A few moments with The King

The night the lights went out in Ona, Richard Petty was there.

Then, with the help of the fans, and their car headlights, the race continued unofficially.

The timing clock fell victim to the power outage, too.
And the King remembers it vividly.

"It's on a big field in some bottom land," Petty said. He spoke Wednesday to volunteers from the Official NASCAR Members Club. The group was at Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, N.C., founded by his family.

"There was a wreck somewhere close by and they hit a pole," Petty said. "All the lights went out."
"Cars in the infield turned on their lights and we finished the race."

Petty met With the members for 30 minutes before they toured the facility and helped prepare the cabins for campers.

Not one to hold back his opinion, Petty is a fan of the new Chase format where drivers will have to perform to win the title.

"This year there'll be a champion like we've had the last 60 years. Elimination is a good way to do it,"

Looking back at his storied career and it's 200 wins and 10 championships, he said the final race in Atlanta was an emotional one.

 

"We hadn't run good and dadgum got in a wreck," his crew made repairs after the car was on fire to get him back out on the track for the last few laps.

 

"I always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory," he said.

"I just went out in a blaze."

He didn’t hold back on a number of topics – driver skills, interaction with fans, the Chase for the Sprint Cup and the state of competition and cars in NASCAR.
The newest generation of cars is quite different than those in his day, Petty said. “So much depends on downforce.”

The cars are so low to the ground, the suspension changed so that cars are jumping up and down. “That makes it tough when cars are drafting. They’re sticking to the ground and drivers can’t race in the draft."

It can be said Petty would be a good judge of talent. So, who impresses him with the skill set he brings to the track?

"Kyle Busch adapts well on the track," Petty thinks, "And Smoke's pretty good, too, he said of three-time champion Tony Stewart.

"They're both good at making adjustments during a race."

He said Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart possess the best driving skills in the sport, but who was his toughest competitor?

"No question about it, Dale Earnhardt. He took no prisoners," Petty said.
He was wildly popular and Petty said NASCAR allowed Earnhardt pretty much free reign.

"He was able to get by with just about anything he wanted to do."

There many differences on and off track for today's drivers, Petty said.

Back in his day drivers understood the better they ran and talked to the fans, signed autographs and made time for that personal contact, "the more people bought tickets so I could go home and feed my kids."

"Without the fans there would be no money to pay the drivers."

There were no sponsors in those days and you could take time for the fans.

"Now, there's pressure from the sponsors and all the interviews," Petty said.

Proving his personal touch with friends of racing, Petty didn't have to meet with the club members - the fans - that day. Later Wednesday afternoon, the Petty family would be having a memorial service for Patricia Petty, wife of his brother, Maurice Petty.

Everyone would have understood if he begged off the appearance. But he knows that throughout his career, he'd be nowhere without the fans.