Kyle Petty
Performing with his band at Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust at The Opry and signing at the Fan Festival!
Growing up in racing is always an advantage if you want to win in NASCAR Nextel Cup competition, but when you grow up in Level Cross, North Carolina, and your father is casually referred to as “The King,” the expectations for your career jump tremendously.
Kyle Petty was able to productively use his family business, and to take advantage of his incredible driving talents and people skills, to build a winning driving resume and rebuild a racing business that has been the most successful in the history of motorsports.
Today, Petty remains a fixture at his family-owned business. A proven winner, Petty stays focused and determined to keep Petty Enterprises at the forefront of the motorsports’ world. Doing so, Petty will again sit behind the wheel of the No. 45 Dodge in 2007. Petty will welcome back primary sponsors Wells Fargo and Marathon Oil to the hood and sides of the Petty Dodge.
Ever since he was a young boy, Petty has been around race tracks, stock cars, and drivers of the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit. His father, Richard Petty, is the most successful driver in the history of the sport, while his grandfather, Lee Petty, was one of the most successful pioneers of NASCAR racing.
It comes to no one’s surprise that Kyle Petty’s first time in a major league stock car race he crossed the finish line first, winning the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200. Winning races is just what the Petty’s do, and now Kyle Petty is leading the charge to a newer, stronger, better Petty Enterprises for years to come.
In 2001 for the first time since 1963, Petty Enterprises, under the lead role of Petty, campaigned three cars in Cup competition. Petty Enterprises also led the Dodge manufacturer in its return to NASCAR racing in the same season. Being a car owner for three teams, and one of the most accomplished drivers on the track, in 2001 Petty orchestrated one of the most challenging tasks in NASCAR Nextel Cup history. Today, he continues to lead the organization back to the top of the stock car world.
A man with eight victories on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit, Petty knows what it takes to be a winner. Having begun his career working for Petty Enterprises, and later running motorsports’ most successful team, Petty has also driven for such successful car owners as the Wood Brothers and Felix Sabates, learning the “do’s and don’ts” of NASCAR Nextel Cup competition.
In 1997 Petty opened pe2, and experienced first hand what it was like to be a car owner. Collecting two top-fives and nine top-10s in his first year as a car owner, Petty was moving to a new level in the business at Petty Enterprises, while at the same time staying a fierce competitor on the track.
At the end of the 1998 season, Petty packed his bags – and everybody else’s bag too – moving back home to Level Cross to become the CEO at Petty Enterprises and continue his driving career where it started.
The 2006 season, highlighted by three prominent hires, saw Petty Enterprises turn the proverbial “corner” to rise back to the ranks of stock car racing’s elite. Robbie Loomis returned to Petty Enterprises as Director of Race Operations and he assumed the day-to-day duties from Petty. 2000 NEXTEL Cup Champion, Bobby Labonte, came on board to drive the famed No. 43 as a teammate to Petty to give Petty Enterprises a solid stable of
drivers. NASCAR veteran Billy Wilburn was hired at Petty’s crew chief in September, a move that resulted in such a great driver-crew chief cohesion that it led the No. 45 back into the top-35 in owner points.
If 2006 was a season of change for Petty, then 2007 will be one of progression. The resurgence of Petty and the legendary Petty Enterprises race team was, no doubt, one of the bright spots from the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season. The surrounding cast that Wilburn and Petty have assembled on the No. 45 crew has allowed the team to set even loftier goals. The brass ring that is Victory Lane is as close as it has been in quite sometime for Petty.
Petty is a man, who besides being known as one of the great car owners and drivers, is also known for his charity work. The Chick-Fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America was founded by Petty in 1995 to benefit children’s charities across America. Every year hundreds of fans, drivers, and crew members jump on their motorcycles to join Petty in visiting local children’s hospitals and other local charities. Today, the Petty charity ride is the most successful event by any person in the NASCAR garage.
In October of 2000 Petty once again confirmed that giving back to the community is what proves most important to him and his family by making plans to open the Victory Junction Gang Camp near his home in Level Cross, N.C.
The camp became a reality in 2004 when it opened its doors to become the sixth camp in the “Hole in the Wall Gang” camps founded by actor Paul Newman. For his efforts Petty was named NASCAR Winston Cup Illustrated “Person of the year” in both 1999 and 2000, marking the first time that any one person has won it in consecutive years. He has also won the 2000 and 2004 Myers Brothers Award, the highest award presented by the National Motorsports Press Association, and in 2002 Petty was awarded the True Value Person of the Year Award for his humanitarian efforts.
