Questions and answers with Richard Petty
The numbers are staggering. Richard Petty has won 200 career NASCAR races. The next highest total is 105. He won seven series championships. In the 1967 season, he won 27 races, 10 of them consecutively. He won the Daytona 500 a record seven times. Newsday caught up with The King, now 73, prior to this year's Daytona 500.
Q. You won the Daytona 500 seven times. Which one sticks out most to you?
A. I guess the first one in 1964. When I won it, I thought, nothing can get bigger than this. Then you get fortunate and win another and another. Two or three of them were pretty exciting races. Two or three of them were really bad races. Probably, if we talked to 10 people, five people would talk about that finish with David Pearson in 1976.
Q. What does winning the Daytona 500 mean to a driver's career?
A. It's like winning the Super Bowl. If you win Daytona, than you are winning all year long. It almost doesn't matter what else you do.
Q. You've raced here on Long Island, what do youremember about that?
A. They had a little old fifth-of-a-mile track in Islip. I remember starting at Islip one night and we had 30 cars. I sat on the pole. I started passing cars before they even had the green flag. They filled that little stadium up every time we ran out there. In 1963 or '64, we were out at Bridgehampton. They had an eclipse of the sun. The moon went right across the sun during the race. The people kept looking up at that.
Q. What do you think of Jimmie Johnson's five straight titles?
A. You look back in any history and you see people come along and have exceptional years for a while. If you look back at the Earnhardts or a Richard Petty, we won two championships, lost a championship, won two more. Jimmie happened to put in that third year that me and Earnhardt weren't capable of doing. All the stars are lined up for him. Fate plays into this deal. Right now, it's not that he's that much better than all the other guys, they are just putting it together.
Q. Will there ever be a NASCAR track in or close to New York City?
A. It would be great if we could get one there. You know politics and you have to get the politicians to make it work. You have everything you need but the place to put it. Everyone wants it, but no one wants it in their neighborhood. It's just going to take a lot politics to get it done. There are a lot of fans out there on Long Island. And they know our drivers.
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