Kyle Eugene Petty is an American stock car racing driver. Now retired, he
formerly competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and is currently a co-host
for NASCAR America, which is on NBCSN. He also commentated for TNT in the
summer. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and
father of Adam Petty. He and his wife Pattie have two other children: Austin
and Montgomery Lee. He last drove the #45 Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises,
where he formerly served as CEO. He appeared in the 1983 Burt Reynolds movie
Stroker Ace. Petty was born in Randleman, North Carolina.
Early career Petty began racing at a young age and
made his major-league stock car debut at the age of 18. He won the very first
race he entered: the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200, in one of his father's mothballed
1978 Dodge Magnum race cars; at the time becoming the youngest driver to win a
major-league stock car race. Later in the season, he made his Winston Cup
Series debut; again driving a passed down STP Dodge Magnum numbered #42 for
his family's team. He ran five races and had a ninth-place finish in his first
series race at Talladega. In 1980, he made a total of fifteen starts in the
#42 and had six top-ten finishes, garnering a twenty-eighth place points
finish. He began the 1981 season driving his father's #43 for one race, before
running a full schedule in his regular #42, finishing in the top-ten ten times
and finishing twelfth in points. He began the 1982 season with two
top-ten finishes, but later began splitting time between his #42 and the
#1 UNO/STP car owned by Hoss Ellington, and ended the season fifteenth in
points. In 1983, he picked up funding from
7-Eleven and switched his number to #7 accordingly. He had only two top-ten
finishes but improved to thirteenth in the standings. He followed that season
up with six top-tens the following year, but fell three spots in points.
1985–1996 Petty took his number and sponsorship to
Wood Brothers Racing in 1985, where he had a then career-high seven top-fives
and his first top-ten points finish. The next season, he won his first career
race at Richmond and finished tenth in the final standings. In 1987, he
switched to the #21 and received new sponsorship from Citgo, as well as
picking up a win at Charlotte. He failed to pick up a win in 1988, and fell to
thirteenth in points, causing him to be released from the ride.
He signed on to a part-time schedule in 1989 for the new SABCO Racing team.
Originally beginning the season unsponsored, he and SABCO later picked
up sponsorship from Peak Antifreeze after he drove their car to a top-ten
finish at the Daytona 500, filling in for Eddie Bierschwale, as well as Ames
Department Stores. Petty and the #42 Pontiac team competed in nineteen races
that season, his best finish being a 4th at Atlanta. Peak became the team's
full-time sponsor in 1990, and Petty finished eleventh in points after
winning the spring race at North Carolina Speedway with a 26-second
margin of victory. Mello Yello would replace Peak as sponsor of the #42 in
1991, and Petty was running eleventh in points when he suffered a broken leg at
a crash at Talladega, causing him to miss the next eleven races. His
abbreviated schedule combined with only one top-ten in the second half of the
season caused him to finish the season 30th in points.
In 1992, Petty rebounded to a career-best fifth place finish in
points, as well winning two separate races that season, the only time he was
to have accomplished this feat in his career. Kyle came very close to winning
the championship in 1992, he had a flat tire at Phoenix and broke an engine in
the last race otherwise he would have been neck and neck with Elliott and
Kulwicki for the title. He duplicated his points finish in 1993 as well as
picking up a win at Pocono Raceway. He dropped ten spots in points in 1994
after he failed to finish higher than fourth, and lost the Mello Yello
sponsorship at the end of the season. Coors Light became his new sponsor
beginning in 1995, and he won his most recent race at Dover. He fell further
down to 30th in points after only finishing in the top-ten five times and
failing to qualify for the fall race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He improved to a
27th place points finish the next season despite missing two races due to injury
and failing to qualify for the season-ending race at Atlanta. He parted
way with SABCO at the end of the season. In 1996, the popular rock group
Soundgarden recorded a tune called "Kyle Petty, Son of Richard."
1997–2006 For the 1997 season, Petty formed his
own team, PE2 Motorsports, and fielded the #44 Hot Wheels Pontiac Grand Prix
for himself. He had two top-five finishes and finished 15th in points,
the highest points placement of all the new teams to run during the 1997 season.
He only had two top-tens in 1998, and fell back to 30th in points, causing him
to return to Petty Enterprises and run his team from their shop, and became
Petty Enterprises' new CEO. He began the 1999 season with two early DNQs, and
finished 26th in points despite finishing in the top-ten nine times. He
was also commentating for ESPN as a guest to commentate as a NASCAR Driver
for NASCAR Busch Series races He had one top-ten early in 2000, the same year in
which his son Adam died while practicing for a Busch Series race at New Hampshire
International Speedway. He missed the next two races and returned to drive the
#44 for the rest of the summer, before moving to the Busch Series full-time to
finish out the season in Adam's #45 Sprint Chevrolet. He had four top-tens
in the car over a span of fourteen races, and attempted two Cup races with
the #45 Sprint PCS Chevrolet in 2000, finishing 31st at Martinsville. He also
filled in at the Brickyard 400 for Penske Racing after their regular
driver, Jeremy Mayfield had to miss the race due to a concussion; Petty finished
32nd. Steve Grissom drove the #44 Hot Wheels Pontiac for the rest of the 2000
Winston Cup season and qualified 5 races in 2000. Kyle Petty had to drive the 45
Sprint PCS Chevrolet and the #44 Hot Wheels Pontiac and qualified in 19 races
in 2000; causing him to finish 41st in the points standings in the 2000 Winston
Cup Series. In 2001, Petty brought the #45 to Cup
full-time and switched to Dodge. He failed to qualify for twelve races that
season and failed to finish higher than sixteenth, causing him to finish 43rd in
points. He qualified for every race in 2002 and had a top-ten at Talladega,
raising him to 22nd in the points. After 2002, Sprint left the team and
Brawny/Georgia Pacific became his new sponsor. He missed three races in 2003
and fell back to 37th in the standings. In 2003 during the Food City 500, Petty
crashed his #45 car in a hard driver's side impact. Though TV cameras make it
not look hard, NASCAR officials said it was the hardest crash in NASCAR history
with 90 G-forces. Just 5 weeks later Petty's crash was bumped from the record
as the top crash when Jerry Nadeau suffered his career-ending wreck at
Richmond. He moved up four spots in 2004 and had a
best finish of 12th. In 2005, he competed in every race for the first
time in three years and had two top-tens and finished 27th in points. When
Georgia Pacific left after 2005, Wells Fargo, Schwan's, and Marathon Oil became
the team's new primary sponsors and Petty duplicated his top-ten total in
2006, but fell five spots further in points.
2007–2008 At the 2007 Coca-Cola 600, Petty had his
first top-five finish in ten years, finishing 3rd in the Coke Zero Dodge. He
then raced the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma in a Petty Enterprises car while
broadcasting for TNT. On lap 1 as the cars began lap 2, Petty crashed with
Matt Kenseth, causing him to accidentally swear during the
broadcasting. He later took several races off to work
as a color commentator for TNT's Nextel Cup coverage, replacing Benny Parsons
after Parsons lost his battle with cancer. He returned to the 45 after a
five race break but surrendered the car for two additional races later in the
season. Early in the 2008 season, Petty Enterprises was purchased by Boston
Ventures, causing Petty to step aside as the team's CEO. When the #45 car fell
out of the top-35 in owner's points, he took a large portion of the season off,
including races that did not conflict with his broadcasting duties. After
fourteen races, his best finish was a 24th at Richmond. He finished 39th in
his final 2008 start in the fall race at Phoenix International Raceway after
getting swept up into a multi-car crash. According to the Yahoo! sports blog
"From The Marbles", he was being slowly pushed out the door at Petty
Enterprises. "I don't work for Petty Enterprises" Petty told NASCAR.com on
December 8, 2008. "When they did their deal and sold to Boston Ventures....they
pretty much let me know there wasn't a place for me there going into '09." Any
time he appears on television on Speed he wears a hat with a number 45 with a
black line across the number in memory of his son Adam. He appears on NASCAR
Trackside, NASCAR Victory Lane and NASCAR RaceDay as a television
personality. Charity
Petty is active in many charitable causes, such as the Victory Junction
Gang Camp for terminally-ill children, which he established to honor his late
son, as well as an annual charity motorcycle ride across the country
called the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America.
Motorsports career results = NASCAR =
(key) Sprint Cup Series
Busch Series Craftsman Truck Series
= International Race of Champions = (key)
References External links
Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Kyle Petty driver statistics at
Racing-Reference Kyle Petty owner statistics at
Racing-Reference Kyle Petty on Twitter
Victory Junction Camp October 2005 interview with Kyle Petty
from NASCAR.com