So you
need to put that together yourself.Either way, and when you watch this

(33:45):
interview. You understand what I'm tellinghim, what he's laid down about the
whole deal, And I know whatquestion you want to ask. Well,
um, that's well number one,let me let me I know, I
think I know what you think Iwant to ask, but I'm I'm want
to ask another one. First,if you listen to David Pearson, if

(34:06):
you listen to Bobby Alice, andif you listen to whoever else. Charlotte
was at the first time that abig engine had been in a car.
We don't we don't, we don'tknow what the other people was running,
but was speculated through the whole deal. That was what That was what Daddy
always said. He was just catchingup because the rest of them are running.

(34:27):
That was his deal. He wasjust catching up. And if you
looked at what happened with Darryl andJunior the second place man, soon as
they started seeing us pulling art,they loaded up and was hauling ass out
the gate. Like I said,everybody knows the particulars of the story.
They weren't only ones thereah cheating,you know, they was just catching up.
He just got caught. How aboutthat? But then, like Timmy

(34:49):
said, if it wasn't for thetires. They probably could have got the
motor through. But the tires iswhat got him. It was just meant
to be that way it was.But I'm saying that's han't having two who
having having two big things is gothim? If you'd had one, you've
probably got to the other thing.But but you know all these people talking
about, oh, he should havegiven back to win, he should have
given back to this. Now,well why don't rest them give back their
wins? You know? That's that'sthat's my deal again. And I want

(35:15):
to ask the question. I thinkit's the one that you think one of
um all I can think of rightnow is Richard if a code of wax
went on the car, he knewabout it. Uh, you can make
your own decisions on what your answeris going to be. I'm not answering
any of that because I don't knowthat for any of that. For a
fact, I just know what Deddy'stelling me. But I will tell you

(35:38):
if you, if you put together, put together, put together the answer
for yourself, because what we've justlaid out, all right, But I
do know this, I think that'sthe only time they ever cheated. That's
the only time, one time,only time. That's what Mark Mark always

(35:59):
says. They talked about a smokyunit being good a cheater and this and
this and that. But uh,if they're so good at being knowing,
That's what I'm saying is this wasyour story about if they're so good at
cheating, how come they got cold? All right? Right, yeah I
did that. How How surprised wereyou when Richard left at the end of

(36:21):
the day. Well, that thatwas a big shock for the whole the
whole crowd because, um, Idon't know what they want to get too
deep with this, but it wasdaddy. Daddy was un understanding that it
was all gone, you know,business as usual. The day after Charlotte,
they went back to work and hewas preparing. You can't imagine what

(36:42):
they was already preparing for for aneighty fourth season and this is October.
So when he when that, whenthat, when that come down, that
that hit him like a ton ofbricks. He it. He didn't know
what to think. And I'm gonnatell you that was probably the worst.
It was a shock. Like hesaid, it was a surprise because I
didn't what we had been hearing,you know, we were all involved in

(37:02):
it by the end. I meaneven we were a little younger there.
But the thing about it is itwas a blow that Daddy probably never got
over and that Richard left, orthat he left because he was under to
the understanding he was staying the daybefore it was announced. And that's a
fact, I mean. And forme, I'll go like this just how

(37:25):
I deal with it, because it'sit's I have to focus on me.
But for me, was I shocked? Yeah, here I am thirteen,
fourteen years old, and I thinkwhat I'm going to do for a living
is work for Petty Enterprises, andthat means I'm gonna work. Kyle's gonna
be a driver, I'm gonna bea crew member, and this is what
I'm gonna do the rest of mylife. What you know, year or

(37:46):
two earlier in that Dale had alreadyleft and then now this is happening.
And like I told you, I'mthirteen, fourteen years old and my heroes
are leave Petty, Richard, PettyMars, Petty and Dale em And then
by this time Kyle was on thatlist, you know, because I looked
up to him. But for me, that was the shock that that all

(38:07):
went from one day you think andthis is my future to the next day
of it's gone. Yeah, allright, so let's let's move on a
little man. But I mean,that's just that that was me. That
was the shock for me that allmy heroes we're not getting along anymore.
You know. It was a damnhard time for us, all yeah,

(38:29):
and I'm sure it was just equallyas hard on Richard. It was.
So you guys started racing. Youhad raced at Caraway a time or two,
yeah, but earning nothing significant.And you've talked about you two starting
to race and how important that wasto your relationship with your dad. Richie.
At what point did you feel readyto take on ARCA? Well,

(38:52):
when we see we'd run down latemodels and I'd run some dayton of dash
here or there, and uh westarted that Sportsman series of hump. He
started over at Charlotte, so hewas running that for a year or two,
and so yeah, we were wewere in the first first first rounds
of that and uh so we hadsome speedways. You're still here, Well,

(39:15):
it was exactly yeah, he gotand I was in an eight and
I was in a two plus two, So one in Pontiac. That was
even worse running that deal. Butuh, you know, just getting some
speedway experience there, and you know, I don't tell to him he said
I had. I had a prettybad wreck there in uh ninety eighty,
what was that ninety ninety one andone of the sports we were running there

(39:39):
pretty good. I was it wouldchange it over to Monte Carlo and we
was running good and I think wewere actually going for the lead. That
Faggart was leading in that eight carand I got up under him and I
was coming off of two off offour and the car got loose, and
you know my short track experience,I jerked it to correct it. Speedway

(40:01):
stuff, you gotta be just alittle bit, and I would and I
went head on into the wall andman that the old seat come loose and
everything, and I mean I aboutcome out of seat and did it really
And you know the old the oldcars had what they called the petty bar
in there. Well, I actuallywent over at my shoulder and all got
into that bar and I was hurtfor for about a week there. You

(40:23):
know. They give me some somepain peels and all that, and I
never did take them because I alwaysfigured I didn't hurt that bad, but
but yeah we men. That goesinto a whole another story. But anyway,
Yeah, I got hurt pretty goodin that deal. I thought it
broke my shoulder, but we happenedto spring my shoulder really bad. It

(40:43):
really back well us because I comeout of seat. If you looked at
the seat afterwards, remember it wasall as dumb. Butler's seats was like
yes, but it was all spreadout in this and here, and I
was all into the I was allinto that Barroly. The progression going from
Lake Models and that sportion deal tothe Arc was due to uh you know,
Dad had this. Uh we didthe food line cards for Richard retirement

(41:07):
here Richard allowed us with with Dadand Bill Frazier brother Bill um. Yeah,
but we went we already had thatbefore that. Yeah, we had
Yeah, because that was well wegot them. That's one, Okay,
real serious about it. Yeah,that's see how happened the Beatle the rest
of Wallace deal run and Beetle thatdeal kind of uh yeah, I think

(41:27):
they just say they wanted went away. And when Daddy got some cars from
Beetle, there pun acts. Yeah, and so that was right, because
we did. We went to Pokono. Sorry, I didn't mean we went
without ARC Racing. Eighty nine wasthere, but them other cars, but
the fan appreciation tour give us enoughmoney to continue. Think I think maybe
we went on the ARC because wehad been running them sportsman races and we
had those cars, and maybe wejust didn't want to go either at the

(41:51):
end it or well, Daddy dangerous, you didn't really running it right,
But the sportsman deal, we wasrunning a late model type engine. So
you're running three hundred fifty horse pyerand Daddy was sorry, it's time you
got experience about running to your speedand all that. He said, now
it's time to move up with somebigger engines. So then we went into
the six fifty horsepower where it wasrunning the market cars and stuff. But

(42:15):
I didn't. It wasn't that Ithought I was ready. It's that Daddy
said it's time to make the move. So I worked for him for thirty
five years or whatever, and sowhatever he was told me to do something,
I did it, whether dig ahole, uh, fix a waterline,
or go harker racing or whatever Idid. Wouldn't he when he told
me he was ready. I madethe move when he said to Oh that's
that's that's I was just getting intothe sport. My first credential race was

(42:37):
ninety one at Bristol, and thenninety two and then ninety three. I
was at Talladega that day when JimmyHorden decided to go for a little ride.
You had a pretty good view ofthat, didn't you, Rich Yeah,
yeah, better than I wanted tohave it. But um, that

(42:57):
was we were what did you see? Did you act see him going over
you? No, I didn't seethat part of it. I've seen it,
like I've we got our little podcastthing we're trying to put together and
we're going depth in this little story. But I can remember we were running
really good that day, and youknow, that was my third Cup race

(43:19):
ever, and uh we the firstrace, you know, Daddy was like,
just go out there and finish,stay out of trouble. So you
know, I finished the race,my first one, and that was that.
The next race was Daytona and he'slike, all right, we need
to step it up a little bit. It's time to start running a little
bit harder. Well, I struggledbecause I tried to run too hard at

(43:40):
Daytona, and Daytona is a isa tricky place in July because it gets
slick. And I was trying torun wide open all day and I was
and I just I didn't know whatI was doing. I finally figured it
out. But then we went toTalladega and for that Bread race, and
so Daddy was like, all right, it's time to go. You know
you you've had, you had,you pray, just let's go. And
we decided I was going to eitherbring back to steering wheel or we're gonna

(44:04):
bring back a good finish. Anduh so we went out there. We
run good. I was running withthe bleed packs or the better packs.
And anyway, we'd, uh,how much do you want to get into
this? I mean I can,I can recollect up to the part you'll
never hear me say, I don'twant to hear about. Anyway, we
far away we were, we hadpitted and I got uh, I got

(44:28):
caught for speeding and uh so,anyway, I had to put us a
lap down, saying, well,on that one restart, I guess so
the twenty eight car would Robbie Gordonhad had the first caution that was almost
halfway in the race, and uhso anyway, that put it that packed
everybody up. So we started atrestart and I guess we've brotherly run three
four laps and we were still inthat pack. But I can remember going

(44:51):
down there in the one and Iwas watching, uh Stanley or somebody does
that. They were hitting going intothe corner. I'm thinking, why are
you doing, I mean, it'searly in the race. Quit beating on
each other. And sure enough andthey went to wrecking and I'm sitting there
and I'm looking for a hole.I mean, because you know, you're
traveling pretty fast. I mean,you're you're moving, so you got to
you got to make a decision quick. So I've seen a hole, and

(45:14):
I went and generally on them bigtracks, you know, you'll see them
going up the race track, sothen you kind of aim for him to
go lower. Well, I didn'thave nowhere to go because they're on the
bottom. So they're coming up andyou got them up here. I got
I'm in the middle of two orthree cars. So anyway they come up
the race track, I got tothink the guy in front of me gets
through it, and then uh theycollect me. Knocks me in the Rick

(45:37):
mask, so me Stanley and Meand Rick mast I'll hit the wall together,
and and and Horton. I don'tknow where he comes from. I'd
never seen it him till the tilthe pictures. But when when when we
ahead, I guess it knocked meout because I hit so hard. You
can't imagine how hard we hit.And and so i'd never seen him.
So that first hit I was Iwas out cold. And then when you

(45:59):
come to on the racetrack, Ifinally come back, come, you know,
come too. I guess I couldn'tbreathe. It knocked the breath out.
I mean, I'm sitting there,and like I've told them before,
I didn't know if I was deador alive. They didn't know the radios,
they didn't know if I was deador alive. I went out the
racetrack because the radio when I hitso hard, I mean it ripped the

(46:22):
radio cord and everything went flying.So I couldn't anyway. I was knocked
out come to and nobody knew whereI was at because I would be where
I come into the race track.So they was just scared, probably not
knowing what was going on with me. But that was probably, well,
we knew somebody went over and ourspoder couldn't see. We're in the our
spoder couldn't see him and nobody andthey told us it was him, and

(46:44):
would it just didn't know, Butyeah, that was probably. That's probably
it's hard to hit and I probablyI probably still ain't got over that one.
That's probably that's probably what's wrong withme. Did you reconsider racing at
that point? No, were youwere a roll? What was he saying
that? Were you were ready toroll? Oh? Yeah, we was.

(47:06):
It was fine, I think,all right. The biggest trouble I
had in racing, the the onethat made you question what do you want
to race or not? It waswhen when Clifford Allison got killed because we
were and we were there Speed Weeksninety four. Yeah, that was hard,
But I'm just saying the biggest whenI when I when I questioned that

(47:27):
I really ever want to race again, was was at the Clifford get killed.
Yeah. Yeah, because we gotclose in Clifford on the arc of
racing, and uh then it wasfunny. It was not has anything to
do. It was trying to thinkwho had hit the Charlotte guardrail. And
cut her leg off. It wasRed Skaggle, Yeah, and that was
who Clifford was. I was lookingafter Clifford, you know, just the

(47:49):
people you get to know over theyears, even in the lower ranks where
you don't call it. It wasjust awesome memories. Man. But to
Talladega deal, I didn't. Inever questioned getting back in the car because
we were running good. And thatwas the first time my dad had told
me that, uh, you knowwhat, I think you can do this.
You showed me today that you deserveto be out there, that you're

(48:10):
getting it done. And so Iwas ready to go to the next race.
That didn't bother me. But theClifford deal, that kind of bothered
me. How long had you knownhim? Well, we've grown up through
our lives, but that Arcadal wewas running ninety one and ninety two.
He was running speedway stuff, andwe was always together. There's car.
Well, we grew up a littlebit as kids, playing around the infield

(48:31):
and stuff, and then life happens. Everybody goes different ways, and then
here we become, you know,eighteen nineteen twenty years old, were getting
to know him again. So darnyou know, waiting waiting around for practice
and stuff like that. You're sittingdown the toolbox and you know, just
shooting the bowl and you know,we got we had some good stories.
We wasn't to a peak of Kansas, and it was kind of funny.

(48:51):
And you may not find it funny, but it was a road course and
men men. Clifford. For somereason, we got hooked up and was
running and I think we'd lost thelap because of the the battery went dead
or something had changed batteries. Sowe was out there just running, and
I think he had some trouble,but we got hooked up on the race
track and was running together. Anyway, Topeka, you got this long straightaway
coming down in the one and Iwent down in there and I was gonna

(49:14):
I was gonna pass him on theoutside. Well, I went in there
really deep and the old car didn'tstick and I went flying to the and
them to the grass. And Cliffordhe come across the ready and told his
guys, he said, tell themI didn't touch him. I didn't touch
him. I didn't spend him mouse. He didn't want to start the feud
back over with Dallas. You know, Clifford was he was pretty good driver,

(49:37):
I thought, and a good guy. I mean it was like I
said that those days of being withthose people, and it's like Mark said
one time. You know you alwaysthought, no matter what you're doing in
life, you're looking for the nextstep up. You want you want to
go cup racing man. That thetruck days and all that. We had
some large times and enjoyed life whilewe were done it. And what what

(50:00):
I guess what was neat being aroundclear for them too? There we was
with a cuban, an open trailerand he had the same thing, had
the same thing. He was drivinghis own trip back forth the races he
was, so we was all justkind of getting experienced because the last time
were because with the experience the sameway. He was sitting in a cuban
smoking one of them Marlboroughs, Iguess. And it was hot. It

(50:23):
was it was wicked heat there anduh he said, uh, what was
the going next? Because he wentinto Michigan that's with a bushcar or some
but he was like, wet's see, we'll see it the next one.
Ye. Yeah. Taking the checkeredflag and driving to victory lane is the

(50:47):
goal for any racer. It tellsthe competition. My accomplishments resulted in a
trip to the winner circle. It'sno different as a business owner, team
leader or coach. Recognizing those deservingis what we do every day at five
Star Awards and engraving high race fans. This is Bob Laird, director of
Sales at five Star and former jackmanfor Buddy Arrington back in the eighties.

(51:08):
Laser engraved and full color corporate awards, as well as crystal plaques, trophies,
and promotional products are just some ofa sample of what we offer at
five Star with state of the artequipment in our North Carolina facility, let
our experience graphic artists take you fromidea to concept and ultimately the finish line.
If you are beautiful and unique designs, please visit us at five Star

(51:30):
Awards dot net. The entire projectcan be completed online. Please reach out
to me at Bob dot Laird atfive Star Awards dot net nine one nine
nine five four one one three zero. As a thank you, everyone who
contacts me will receive at no charge, a collection of NASCAR memorabilia featuring Richard
Petty while supplies last. That's Bobdot Laird at five Star Awards dot Net

(51:53):
nine one nine nine five four oneone three zero. This segment is brought
to our listeners by Las Vegas MotorSpeedway, America's racing show place. We
jumped in to the deep end ofthe pool. In this week's segment of

(52:16):
the Interview with Tim and Mark andRichie Mark and his dad Maurice, we're
talking about sandbaging in practice at Daytonaand Mark very innocently asked about how they
got Richard to slow down back inthe day and maybe sand bag a little
bit. From what Mark said,Maurice turned very serious and said, there

(52:38):
wasn't a coat of wax that wenton that car that Richard didn't know about.
We didn't tell him what to do, he told us. Now hang
on to that. Remember that statement. Richard knew everything that went on with
that race car. And we willget back to that. Oh, yes,

(52:59):
we were. We all know RichardPetty as a driver two hundred wins,
seven championships, seven Daytona, fivehundred wins, inaugural class of the
NASCAR Hall of Fame, the King. That's how we know Richard Petty.
But what I think a lot offolks don't necessarily recognize is the fact that

(53:20):
Richard is also an accomplished mechanic.Mark said that Maurice called Richard the best
welder he'd ever seen. Now,of course, that goes back to the
days of Richard working on his daddyLee's cars and then his own once upon
a time. Here's another little knownfact. My mother in law, Jean,

(53:42):
was a welder during her working days. You're kidding me, And from
what I understand, during her workingdays, she could have given Richard,
being the master welder that he is, a run for his money. I
have no doubt Richard. Now lestanybody think that Richard and Maurice were born

(54:02):
with a silver spooner mouse and thatthe keys to the Petty kingdom were just
handed over, that is not theway it worked out. That's not the
way it worked at all. Thebrothers Petty talked about Lee going and getting
loads of bread and chocolates that hadrun past their expiration date. They're gonna
feed it to the hogs. Theywere gonna slop the hogs with this,

(54:23):
and Richard and Maurice before all thisstuff got dumped in the hog troughs,
they would eat their feel of thechocolate. Yeah, as much chocolate as
they could before. Yes, sir, all right, that presents an image
stuff that was meant for the hogsthey ate. But then they poured the

(54:45):
concrete for the shop floors themselves.That's hard work. I am sure it
is. But there's the reason behindall of this. Lee Petty founded this
team. Okay, Heat had alot of work by himself to make the
team well became. He knew allabout hard work. He had a very
strong work ethic. He also hada way of saving money, shall we

(55:08):
say, And he had two strappingboys of his own. Now, why
is he gonna go out and hiremen to work for him and let his
sons lines around and wait their turn. That is not the way Lee Pey
thought. This thinking was, ifyou guys want to get in this sport,
you're gonna have to go through me, and I'm gonna make you earn

(55:31):
it, which is exactly what hedid. That kind of takes me back
to the conversation with the Teddy brotherslast week. Mark and Ritchie were out
digging a hole or something for aseptic tank at the house, or they
were doing something, and they weredigging. Maurice was there overseeing it,
and somebody said, hey, Maurice, I've got a bayko, you can
bar that, and Maurice said,I don't need a bykoe. I got

(55:53):
two right there. So evidently that'sa pet. Anything that's from father to
son to his sons, that's exactlywhat it is. And this one in
particular really gets me. Maurice wasin due hospital as a child when he
was battling polio. His father andmother, Elizabeth and Lee, brought him

(56:15):
packs of chewing gum, and Mauricewould actually cry over how much a pack
of gum meant to him. Somehow, some way, Lee would scrape up
the money to buy a pack ofbubble gum and give it to his son
at the hospital. When gum isa big deal to you like that,

(56:36):
times are hard, and it alsoproves you are not a spoiled young man
at all. So no, Richardand Maurice did not have a silverspoon at
all. And then came Charlotte Fallof nineteen eighty three, and Richie actually
wandered out loud if they even wantedto talk about Then he asked me how

(56:58):
much I wanted to know about it? And I was like, I want
to know as much as you're comfortabletelling me, And what came across to
me was that they kind of feltlike the tires on the wrong side of
the car was a bigger deal thanthe engine, because until that happened,
they were running Bidpike even with abig engine, which is where Maurice comes

(57:20):
in. I had a long conversationwith him after this incident, and he
told me he was sick and tiredof seeing Richard getting big by teams with
the illegal engines. They couldn't keepup, and they even put bigger engines
in the car and still couldn't keepup. He said, something was going
on, and I was determined todo it my own way. Make a

(57:44):
stop to it now. Just toplay devil's I advocate, though I have
also heard Richard say, if Iknew I had a big engine, do
you think I would have been runningout front anyway? Do you think I
would have been running away from therace. That's a thought the plot thick.
Yeah, it was skullduggery going onthere. With all that being said,

(58:07):
all of them talked about how Mauricelost everything he had ever worked for
after shouldering the blame and he didit without wavering. I think that where
they saw everything going wrong was whenRichard actually left the team. Yeah,
I believe you're right. They domake a very good point about others not

(58:29):
stepping forward and saying at least theyhad a role in it, or take
someone to blame somehow off of Maurice. I admit it. I never heard
that, not one word of thatwhen I talked about this extensive believe with
Maurice, he was in the gameby himself to show her the blame by
himself. So with all that beingsaid, and with Maurice telling Mark that

(58:52):
a coat of wax didn't go onthe car without Richard knowing about it,
what did Richard know about the engineat Charlotte? Mark said that he was
thirteen fourteen years old, so hedidn't know for sure. Team he said
that he didn't know. Richie saidput two and two together. So yeah,

(59:13):
our listeners can go back and theycan parse out what was said and
they can draw their own conclusions.Well, I know what I think.
Yeah, I do too, andit's hard for me to believe that Richard
did not know that engine was inthere. And to go back to what
you said, Rick if may hadbeen in there for quite some time to
fight against what Maury's perceived to bethe use of big engines by opposing teams.

(59:37):
And you do bring up a goodpoint that Richard would suggested, why
would I be ringing out in frontwith such a big engine. Well,
the idea is to win a race. Now, unless I'm wrong, if
you win a race, your engineis going to be inspected. So Richard
and Maury's may have done some coveringup before Charlotte. They certainly even bother

(01:00:00):
with it there, and they paidthe race for it. I don't remember
if it was Timmy or Mark orRitchie who said it, but they also
said it was the first time thattheir daddy ever cheated at a race,
and then they added it was thefirst time he ever got caught, I

(01:00:21):
believe. And as we mentioned,Richard did leave Patty Enterprises at the end
of that year, and that wasa blow that Timmy felt like his dad
never really recovered from. It hadbeen Maurice's understanding that Richard was staying at
Patty Enterprises right up until the daybefore it was announced that he was leaving.

(01:00:42):
And I think Richard leaving at leastto me, on the outside looking
in would be where Maurice would feellike he got left holding the bag.
I think they're exactly right. Ithink Maurice did feel he was holding the
bag. I think he felt somewhathurt by the fact that his own brother,
whom he worked with for a yearand help win so many races,

(01:01:06):
would make up his mind to goahead and move on. I also want
to emphasize that they all love Richard. They all would take a bullet for
Richard. And like Richie said lastweek, we can fighting fuss amongst ourselves,
but if somebody else attacks one ofus, if somebody else outside the

(01:01:30):
Petty family attacks a Petty, thenyou're gonna have a handful. That's what's
important to remember is they may havetheir internal squabbles, but don't you mess
with a Petty because all the Petties, no matter what might be going on
within the family, then you're gonnahave a mess on your hands. And
that's been true ever since Lee wasdriving. Kyle Petty carried on with the

(01:01:52):
team in nineteen eighty four, thenjoined the Wood Brothers in nineteen eighty five.
And of course we know that Mauricetried keeping things alive with that one
car, but then was forced toclose the shop due to a lack of
fund And honestly, this is aperspective that I hadn't really considered until I
talked to Mark and to Timmy andtoo Ritchie. But that was something that

(01:02:16):
was hard not only on Maurice forobvious reasons, but on Timmy and Ritchie
and Mark in particular because he wasa little bit older. Timmy had landed
with Keith Orton and then went towork for the Stavola Brothers, but Ritchie
and Mark they were counting on workingfor petty enterprises, and that's where I

(01:02:36):
think they really felt the hurt aboutall went on. They were poised to
take jobs with petty enterprises and essentiallythere was no pitty enterprises, and more
or less they did get help,but more or less they had to pen
for themselves. Timmy had worked inthe Petty Enterprises engine room with his dad,
but evidently wasn't quite able to workhis way onto the pit crew,

(01:02:58):
so he went to work for BlueMix Racing, changing tires for Tim Richmond
and won some races on his own, so that was kind of cool.
But then he went to work withKeith Dorton, building engines with him,
and then he went to work forStavola Brothers Racing. So think about that
for just a second. Timmy Pettybuilt Bobby Allison's engines up to and including

(01:03:22):
his win in the nineteen eighty eightDaytona five hundred a Petty helping them to
Allison to Victory Lane. Now,how is that for a world that was
absolutely being spun out and half turnedover? And as we learned from nineteen
seventy two on, there was astrong rivoy between Petty and Allison. Consider

(01:03:45):
this pop Read Red Miller, theirgrandfather. On their mother's side. Pop
Read was working for Bud Moore whenBobby won the nineteen seventy eight Daytona five
hundred ten years earlier. I lovehow there are connections upon connections upon connections
woven all throughout NASCAR history, whichis the way it goes when you have

(01:04:06):
families racing in NASCAR and they hirepeople from outside the family, and those
people sometimes move on to other teams, so you can start to see what
wires get crossed and hook together.Sometimes friends become rivals and you work for
a team that you used to wantto beat, so Baddy, that's just

(01:04:26):
the way it would when you havethis into a woven connection. Friends became
rivals, then became friends again,then became val That's right. Richie and
Mark went racing, and I lovehow they first went about it. They
went through their mother to see ifshe could maybe help smooth away with their
father. I bet you that wasn'tthe first time that happened, Ricky.

(01:04:49):
They knew what was what, andMaurice did tell Richie Mark that they would
have to make their own way inthe sport and not rely on their connections
and not rely on their last nameto open doors for him. However,
they said that working with Maurice,as they rose up through the ranks from

(01:05:12):
late models at Caraway to Arca intoa few cup races for Richie and then
Mark also ran some truck races,their relationship with their dad really deepened from
father and sons to dad and sons. And you can just imagine why that
happened when you work together. Ispec him when coming up through the ranks.

(01:05:34):
Once again, these guys were nothanded anything. They came through the
ranks, but the benefit they hadis they had their father there helping them
get through the ranks, that that'snothing but strengthening the unity. What's equally
as important is that Richie and Markracing was healing for Maurice after what he
had experienced and lost when Petty Enterprisesclosed. That was a big deal.

(01:06:00):
And I think it's something that wedon't really consider when we talk about Petty
Enterprises closing in nineteen eighty five.I think we tend to look at it
from Richard and Kyle's perspective, butnot necessarily Maurice's. I agree with you.
I do agree with the notion thatworking with his sons was a great
tun of for Maurice. What happenedat Charlotte in nineteen eighty three wasn't a

(01:06:25):
part of anybody's plan. It wasn'ta part of Richards or Maurice's, or
Lee's or anybody's. But they saidthat they felt like it was a part
of God's plan, because if Mauricehad continued with the kind of stress that
he was under, working sometimes twelveto fifteen hours a day, basically seven
days a week, he probably wasn'tgoing to be around to watch them go

(01:06:46):
racing, or, more importantly,really to be a part of their lives,
which is probably be true. Beinga part of their lives, that's
a whole lot more good for somebody. And working twelve to fifteen hours a
day was really no hope. Andsay Richie wound up being involved in that

(01:07:06):
infamous rack at Talladega in nineteen ninetythree when Jimmy Horton went up and over
the outside retaining wall right over Richie'scar. Steve, I was there that
day on Pit Road, and Iremember it today as clearly. That's thirty
years ago, and I remember ittoday as clearly as if it happened three

(01:07:28):
weeks ago. Oh, I rememberit too, probably not as vividly as
you, but I do remember lookingin the press box seeing the incident begin,
and just totally awestruck and startled andafraid Jimmy Horton's car went over that
wall. Richie said that he didnot see Jimmy go over his car because
he was apparently knocked out by theimpact with the wall. And sure enough,

(01:07:53):
there's Richie on the cover of theAugust fifth, nineteen ninety three issue
of Winston Cup seeing the front endof his car destroy evidently by what I
would assume to be Jimmy's car whichis still just barely visible on the wrong
side of the wall. Now,that was an awesome shot by our freelance
photographer Sam Sharpe. That was oneof the all time most powerful covers that

(01:08:15):
we ever had at set right,and Sam was an excellent photographer fourth scene
for many years. I would havethought that going through something like that would
have been reasoned enough to at thevery least consider walking away from driving,
But Richie said that was not thecase. He said that his main pause
had come the year before when welost Clifford Allison in that accident. They

(01:08:40):
had known Clifford forever, of course, being the kids running around the endfield
at racetracks, but they really gotto know him and got close to him
while they were racing Arca together.They were racing side by side at Topeka
when Richie went into a turn prettyhot and slid off the track and through
the grass, and Clifford came onthe radio and was like, tell Richie's

(01:09:01):
guys, I didn't touch him.I didn't touch him. Clifford didn't want
any part of reading night in afeud between the Allisons and the Paddies and
Steve that was the last time thatthey saw Clifford Hey race fans. John

(01:09:27):
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(01:10:38):
This segment is brought to our listenersby Las Vegas Motor Speedway, America's Racing
show place in the February twenty eighth, nineteen eighty five issue of Grand National
Scene. Rather than starting off withthe race coverage in this issue like we
would normally do, I want tobegin this segment with the news feature story
on Maurice Petty's quest to keep thedoors open at Patty Enterprises that was written

(01:11:01):
by Frank Vhorn of The Virginian Pilotin Norfolk. Now I want to ask
a question here. Did you justwant to take the day off and not
do the story of yourself? What'sgoing on here? I mean, it's
not like it's a major story orsomething. Oh, come on, Frank
had already written a short, andFrank was a good friend of mine.
I simply called him up and said, Frank, would your mind contributing to

(01:11:25):
a scene with that story of yours? We really like it, and I
tell you, Frank, I don'twant to do it. So Frank helped
this out. So, listeners,that's what you call passing the buck.
That's what you call executive decisions.Anyway, Frank asked Maurice if he was
going to go down without putting upa good fight when it came to keeping

(01:11:45):
Petty Enterprises afloat, and Chief's responseis everything that it needs to be Maurice
Petty, And Maurice said, hellno, and I'll tell you this.
If I don't do it, ifwe don't make it, I ain't gonna
look up to nobody. Now.That was Maurice Petty in a nut,

(01:12:06):
going to stand as the ground andface at Bird City as best he could.
That was him. Kyle Patty wasquoted in this story as saying about
Petty Enterprises shop compounding Level Cross,it would make a nice museum, but
my future is elsewhere. Wow.Yeah, certainly, and indeed it was.

(01:12:27):
And I think there are reasons behindthat, and I'll try to give
you those later on. Maurice tookthe team to Daytona for the five hundred
in nineteen eighty five, and thereit was announced that drag racers Norman Parra
and Kenny Bernstein would back the teamfor fifteen races in nineteen eighty five,
which evidently didn't come to fruition becausethey just ran a handful of races and

(01:12:53):
that was it. Yeah, atany rate. Dick Brooks took the plain
white number one four to the fifthfastest speed and qualifying with a speed of
two hundred and one point one fournine miles an hour, which, as
it just so happened, was threemiles an hour faster than either Richard or

(01:13:13):
Kyle were able to manage. Nowwe can assume Maurice was not using the
big engine. Correct listeners email SteveWade Steve at the seinvolved dot com.
The opinions expressed on this podcast arenot necessarily those of the host. That's
all Steve. He said it.I didn't asked if he was going to

(01:13:38):
go down without a fight. Mauricehad told Frank hell no, and about
qualifying, Maurice had said, hellyes. Running that fast made me feel
good. Everyone on the team wastickled to death, but it didn't surprise
me. I always felt we coulddo it. Maurice did say in this
story that he was not trying toshow anybody up Richard or Kyle by keeping

(01:14:01):
petty enterprises going for the time being. Maurice said in this story, I
got no acts to grind with anyone. I wish both of them the very
best, and I understand why theyleft. Richard got a good offer from
Curb Racing, and he thought itwas better for us not to have to
field cars for both him and Kyle. Then Kyle had the opportunity to go

(01:14:24):
with the Wood Brothers where he couldconcentrate on racing and not running the full
business. They did what they thoughtbest and I respect that. Now.
That being said, Maurice did saythat he didn't exactly agree with Kyle's statement
that the shop should be turned intoa museum. Maurice said, I can't
speak for Kyle, but how canyou forget from one day to the next

(01:14:46):
how to do something. This teamhas won a lot of races, so
many more than any other team,so we must know what we are doing.
I guess some people lost confidence inus, and when I brought this
car here, everyone was looking tosee what it could do. We showed
them something. But there are alot of questions left unanswered, and I

(01:15:08):
know that. And then Maurice saidof Kyle, he had his own ideas
like most young people, and somethings he had to learn the hard way.
I never interfered. Richard and Leetried to put him in the right
direction, but I guess he didn'thear him. Again, I'm not knocking
him, but I think Petty Enterprisesis better off with him. Somewhere else.

(01:15:30):
He just didn't have the experience atthe time to do it. I
think there was more to this entiresituation than meets the eye. I believe
it was a lot more personal.Now. You spoke earlier of how the
Petty could squabble among themselves but outsiderscould not be involved. That's exactly I
believe what went on here. Ihad an extensive conversation with Kyle, during

(01:15:56):
which time he told me some thingsthat were going on within the Petty family
that affected him the wrong way.Briefly, they probably thought his attention was
elsewhere. Kyle was expanding at thetime on his musical career, and I
am convinced that the Petties just notthink his mind was in the right place

(01:16:17):
should run the team. That waspart of the problem went on, and
Kyle's told me privately, which Icannot reveal, some things that totally explained
to me where the rift was amongthe family members. No, Maurice was
not involved in it. It wasmore outside of him, but he was
the one that agreed there's certain thingshad to happen now, Richard moving on

(01:16:42):
because they didn't want to feel twocars is the one thing Kyle moved on
because he didn't want to be there. That's all it iced to it.
Rick, he did not want tobe there, and so it all fell
into Maurice's lap. Finally, Mauricewas asked about Charlotte nineteen eighty three,
and again this is classic Maurice,and I can hear him saying it.

(01:17:05):
I didn't do anything that others weren'tdoing. I enjoyed the hell out of
it, and if circumstances were thesame, I'm not saying I wouldn't do
it again. Nine didn't I tellyou if you getting tired of beating my
teams with bigger engines, that's exactlywhat he resolved to do, beat them
at their own game. Moving onto the rest of the race coverage.

(01:17:25):
Dale Earnhardt won his first race ofthe nineteen eighty five season at Richmond,
and just his third for car ownerRichard Childers. A new cost cutting tire
rule went into effect in this racethat limb did teams to change in just
two tires under caution, and here'show that played out. Late in the
race, lap three thirty three,Bill Elliott crashed in turn four. Dell

(01:17:46):
was leading it to time and camedown pit road for fresh left side tires
while Tim Richmond took on rights.By lap three sixty seven, Dale had
built up a lead of two pointfour one seconds over Tim, but then
Clark Dwyer crashed in turn three.Dell pitted again under the caution, this
time for right side tires. Timstayed on the track to take the lead.

(01:18:11):
There were two more cautions for accidentsinvolving Royn Bouchard and Phil Parsons,
and when the green came back outon lap three eighty seven after Pillsdale,
Dell got under Tim for the leaguegoing in to turn one with Jeff Bodine
following him, and Dell wound upbeating Jeff to the checker flag by three
tenths of a second. Dell saidafter the race, it was a hell

(01:18:32):
of a race, wasn't it.I felt Darryl Waltrip would be the one
to beat. I felt like wecould laugh the majority of the field.
And then of the move on Timfor the lead, Dell continued, we
had to make something happen. Timwasn't going to let me buy it worked
out, not for him but forme, but that's racing. I think

(01:18:53):
he'd try and do the same thinganybody would if they said they wouldn't,
they're lying. Were all out therewon the race. Let me say something
about that two tire rule. Underthe caution, every driver wons four fresh
tires as often as he can getit. So teams would always take on
four fresh tires under the caution.Number one, that was expansive. Number

(01:19:16):
two, it was not fair tothe teams that it didn't have the big
dollars sponsorships, they could not affordthat many fresh tires to put on.
So the NASCAR took it as arule for two reasons. Number one,
yes, to save money, butnumber two, to try to equalize the
competition as much as possible. That'sthe reasons why the two tire rule went

(01:19:39):
into effect, and as Richmond showed, it did affect the racing. This
race was held on Richmond's old layoutbefore its reconfiguration a few years later.
That meant that the guardrails were stillin place, and Steve, that was
not a good thing now that atall. I've said this before. Guardrails,

(01:20:00):
when they break or splinter, becomemetal spears that can penetrate chat metal
and a driver on just the secondlap of the race, Rick Newsom went
up on the guardrail and turned threeand very nearly over it. There's a
photo in this issue by Joe AnneHamilton that shows Rick kind of teetering on

(01:20:20):
the rail this close to the grandstandfence, which appears to be not much
more than chicken wire. Let meput it this way. There's Rick's car
and there are the grandstands, andthey couldn't have been separated by more than
just a few feet, just alittle bit more. And Rick Newsom was

(01:20:41):
going to be in the grand States. That's how hazardous the safety rules in
terms of building what it's supposed tobe a protective wall was as speedways in
those days. Now, Richmond wasone of the last to have guardrails,
but there was a time when mostof them had guardrails. There were guardrails

(01:21:02):
at Daytona, Yeah, there wereguardrails at Darlington. Deal Earnhardt and Neil
Bonnett, although they were buddies,they got into a couple of scrapes during
this event. They made contact onceon pit road and then they were racing
on Lap two forty when Neil crashedhard coming out of turn two. The
impact damaged the guardrail and the racewas red flagged for about fifteen minutes while

(01:21:27):
repairs were made. Dell said,I was really closer to Neil than I
wanted to be, but I didn'thit anybody. He took a pretty hard
leg. It would be nice ifthey had a more sturdy barrier around this
place. To his credit, Neildid not blame Deal for the accident.
Neil said, we had been runningsoft springs on the car and it would

(01:21:48):
roll over in the turns. Goinginto the second turn, it rolled over,
but then the right front of thecar just sat down. I don't
know if the right front tire wascut, but the tire hit the metal
and then the car took off straightinto the fence. Steve. The hit
was so significant that the back andDeal's car lifted barely high off the ground

(01:22:11):
before settling back down. Neil said, when I hit, I could see
the wood fly when I tore outa post. The car then went up
on the guardrail and the rear ofthe car went up and came back down
really hard. It was the hardestlick I've ever taken on a short track,
and that wasn't the first time thattype of fencing happened. At Richmond

(01:22:32):
that day in the meeting with theguardrail as you're about to use, Richard
Petty was involved in an accident earlyon with Ricky Rudd, and Richard nearly
went over the guardrail. Richard said, I was right on Ricky's bumper when
the engine blew. He went intothe railing and I got to follow him.
Only I hit it a lot harderthan he did. He knew his

(01:22:54):
engine had blown, so he sloweddown, But when I got in the
wall, I speeded up. Mycar went right over the wall and would
have gone completely over, except thatthe rear end housing caught on one of
the poles and it kept me fromgoing over. That's how serious the guardrail
issue was at rich Correct, andthose incidents just proved that and drive the

(01:23:16):
point home that guardrails are not theway to go. There's a feature on
rookie meetings in this issue that waswritten by William James from gross Point,
Michigan. Now, Steve, I'mnot sure that I know William well.
William was a Yeah. He wasa well known raising and autumnomobile writer out

(01:23:38):
there in the Midwest. It wasnot very well known in NASCAR circles.
But he knew NASCAR, and heknew NASCAR's history. He was also a
very funny guy with an excellent sucha humor, and that humor often showed
up in his writing. I don'tknow if this story was entered in any
journalism contest or if it actually wonany, but if not, absolutely should

(01:24:00):
have because it provided an inside lookat something that we wouldn't ordinarily get to
see. This was a rookie meetingat Daytona conducted by Dick Baity, Ricky
Rudd, who was at the timethe president of the Unical Darlington Record Club,
Benny Parsons, and Daryl Walter beand Ricky spoke first. Well,

(01:24:21):
it looks like a couple of peoplepaid attention yesterday and a couple didn't.
Just the day before, Canadian driverFrancis Afflack died as the result of an
accident during an arc of practice.I can't even say this without a shiver,
but he was evidently not buckled intohis seat properly, and he spun

(01:24:42):
between turns one and two when airborneand barrel rolled several times. And not
only was he apparently not buckled intohis seat, well, his winding net
failed and he was thrown partially outof his car, and I don't need
to say much more than that.Nope, what's happened to him with a
value of a window net and yourseat was not buggled properly, that says

(01:25:04):
it all. Yeah, Daryl Waltripsaid, you just cannot get those belts
tight enough. I get mine sotight that circulation almost stops. I actually
bolt mine together. DW then toldthe rookies who weren't named in the story
to spend some time in their carjust doing checks of what should and shouldn't

(01:25:25):
be there. Darryl said, askyourself if there's enough padding, or if
there's a bolt sticking in your side. A bolt in the seat that would
be uncomfortable on a short track canbreak a rib at Daytona. These cars
are built to take incredible licks.What happened yesterday is living proof of what
I'm saying, Well, not livinganymore. Bennie discussed the draft. You'll

(01:25:48):
keep up easy when you're in somebody'sdraft, but your car won't handle.
It's like passing a big truck.It dances around. It scares the s
dot dot dot out of me.BP turned to DW and said what about
you, And DW said, that'swhy I'm here. Darrell then went through

(01:26:10):
how to make a pit stop.Don't come screaming in there and scare your
crew to death, or they'll sayscrew him. Let him get somebody else
to work on that thing and theywill be right. DW concluded, this
is the hardest track to drive on, Harder than Darlington, harder than anywhere.
It takes patience and sense to survivehere. Let that last sentence get

(01:26:33):
next to you a little bit.It takes patience and sense to survive here,
not to finish in the top ten, not to win, but to
survive. Now, would you saythat Ricky and Benny and Daryl gave some
solid advice to those rookies in thatmeeting. How many times over the years

(01:26:57):
have you heard that very same typeof it from other drivers. I mean,
what they were spouting was the gospel. They should be noted by anybody
when they go to any track.Just before a journeying the meeting, Dick
told the rookies, gentleman, themost important thing at this racetrack is your
life. And then Dick Baty walkedthe entire track all two and a half

(01:27:20):
miles of it, checking for debrisor anything else that might be a miss.
He didn't ride around in a car. He walked it. He did
that very often at almost every track, no matter how big it was.
This meeting was held in the GoodyearTower right there in the infield near the
entrance to pit Road. That meantthat the rookies could see all the way

(01:27:43):
around it, or at least enoughto fully appreciate just how big it is.
And Steven, I gotta be honestwith you, if I had been
in that meeting looking at that trackthe day after what had happened in the
Arca race and all these Winston Cupveterans telling me what they were telling me.
Noel, I'm out, I'm done. Wait can drive this race for
me? Guess what he's not.I'm gonna stick to the pace car.

(01:28:08):
I think you should. And Iwrite and pay a car with you.
Your column in this issue was onthe production of a new record album.
Now, Steve, do you wantto explain to our younger listeners what a
record album is? Or should I? It was this big piece of plastic.
It's just sound, a little tapethat goes round and round and round.
Can't drop them either on music.That's for the record album. By

(01:28:31):
the way, Violent is coming back. Retro's in now. It won't be
for long. The name of thisproject was now you need to take a
deep breath here to say it.The World Series of Country Music presents stock
car racings entertainers of the year.That's a mouthful, isn't it. Your
column is part review and part features, So I'll just point out a couple

(01:28:56):
of items. In particular, youwrote somebody should have shot kill Yarborough and
put him out of his misery.And I stand by what I said.
Oh gosh, that was kind ofharsh. Did anybody ask you to sing
for the album? Oh? No, Daniel better than that. Rick.
Then the producer Mike meet Man,Hopkins meet man, I don't even know,

(01:29:18):
don't no, we burn not gothere, don't ask Hopkins put two
fifths of Jack Daniels in front ofDick Brooks and told him that every time
he made a mistake he has totake a drink. Hopkins said, we'll
get through this in a hurry.I'm not too sure about that. No,
I think both those bottles rent bythe time they finished recording. Finally,

(01:29:41):
there's a Joe Whitlock column. Inever had the pleasure of sharing a
column page with Joe, but dang, I mean, why even bother?
He was going to steal the showmore often than not. Now, I'll
give you this. You held yourown in this issue. But Joe's was
good too. Look, I'll takethat as a compliment. Every time Joe
wrote about the emotions of driving throughthe infield at Daytona. Now, I

(01:30:03):
won't go through all the good parts, or else I'd wind up reading the
whole thing. But consider this oneparagraph. One year, a close friend
and fellow journalist kell Yarborough leave Roy. Yarborough and I shared a motel room
during speed weeks, two single beds, two rollaways, and several six packs
at a holiday inn in Hollyhill,Florida in nineteen sixty three. Tiny Lund

(01:30:29):
actually paid my expenses to Daytona whenmy newspaper turned down a travel budget request,
and he didn't even have a ridein the five hundred when we left
South Carolina. What a story Igot that year, Rick, I just
want to say this. Can youama any of today's drivers paying the way

(01:30:51):
for a member of the media togo to a race, especially if that
driver wasn't even in the race,and you see it happening today. No,
I can't answer, Nope. Nowthere's the difference. There's one difference
between the old days and today.As I said many times, the one

(01:31:12):
thing to me the most separates whatwe call the old days from today is
the camaraderie at the meeting guys builtup with the competitors, so I think
is largely missing today. Steve,think about sharing a room with Kel and
le Roy the whole week. Yeah, and imagine what kind of insight that
Joe would have gotten from them.Absolutely, and he takes the bad things

(01:31:36):
and everything. He got a wealthof information, not to mission some great
stories, which of course you couldnever press. That's one thing. But
then riding two and from Daytona withTiny Lund in nineteen sixty three, what
happened that year? Oh, youtell the story, Rick. I know,

(01:31:58):
Tiny dragged Marvin Hatch out of hisburning sports car during the earlier race
that week. Marvin was hurt sohe couldn't drive the wood Brothers forward.
That week, Tiny got in thewood Brothers car and one the Daytona five
hundred. That's a NASCAR legend thateven Hollywood wouldn't even touch, and he

(01:32:20):
was rooming with Joe Whitlock. Thereyou go now again, Racky cal This
is on a different level. Butremember the connections that we were talking about
between the competitors and families that wenton in raising and still was on this
day. Can you imagine this typeof connection now between Tiny and Joe and

(01:32:43):
Leroy and Cale as time moved onfrom there? Tremendous. Hi, I'm
Robbie Riiser. Hey, I'm ButchHilton. This is Rob Pemberton and you're
listening to the Scene Vault podcast.Hello, Seen Vault fans. This is

(01:33:13):
Brian from Speedway Screens And if you'reenough of a NASCAR historian to be listening
to this podcast, there's a goodchance a piece of the past you've been
on the hunt for is in myshop. I'm constantly on the hunt for
apparel and collectibles from all genres anderas of motorsports. So whether it be
cup cars, dirt modifieds, dragsters, or monster trucks, I've probably got
something for you. Check out myinventory at Speedway TSJ dot etc. Dot

(01:33:36):
com, and be sure to followme on Instagram and Twitter at Speedway Screens
for the newest items as soon asthey drop in for a peek at what
I keep from my own collection.As a special thank you to listeners of
this show, just enter scene atcheckout for ten percent off Speedway TSJ dot
etc. Dot com. That's SpeedwayTSJ dot etc. Dot com. This

(01:34:05):
podcast has been brought to our listenersby Las Vegas Motor Speedway America's racing show
Placing Steve. We should have mentionedthis earlier, but we did not.
The Petty brothers have a YouTube channelof their own that's got to be something,
and it is something to behold becausethey're telling stories and they're talking to

(01:34:26):
longtime Petty Enterprises employees. It's givenme a new perspective on what went on
behind the scenes at Petty Enterprise.It's just another great opportunity for our listeners
or listenership anybody else to get agreat perspective on NASCAR history. They couldn't
find much anywhere else. They wantedto preserve their family racing history, and

(01:34:50):
that's what they're doing. That's right, just like we're trying to preserve NASCAR
history. We need to mention theirYouTube channel. M I see Jerry Victor
Jorian Yes, that's that's exactly whatI'll do. I'm glad I follow that

(01:35:14):
me too. M

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Episode Transcript

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Episode 228 -- Ritchie, Mark and Timmy Petty on Impact of 1983 Charlotte Controversy

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