richard petty, ronald reagan and daytona none better

hidesert cowboy

hidesert cowboy

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what a daytona memory, my favorite president shows up and watches a nascar race and eats fried chicken at a picnic with richard petty and the other big names of the sport after the race. look at the excitement of richard petty when he actually runs out of the car and up the stands to get up and see the president. I love it when he says well he is the first president who has ever bothered to show up and watch a race.



 
Crazy to think that how fast Petty was in that race, that he never won another.
 
The two greatest politicians in American history... HAHAHAHA. Still I woulda loved to have witnessed that
 
It was a great promotional moment for NASCAR...
not a great ethical moment though.

Petty's car failed post-race inspection with an engine that was too big and left side tires mounted on the right side (which was illegal back then because of construction and traction differences).
 
gone said:
It was a great promotional moment for NASCAR...
not a great ethical moment though.

Petty's car failed post-race inspection with an engine that was too big and left side tires mounted on the right side (which was illegal back then because of construction and traction differences).
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I think that was actually the year before at charlotte. petty was so mad about it he left petty enterprises over it for a couple years. huge moment for nascar you could see how the big wigs reacted to the president being there. bobby allison said reagan was a hero of his.
 
gone said:
It was a great promotional moment for NASCAR...
not a great ethical moment though.

Petty's car failed post-race inspection with an engine that was too big and left side tires mounted on the right side (which was illegal back then because of construction and traction differences).
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Wrong race. That was Petty's 198th win in 1983. He left PE, taking his number & sponsors with him, to drive for Mike Curb for 2 seasons.
 
Yep, looks like I had my Petty illegal engine controversies mixed up. My apologies to Mr. Petty as well as everybody else.
It was in 1983 at Charlotte where he was caught with an over-sized engine and wrong tires. It is true that he left his own team after that season.
But there were questions about Petty's engine again after his 1984 Daytona / Reagan / 200th win. I remember that NASCAR didn't do a very convincing job of post-race inspection followed by full disclosure... that was the ethics I was questioning... but there isn't any solid proof so if the engine wasn't bad we have to accept NASCAR's records and give them the benefit of the doubt. But what struck me was if Petty was clearly illegal in 1983 then why did he get to keep that win, and set the stage for win number 200 in 1984?

Seems like that started a NASCAR habit of allowing drivers to keep wins despite getting thrown out in post-race inspection.
 
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gone said:
Yep, looks like I had my Petty illegal engine controversies mixed up. My apologies to Mr. Petty as well as everybody else.
It was in 1983 at Charlotte where he was caught with an over-sized engine and wrong tires. It is true that he left his own team after that season.
But there were questions about Petty's engine again after his 1984 Daytona / Reagan / 200th win. I remember that NASCAR didn't do a very convincing job of post-race inspection followed by full disclosure... that was the ethics I was questioning... but there isn't any solid proof so if the engine wasn't bad we have to accept NASCAR's records and give them the benefit of the doubt. But what struck me was if Petty was clearly illegal in 1983 then why did he get to keep that win, and set the stage for win number 200 in 1984?

Seems like that started a NASCAR habit of allowing drivers to keep wins despite getting thrown out in post-race inspection.
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Well to be fair drivers still keep wins now when they fail, so we have to just learn to accept it and move on, does it suck? yeah it does but what can we do about it?
 
I remember seeing the Charlotte race. Wasn't it Junior Johnson's car driven by Darrel Waltrip that finished second in that race. Seems I remember Petty going around him so fast it made his head spin. But I don't think they tore down Waltrip's car that day. I heard they loaded up and left before they could check their car , but I heard a lot of things after that race. That was the end of the Richard/Maurice Petty dynasty although it had fizzled out any way. Never was a Petty fan but the more the years have gone by it seems I have gained a lot more respect for him as a driver.
 
I have no ill will towards Richard Petty. I think he is a good ambassador to our sport. But I would like to know how good he would be against equal competition. I guess we will never know how that would have ended up. Really wish Cale would have beat him to the line that day.
 
FightinChicken98 said:
I have no ill will towards Richard Petty. I think he is a good ambassador to our sport. But I would like to know how good he would be against equal competition. I guess we will never know how that would have ended up. Really wish Cale would have beat him to the line that day.
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I know you're new here but if you look back at the past threads you'll find a lot of interesting posts about the things you seem to be looking for.
 
Blaze88 said:
Well to be fair drivers still keep wins now when they fail, so we have to just learn to accept it and move on, does it suck? yeah it does but what can we do about it?
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Is it fair to allow drivers to keep wins after their cars are found illegal? Not in my book, and not in most other racing series. NASCAR says they do it "so fans can go home knowing who the winner is". Are there any other professional sports that allow cheaters to keep wins? If you're trying to attract new fans is this the kind of message you want to send?

Learn to accept it / what can we do about it? No I won't accept it, and the strongest signal I can send NASCAR is by not attending their races. I don't appear to be alone. I also write complaints directly to NASCAR, to the offending team and driver, and to their sponsors. One voice may not be very loud, but coupled with others it can move mountains. One thing for sure, people I know who hate automobile racing use situations like these as ammunition. If the top officials of the biggest American racing series won't defend their practices then certainly I can't. And thus why I quit attending their races and rarely watch them on TV.
 
gone said:
Is it fair to allow drivers to keep wins after their cars are found illegal? Not in my book, and not in most other racing series. NASCAR says they do it "so fans can go home knowing who the winner is". Are there any other professional sports that allow cheaters to keep wins? If you're trying to attract new fans is this the kind of message you want to send?.
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Major League Baseball didn't strip wins from baseball teams who were found to have had steroid users on them.

In fact, I don't think ANY professional sport strips wins from teams. MLB also didn't strip wins from the Reds when it came out that their manager was betting on games.
 
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