It now appears that next season will be the first season in 60 years of NASCAR racing not to feature an entry by Petty Enterprises. For those of us who can remember the days when the King, Richard Petty, was still driving it is a sad day. For those of us who remember when Richard was still winning races it is even sadder, but for those new to the sport or casual fans I really wonder if this means anything at all.
It is my sad duty to share some unpleasant facts. Richard Petty has not won a race since 1984; he has not driven a car on the cup level since 1992. His team has not won a race since 1999. Even Richard’s son, Kyle has failed to win a race since 1995.
This is a team is rich on NASCAR history, but it seems to me that they never fully assimilated themselves into the modern multi car era of NASCAR. For some reason they never seemed to get it right, and in the end they got left behind.
Let’s be clear what we are talking about here. Thanks to our good friend over at Racing Reference we see that this team has won 268 Cup races, 10 Points championships, and nearly 90 million dollars in purse money. As owners they rank first among team victories, King Richard holds the drivers records with 200 both records that probably will never be broken. Think about it like this Hendrick Motor sports easily the most dominant team the last 15 season has 175 career cup wins, almost 100 fewer then the Petty enterprises. Roush Fenway racing is fourth on the list with 113. In my mind that puts 268 wins far out of reach.
Along the way 8 drivers have won driving in Petty cars; Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Marvin Panch, Pete Hamilton, Buddy Baker, Bobby Hamilton, and John Andretti. Hendrick has won with 12 different drivers while Roush has done so with seven.
What that proves is even though the Petty’s haven’t had much success in the modern era of NASCAR they still have the stats to be considered a Top Tier team.
It is sad to see this team shut their doors, and every NASCAR fan should, now and forever, pay homage to one of the organizations that help build this sport. However, as they say the show must go on, and in just a little over 40 days we will resume the Sprint Cup schedule a little heavier in our hearts.
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