Kyle Petty Speaks

If Richard Petty is NASCAR's King, his son Kyle could be considered itsPrince Charming. He's bright, articulate, and speaks from his heart.He's been part of racing's greatest moments and its saddest times, andhe talks freely about both.

Early in life, Kyle watched firsthand as hisfamous father became an icon for the sport by winning seven drivingtitles and helping lift NASCAR to the perch it enjoys today. Kyle alsosuffered the loss of his son, Adam, who died in a crash during BuschSeries practice at New Hampshire International Speedway in 2000.

Alongthe way, through the highs and lows, Kyle has become part of the fabricof the sport. As an 18-year-old he made an immediate impact when he wonan ARCA event at Daytona in 1979--in his first race. He went Cup racingfor five events that season, 15 the next, and has run a full schedulenearly every season since then, giving him a broad perspective on thesport.

Stock Car Racing correspondent Jerry F. Boone recently caught upwith Kyle, now 44. He talked about the state of NASCAR, his team, andhis life. Highlights are included here.

On Running Ray Evernham Motors
"To put a percentage on it, I'm going tohave to say we're 10 million percent . . . we're head and shouldersabove where we were. The stuff we had before, in 2002 . . . it workedfor us. It's not that it got a lot worse. It just flat-lined, and inthis sport, if you flat-line, you just die."

Bump Drafting
"I think it is absolutely, positively idiotic. At 180 mph,whether you're running in a straight line or you're running in thecorner, you shouldn't be running into people. We should be betterdrivers than to run into each other. The restrictor-plate contributes tothat, but you're still the guy sitting in there with your foot on theaccelerator and hanging onto the steering wheel." Respect: "You can'tteach respect. You have to go out there and earn it and gain it. I don'tthink NASCAR can step in and say you guys have got to get along. Theycan say that all day long, but that's not going to make you get along.Maybe God teaches you respect at some point in time when you're slidingon your roof. You say, 'maybe I didn't need to do that.' Maybe it's thatkind of thing."

On-track Blocking
"Let's go back to the infamous '79 race [when CaleYarborough and Donnie Allison crashed as Yarborough attempted to passAllison for the lead on the last lap, handing the win to Richard Petty].That was blocking at its best. It's always been an accepted practice tosome degree that the leader of the race is the leader of the race. Hecan do basically what he wants to. I think blocking is fair. I don'thave a problem with blocking."

The Importance of the Daytona 500
"Nobody can sit here and say if MarkMartin doesn't win the 500 he's not been one of the greatest race cardrivers ever. Even if Mark never wins a championship, nobody can sayhe's not a great champion, and Rusty is the same way. I don't think ittakes away from their resume by any stretch of the imagination. I'drather be sitting in their position and having won 50 or 60 races thanhaving won one or two races in my lifetime and Daytona was it."

Media Training
"The only time you get true statements is like whenaccidents happen and everybody is stupid and everybody is an idiot andwe shouldn't be out there and we need IQ tests for drivers. That's whenyou get the honest answers, but any other time you don't get it. I'm notsure that's bad for this sport, and I'm not sure it's good for thesport."

Relationship With The Fans
"I think the one thing the sport has to do,we talk about it's a fan friendly sport, it's a driver access deal. I'vegot to halfway be honest and say that's a lot of BS. The drivers are along way from where the fans are now compared to where they were 10years ago and especially compared to where they were 20 years ago."

The Important Things In Racing
"The two things I would miss most if Iwas not in racing . . . the number one thing would be the driving. Thesecond thing is the people. When I broke my leg in 1991 and sat out forsix months, the thing I realized more than anything else was I missedWill Lind and Chocolate Myers and being able to see them at theracetrack. The officials, as much grief as they give you sometimes . . .I missed those people. As sad as it may sound, this is my family and mycommunity. That's a sad statement in a lot of ways, and I'll admit that,but this is all I know."

When There Won't Be A Petty Driving
"Ours is not only a racing businessbut also a family business. Where I grew up is a farm community. Havinga fourth- or fifth-generation business is not an oddity because most ofthese farms are fifth- or sixth-generation farms. If lightning strikes,or something happens, you don't stop farming just because the crops burnor cows die. For us, when Adam's accident happened, it stands you up andyou think about things. You look at it and say, 'this is all we know andthis is all we do.' "We'll continue to be a part of the sport, but we'vecome to the realization that that will happen. We've got to continue tostay true to who we are."

On Retiring
"That's the part that will be hard. You sit in that car andyou feel like you control a 3,400-pound race car and you can make it dothings you want it to do. You come out of a race on Sunday and you werebetter than 42 other guys. That's what it's all about. You can take themoney out of the equation totally. Money is a bad barometer to measurethings because it constantly changes."

Today's Pressures
"There's so much in the sport right now that you haveto do as a driver that Cale Yarborough or Richard Petty or Buddy Bakerdidn't have to do. They didn't have to leave here Monday morning afterthe race and fly to L.A. and do a two-hour appearance and then fly backand do one in Atlanta on Tuesday and then go back to California to race.They didn't have to spend a day in makeup to do commercials...All theyhad to do was drive a race car. "What happens to drivers now, and if youreally talk to 'em, when they talk about getting burned out, they're notburned out on the driving. They're not burned out on going around incircles and working on the race cars. They're burned out on everythingthat goes along with that part of it. We may be the last group thatmakes it to 45 or 50 years old."

Lessons from The King
"The most important thing is that I'm from LevelCross, North Carolina, population 280. That's where I'm from and that'swhere I'm always going to be from. People in the community referred tomy father as Richard. He was not Richard Petty. He was Richard. He wasonly Richard Petty to the outside world. "You're part of a biggerpicture, and you're part of something that if your neighbor needssomething, you help your neighbor. That's the way this sport has alwaysbeen. Somebody breaks a motor, somebody loans 'em a motor. Somebodyfalls out and they give their tires to somebody else. Somebody needs apit crewmember, he's over here working. That's the way this sport is.The biggest thing I learned is you're part of something bigger and it'simportant to be who you are."