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FORT WORTH, Texas - They say that after the initial grief of losing a loved one finally passes, many people tend to remember mostly the good times.
Friday in the early morning grayness of the infield at Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle Petty spent some time doing just that.
Petty, a driver/owner in the Nextel Cup series, smiled and spoke lovingly of an event that occurred here four years ago this weekend, when he and his son Adam raced for the first - and last-time in the same Winston Cup event.
A month later, Adam Petty died in a crash during testing at New Hampshire International Speedway. He was only 19 years old.
"This place will always be special because of that," Petty said of that race in Texas. "This was the first and only time he ran a Winston Cup car. This was his only big race."
By all accounts, Adam and Kyle Petty shared a wonderful relationship. There was lots of love and respect flowing each way.
"They were best friends," says Dan Fromm, who was a Petty public-relations representative at the time. "They really were. They joked together, they laughed with each other. It was a classic father/son relationship."
The weekend of the Texas race, said Joe Sciara, another Petty PR rep, "They were inseparable."
Then there was the racing thing. The career thing.
Kyle, who runs the day-to-day operations of Petty Enterprises, was building the future of the business around his son. A fourth-generation driver, Adam was to keep the Petty family racing bloodline alive.
"We'd planned on Adam carrying the torch for us," said Richard Petty, the most victorious driver of NASCAR's top series and Adam's grandfather.
The plan had long been for Kyle to keep driving in Winston Cup and bring Adam up through the ladder system of stock-car racing.
When Kyle thought his son was ready, Adam would be eased into Cup racing.
In 2000, he was ready. So was Sprint Corp., the Overland Park company in line to sponsor a car for Adam. Texas was the site chosen for Adam's Winston Cup debut.
The weekend just had a nice feel to it for the Pettys and their fans.
"I'm friends with Eddie Gossage," Kyle said of the president of Texas Motor Speedway. "I've known Eddie forever. We ride motorcycles together, we do stuff together. People at the racetrack, people in the community, Sprint, everybody had come together to make it something special. That was pretty cool."
Sciara remembers that the father was much more nervous than the son.
The head-to-head-racing part of the day didn't last long. Kyle failed to make the race. He was able to get onto the track only after an injured Elliott Sadler surrendered his ride after the start.
As Kyle pulled out onto the track, his son was experiencing engine problems and was about to come off the track for good.
"Even though he didn't finish, he ran real well that day," Petty said.
Kyle spent a big part of his day in a better position to watch his son's big day than from a driver's seat. A place where he could watch it all and take it all in without having to negotiate 190-mph traffic jams.
"I look back, and it's a funny thing," he said. "You always say God does funny things where, when one door closes, another door opens. And you don't think about it at the time, but I look back and I think, 'Yeah, that's cool. It's the only race he ran, and I got to stand on top of the truck and watch the whole race.' "
Kyle, wife Pattie and grandfather Richard all took Adam's death hard.
Kyle had a hard time coping. He said it was difficult to enter his son's shop and look at his uniforms and equipment for a long time afterward. He especially had a hard time entering the infield at Texas Motor Speedway.
But four years later, Kyle Petty has come to remember and appreciate the good times.
Especially the one at Texas Motor Speedway.
"When it's all said and done, it was a good day," Petty said.
Friday in the early morning grayness of the infield at Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle Petty spent some time doing just that.
Petty, a driver/owner in the Nextel Cup series, smiled and spoke lovingly of an event that occurred here four years ago this weekend, when he and his son Adam raced for the first - and last-time in the same Winston Cup event.
A month later, Adam Petty died in a crash during testing at New Hampshire International Speedway. He was only 19 years old.
"This place will always be special because of that," Petty said of that race in Texas. "This was the first and only time he ran a Winston Cup car. This was his only big race."
By all accounts, Adam and Kyle Petty shared a wonderful relationship. There was lots of love and respect flowing each way.
"They were best friends," says Dan Fromm, who was a Petty public-relations representative at the time. "They really were. They joked together, they laughed with each other. It was a classic father/son relationship."
The weekend of the Texas race, said Joe Sciara, another Petty PR rep, "They were inseparable."
Then there was the racing thing. The career thing.
Kyle, who runs the day-to-day operations of Petty Enterprises, was building the future of the business around his son. A fourth-generation driver, Adam was to keep the Petty family racing bloodline alive.
"We'd planned on Adam carrying the torch for us," said Richard Petty, the most victorious driver of NASCAR's top series and Adam's grandfather.
The plan had long been for Kyle to keep driving in Winston Cup and bring Adam up through the ladder system of stock-car racing.
When Kyle thought his son was ready, Adam would be eased into Cup racing.
In 2000, he was ready. So was Sprint Corp., the Overland Park company in line to sponsor a car for Adam. Texas was the site chosen for Adam's Winston Cup debut.
The weekend just had a nice feel to it for the Pettys and their fans.
"I'm friends with Eddie Gossage," Kyle said of the president of Texas Motor Speedway. "I've known Eddie forever. We ride motorcycles together, we do stuff together. People at the racetrack, people in the community, Sprint, everybody had come together to make it something special. That was pretty cool."
Sciara remembers that the father was much more nervous than the son.
The head-to-head-racing part of the day didn't last long. Kyle failed to make the race. He was able to get onto the track only after an injured Elliott Sadler surrendered his ride after the start.
As Kyle pulled out onto the track, his son was experiencing engine problems and was about to come off the track for good.
"Even though he didn't finish, he ran real well that day," Petty said.
Kyle spent a big part of his day in a better position to watch his son's big day than from a driver's seat. A place where he could watch it all and take it all in without having to negotiate 190-mph traffic jams.
"I look back, and it's a funny thing," he said. "You always say God does funny things where, when one door closes, another door opens. And you don't think about it at the time, but I look back and I think, 'Yeah, that's cool. It's the only race he ran, and I got to stand on top of the truck and watch the whole race.' "
Kyle, wife Pattie and grandfather Richard all took Adam's death hard.
Kyle had a hard time coping. He said it was difficult to enter his son's shop and look at his uniforms and equipment for a long time afterward. He especially had a hard time entering the infield at Texas Motor Speedway.
But four years later, Kyle Petty has come to remember and appreciate the good times.
Especially the one at Texas Motor Speedway.
"When it's all said and done, it was a good day," Petty said.
