Richard Petty

You also have to remember that there was no lucky dog or wave around in his time and people could not make up lsps as easily throughout a race. Winning by 2 laps is a bad thing.
 
If you ever get a chance to meet him, you'll understand. He's larger than life, like a racing super hero. Venture around the garage with your hot pass during practice and you'll no doubt get a chance to chat with him, he makes time for everyone. I was fortunate enough to meet him during 600 practice in 2015.
 
Simple Fan said:
You also have to remember that there was no lucky dog or wave around in his time and people could not make up lsps as easily throughout a race.
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This is actually a good point, and if races were run today as they were decades ago, there are races this year in which the #78 would have lapped all but a few other cars multiple times.
 
Go to level cross and look at the hardware then you'll know why....
 
David Pearson didn't run nearly as many races as Petty, but when they did run the same races, I believe Pearson won more than him.
 
Formerjackman said:
Well, in team sports, you always wonder "is this person THAT GOOD, or are they a good player on a great team?" Another point I will make is that back in Petty's era, a driver COULD make up for a lot of deficiencies in the race car and make more of a difference than the drivers of today can. A lot of those 200 races were won because Richard Petty WAS the driver, NOT someone else. If you are going to denigrate Petty because he had really good cars, then you have to say the same thing about Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.
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I'm trying to understand that's all.. and it's not the same I seen Lebrun James to his team to the NBA finals and got swept when he played spurs.. but he carried that team by himself.. worse team in NBA history to go to finals.. seek Allen iverson do it too
 
Ol Smokie said:
David Pearson didn't run nearly as many races as Petty, but when they did run the same races, I believe Pearson won more than him.
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Ah, nope.

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Thegeneral23 said:
This has been driving me crazy since I got into NASCAR.. the more and more I listen and do my research on him.. the more I realize it was all car.. lapping the field and putting everybody down 3-5 Laps come on man that's crazy.. he had to have a damn ROCKET! Lol
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People who for a brief moment of time rise above others and get a nickname.
Elvis was the first that I remember being named the King and at that time he was the most popular singer and was on top of "Rock and Roll"
Richard Petty at a certain time in the history of Nascar was the most dominate driver and had
the numbers to be on top and so he was nicknamed The King.
In both cases others broke their records however they retained their nicknames. It is just a form of respect that they are continued to be called the King.

Some day they may call Kyle Bush "The Prince".
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
True enough, but that wasn't what I was responding about. Are you advocating for Person to be nicknamed the 'King' because of having a higher win percentage over a much shorter career?
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If Richard Petty is the King based on and including his podunk wins then Kyle Busch truly is 2nd.
I would say that the win percentage stats indicate that Pearson was a better driver that the “King.”
 
When I was young and Richard was at the height of his career, someone named him "King of the Road". There were some STP advertisements with that on it. I can only think it was shortened to just "The King" over time.
 
Formerjackman said:
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 in 1949, and built a fan base that has been rivaled only by Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon in the entire history of the sport, and did it in an era when no races were shown flag to flag live, there was no internet or NASCAR TV shows or anything else. He's generally not one of my favorite people, but you cannot deny him his place in history. He EARNED it.
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This is about as good an explanation of why Petty is considered to be "The King" as you're ever going to see.

Beyond that, regardless of the facts concerning Petty's career, he is now generally perceived to be the all-time King of NASCAR.

And as the saying goes, in the eyes of many, perception is reality.
 
Thegeneral23 said:
Can someone please explain to me why is he the (KING)? I know he won a billion races. But the dude car was 5x better than everybody else's at the time.. dude was lapping the second place car by laps and 3rd place car by even more than that..I just got into this sport not even 2 years ago. it's so different the way talent is considered in this sport lol compared to others.. in other sports like basketball , football , baseball ,soccer it's the human that's the talent not a machine.. Don't get me wrong I love the excitement I get from NASCAR but the talent in NASCAR is the car and it starts at the shop.. I watched on racehub today how petty was kicking everyone but with a HEMI engine than it was banned for a year.. then came back.. so for that year how was he so great instead of the engine ?? I'm just trying to understand how a guy is so glorified when it's clear as day it was always his cars.
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He's the King because we call him that. You will be assimilated
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
But..... He's already the King of the Minors. Can he be both Prince and King? Well, I guess if anyone can, he can. Heck, he seems to be a racing God too many. Why not Prince and King too? :D
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Yea why can't he be called the king?? He is winning a lot with better competition. So I don't see what the problem is lol
 
King Richard sounds more imperial than a
King Dale
King Junior
King Jeff
King Jimmie
King Cooter Johnson Juniors the IIIs
or King Dingleberry.

I have been told (here say warning) that Elizabeth Petty corrected the press in the early days for calling him Dick Petty. Said she would have named him that, if that would have been the desired name.
 
Conover said:
went out of his way to connect with his fans. There are countless stories of how he stayed behind after races, sometimes for hours, to sign autographs and mingle with his fans.
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He was a great ambassador for the sport.
 
Thegeneral23 said:
This has been driving me crazy since I got into NASCAR.. the more and more I listen and do my research on him.. the more I realize it was all car.. lapping the field and putting everybody down 3-5 Laps come on man that's crazy.. he had to have a damn ROCKET! Lol
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If it were "all" car, why didn't other driver who drove for Petty Enterprises dominate in the same way?
 
Thegeneral23 said:
I guess coming from other sports when the human is the talent and not the machine I look at stuff different.. in NASCAR whoever has the fastest car and most money backing them I guess is the best :idunno:
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That's why JJ Yeley won so many races in the 18 before Kyle Busch got in it.
 
In a nutshell, Richard Petty became "The King" because he was dominating NASCAR at the time it made its public break-out (got TV coverage) and to a lessor extent because applying the moniker "King" was popularized by Elvis Presley fans during that same time period.

Petty was so successful due to talent (his and his crew's - particularly crew chief Dale Inman) and hard work (again with lots of help from his crew). Petty was (and is) highly personable, and forged some of the first highly lucrative sponsorship deals amongst racing teams. He did have better equipment than many, but that was due to work and making the right connections. He ran a lot of races where he out-classed a lot of his competition, but he was making a living so we shouldn't fault him for that (and other drivers could enter those races too) - plus all of that racing helped expand his exposure.

While I admire Kyle Busch's talent, he has a bunch of public relations work to improve before I would consider him "The Prince".
 
i'm in a mood so I'll keep it simple...

if you don't know why Richard Petty is "The King", invest some time in historical research. There is plenty available with a Google search, something any slacker that isn't a troll can do.

The simplest answer is the sport as it was at it's peak and continues to be now wouldn't exist if it weren't for "The King".

JMO
 
klemmabyna said:
i'm in a mood so I'll keep it simple...

if you don't know why Richard Petty is "The King", invest some time in historical research. There is plenty available with a Google search, something any slacker that isn't a troll can do.

The simplest answer is the sport as it was at it's peak and continues to be now wouldn't exist if it weren't for "The King".

JMO
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Oh, I think it would.
Bill France was the only one that if weren’t born this sport wouldn’t exist.
 
Thegeneral23 said:
Yea why can't he be called the king?? He is winning a lot with better competition. So I don't see what the problem is lol
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Since you have only been a fan for 2 years I can see why you are questioning how Richard could be nicknamed ''King''.... had you been a fan in the 60's and beyond..... you wouldn't have these doubts....... not your fault at all...... you just didn't have the opportunity to live through those times......
 
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