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EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
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Back with an old friend Petty Enterprises hopes to get back on top with Dodge
By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Behind the trademark dark sunglasses, Richard Petty can't hide from the truth. The legendary, family-owned race team is in the tank -- taking the checkered flag just three times since 1984. The team got passed behind in the technology game. It didn't have the resources, the cutting edge facilities and engine program to run with the Roush Racings and Hendricks Motorsports of the Winston Cup world. That's why no team is banking more on Dodge's return to revisit its own glory days. Petty has three drivers behind the wheel of the new Dodge Intrepid -- his son, Kyle, John Andretti and Buckshot Jones. "It's one of those deals when you work with somebody, when you've been married to the company so long like we were Dodge -- if you cut me I'd still probably bleed Dodge red," said Petty, who won three NASCAR championships and 37 races in his No. 43 Dodge Charger. "From that standpoint, it's a lifelong dream to get back to where we started. To get John, Kyle and Buckshot a chance [to win]."
The family tradition dates to the King's dad, Lee Petty, who in the late 1940s began converting showroom automobiles to race cars in a barn behind his home in Level Cross, N.C. His son dominated the sport until his retirement in 1992, then passed the baton to Kyle, who's revamped the company and brought in new sponsors. "Really, racing has been our life," Richard Petty said. "Everything that we've done, somehow or another we're racing around in a race car. It's one of those deals where we saved enough money to get from one race to another. It's still almost that way." Petty leaned back and enjoyed a laugh. But as Dodge comes on the scene, the Petty business has bottomed out. "Petty Enterprises is way behind," Kyle Petty said. "We've got to get caught up, and use Dodge's technology to make us a lot better. There is lot riding on this for us. This is not a one-year deal for us, or a 24-month deal. We haven't fallen off wagon in that short a period of time, so it's going to take us time to go back there. "To say we're going to go out and be the 15th place team or the 20th place team, it's incredibly hard to take an organization like ours that's starting lot of different things and put a set number on it. The main thing for us is consistency. We need to find that consistency this year, whether it be a top 10, or a top 15 team." Kyle said the decision to join Dodge took root prior to the death of his son, Adam, in a crash last season. The dream was for Adam to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. But more importantly, a move to Dodge figured to offer him a better chance of his being successful. "I had done this in my mind and heart for Adam," Kyle said. "After the accident we all sat and talked about it. If I was going to do it for Adam, why wouldn't I do it for John and for buckshot and myself? Why wouldn't I do it for my father and Petty Enterprises as a group? "This was a tough year for us, personally. It was tough year of racing. In lot of ways, it came time to look deep within yourself and see where you wanted to be and where you wanted to go. I don't think John has maximized his potential, and it's been our fault. I don't think Buckshot has had shot at maximizing his potential. So we have to be able to give them the equipment."
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