OK, what the hell.'ll take a crack at this. Richard Petty is the King, and has been known as such since he won his 55th race and surpassed his own father's record, won ten races in a row, 27 in a season, soon to be followed by his 100th win and his fourth championship, the first to do that too. Yes, Richard had equipment that was among the very best out there, but just like today, so did just about everyone else that was actually winning races., and it was Richard and his family that built and maintained those cars in their back yard too , not some hired gun company like Holman Moody. Yes, many of Richard's wins were podunk races on podunk tracks against less than stellar competition, but that was the nature of the sport then. There were 40-60 races a season then, and only a handful of paved tracks in the country. All the other big stars COULD have shown up to all those races too, but many didn't. That's not Richard's fault. Just like the Chase, you play the game according to whatever rules apply, stupid or not. The other big key was that Richard was a friendly personable guy, and he spent time with the fans and they LOVED HIM for it. It's always been my opinion that David Pearson was a better driver, but Pearson mostly by choice only competed in about half the races Richard did. Pearson only ran for the title three times, and won every time, but you can't hold it against Petty that he ran for the title EVERY year, except the 1965 Chrysler boycott year. Was the Hemi a superior engine? It was the best thing out there at the time, but others had it too and did a LOT less with it. Ford was soon a close match for it, and Chevy could have been too, if they had bothered to try, which they didn't until the Hemi was past it's prime. Was Richard Petty the most talented driver ever to climb into a stock car? Probably not even the secord or third best, but he put in his time, was there every week and competed and won year after year when others came and went. Is Tom Brady the best QB to ever throw a football? Probably not, but he has found a way to consistently perform at a high level year after year and that has translated to Super Bowl rings, which ultimately is the name of the game. Richard Petty changed the perception and the reality of the sport, and in an era when most American could likely only name three race car drivers total, Richard was one of those. Richard Petty is the King because he holds almost all of the real significant records in the sport, has been around since day one, (he was there helping his dad at the very first Strictly Stock race 1n 1949, and built a fan base that has been rivaled by Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon in the entire history of the sport. He's generally not one of my favorite people, but you cannot deny him his place in history. He EARNED it.
