| | While John Andretti has driven for a lot of teams, he never found a home in racing until he went to work for the Petty family.
That's because Richard Petty and the rest of his North Carolina clan have welcomed Andretti and made him a part of that family, just as they do with all their employees.
That, says Andretti, is the reason Petty Enterprises will ultimately rise to the top of NASCAR's Winston Cup series again.
|  | | John Andretti put Richard Petty back in Victory Lane earlier this season at Martinsville. |
"You know, Richard and Kyle take care of everybody at their place," Andretti said. "They don't just think about the driver and the crew.
"The King always tells me he doesn't just have his family to worry about. He's got to worry about all their families, too."
Of course, the royal reference was to Richard, the second of four generations of racers in the family and considered the greatest driver in NASCAR history.
Following his pioneering father, Lee, into the infant sport of stock car racing, Richard won 200 races -- 95 more than any other driver -- and a record seven championships.
Since King Richard was nearing the end of his racing prime in the early '80s, the team, working out of the sprawling Petty Enterprises race shops in tiny Level Cross, N.C., has fallen on hard times.
Only three of its 271 victories three have come since Richard won three times in 1983. Bobby Hamilton won in 1996 and again in 1997.
Andretti -- in his second full season with the team after a brief stint in Level Cross in 1994 -- won earlier this season in Martinsville, Va. Going into Sunday's Winston 500 in Talladega, Ala., he was 19th in the points race.
Petty Enterprises also fields Pontiacs for third-generation driver Kyle, Richard's only son. Kyle, who returned to the family fold this year, is 29th.
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“ |
This
team is building toward something very good. I can feel it. We've got good people and
with Kyle putting his energy into it, we're moving ahead. ” |
|
|
— John Andretti |
The younger Petty, whose son Adam is a promising driver moving up the NASCAR ladder, formed an alliance with his father in 1998, but kept his team separate. But last winter, he moved the operation to Level Cross, under the same roof with Andretti's car.
"Now that Kyle is back, we've got more focus and everybody is helping everybody," said Andretti, himself a member of a racing family that includes uncle Mario and cousin Michael.
John Andretti's father, Aldo, is Mario's twin and was a top-notch short-track racer until an injury ended his career. John likes the direction his own team is taking.
"This team is building toward something very good," he said. "I can feel it. We've got good people and with Kyle putting his energy into it, we're moving ahead.
"The other part of it is that there's no jealousy between the drivers. He supports me completely and I feel the same about him."
Kyle, who has eight Winston Cup wins, says uniting the teams was essential to achieve their goals.
"We felt like we had to have everybody under one roof, working together and doing everything we could to make both teams better," he said.
In Martinsville, the Petty cars ran 1-2 for a time. That hasn't
happened in the Petty camp since Richard and Buddy Baker did it in
the early '70s.
"Sometimes, they are just small things that nobody can see but
us," Kyle said. "But we're going in the right direction."
Richard is known to possess an impish sense of humor, but he is dead serious when talk turns to his team's future -- and the future of his family.
"We've got something to keep going and make better for Adam and the rest of the grandkids and great grandkids," The King said. "Everybody knows it's tough to win and run consistently up front these days."
He looks at the super Hendrick Motorsports and Robert Yates Racing teams, and figures Petty Enterprises can again have that kind of success.
"We were the guys that everybody was shooting at for a long time," Richard said. "I know we can do it again."
Kyle agrees, saying he's excited about the team.
"But until we meet our goal, and our goal is to get Petty Enterprises back on top, we're not going to be satisfied," he said. | |
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