Richard Petty

The family shop was in Level Cross, North Carolina, and the man who ran it had won three NASCAR championships and the first Daytona 500. Richard started 16 days after his 21st birthday, on July 18, 1958, at a stadium in Toronto. At Daytona the following February his engine let go early, so he spent the rest of the day working his father's pit, which is where he was standing when Lee won the race. Later in 1959 at Lakewood, Georgia, Richard took the checkered flag in what would have been his first victory. Lee filed the protest. He said the scorers had it wrong, and hours later the win was moved to him.

He started 1,184 races across 35 seasons and won 200 of them, a total nobody has come near. Seven championships, tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson. Seven Daytona 500s, still the record. In 1967 he entered 48 races, won 27 and took ten in a row between August 12 and October 1, and the sport stopped calling him the Randleman Rocket and started calling him The King. His first Daytona 500, in 1964, he led for 184 of the 200 laps. His 200th win came on July 4, 1984, at Daytona, half a fender ahead of Cale Yarborough, with a sitting president in the grandstand for the first time in the sport's history. He never won again.

On February 28, 1965, at Southeastern Dragway in Dallas, Georgia, the Hemi Barracuda he was campaigning during Chrysler's NASCAR boycott crashed. An eight-year-old boy was killed and seven other people were injured. The lawsuits came to more than a million dollars. The body sent its own bill: ulcer surgery in 1978 that took 40 percent of his stomach, a neck broken at Pocono in 1980 that he raced through the following Sunday, and another break later on. Then in October 1983 NASCAR inspected the car he had just won with at Charlotte and found a 381-cubic-inch engine, against a 358 limit, and left-side tires bolted onto the right. It fined the team 35,000 dollars, docked 104 points, and let the win stand.

The last season was a farewell tour. At Atlanta on November 15, 1992, he qualified 39th of 41, crashed on lap 94, climbed out of a burning car, and his crew got it running again for the last two laps so he could be classified 35th. That year George H. W. Bush gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the first to anyone in motorsport. He ran for North Carolina secretary of state in 1996 and lost. Petty Enterprises, his father's company, folded in 2008. His grandson Adam died in a practice crash in 2000, five weeks after Lee, and the family built a children's camp in his name. Petty is 88 and still in Level Cross.

Richard Petty's life against the full span of the corpus — the fading end marks a life still in progress.

• The driver-side window net invention
  Developed after his Darlington crash and then mandated by NASCAR 1970
• 200 NASCAR Cup victories other
  The last of them at Daytona on July 4, 1984 1984
• Cars film
  He and Lynda Petty voiced roles in the Pixar picture 2006
• Petty Family Foundation company
  For children, veterans and education in North Carolina 2008
• Richard Petty Motorsports company
  What grew out of Petty Enterprises after it was sold 2009
• Petty's Garage company
  The restoration and modification shop he still runs at Level Cross —

• July 18, 1958 aged 21 First NASCAR start, in Toronto, 16 days after turning 21
• 1959 aged ~22 Wins at Lakewood, and his father protests and is given the win Lee Petty said the scorers had it wrong. NASCAR agreed hours later.
• 1964 aged ~27 Wins his first Daytona 500, leading 184 of 200 laps It was the first of seven, and the year of his first championship.
• February 28, 1965 aged 27 His drag car crashes at Southeastern Dragway An eight-year-old boy was killed and seven people were injured. Lawsuits exceeded a million dollars.
• 1967 aged ~30 Wins 27 of 48 races, including ten in a row The season that made him The King.
• 1978 aged ~41 Ulcer surgery removes 40 percent of his stomach
• October 9, 1983 aged 46 Wins at Charlotte in a car that fails inspection A 381-cubic-inch engine and left-side tires on the right. A 35,000-dollar fine and 104 points. The win stood.
• July 4, 1984 aged 47 Takes his 200th and final win at Daytona Ronald Reagan was in the grandstand, the first sitting president at a NASCAR race.
• November 15, 1992 aged 55 Runs his last race at Atlanta and is classified 35th His car caught fire on lap 94. The crew patched it so he could take the flag.

• Ronald Reagan 1911–2004
  40th president whose conservative domestic program and assertive Cold War strategy reshaped American politics. watched his 200th win
• George H. W. Bush 1924–2018
  41st president who managed the end of the Cold War and assembled the coalition for the Persian Gulf War. gave him the Medal of Freedom
• Henry Ford 1863–1947
  Industrialist who revolutionized manufacturing with the assembly line and made automobiles affordable. built the industry his sport sold for
• Dale Earnhardt 1951–2001
  Seven-time NASCAR champion whose aggressive style and death at Daytona reshaped stock-car racing and safety. shares the championship record