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Remembering Adam Youngest Petty made Winston Cup debut at Texas
By Mark Spoor, CNNSI.com FORT WORTH, Texas -- Even before the engines were started Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, the Petty family had been through a roller-coaster of emotions. Adam Petty made his one and only Winston Cup start here last year. He was killed later in the season in a Busch Series practice accident at Loudon, N.H. He was just 19 years old. After qualifying 33rd, Petty was 40th in last year's DirecTV 500. He finished 215 of the 334 laps before bowing out with engine trouble. To commemorate Petty's only Winston Cup start, the No. 44 car of Buckshot Jones has a special paint scheme this week. The car honors the four generations of Pettys who have raced in the Winston Cup Series. Adam was the heir to the Petty racing throne. Despite being just a teen, he was planning to race in five Winston Cup events in 2000. His goal, and it appeared his destiny, was to walk in the racing shoes of great-grandfather Lee, grandfather Richard and father Kyle. Adam made 11 Busch Series starts in 2000. Still, memories of his lone Winston Cup effort gave the Petty family mixed emotions Friday. "It was tough coming back here," said Kyle Petty, Adam's father. "Last year, we came out here with a lot of high hopes." While Kyle didn't qualify for last year's race, robbing him of a chance to race with his son, in the end, Kyle said it all worked out. "In hindsight, it was better I didn't make the race because I enjoyed standing on top of the truck and watching Adam run his race. That was a special time for me." This time around, at least on the qualifying side of things, it wasn't much better. Again in 2001, Kyle will be a spectator after failing to qualify at Texas. Nearly a year after his son's tragic death, Kyle says there are still days that are difficult to get through. "Some days you wake up and don't want to go anywhere," he said. "You just want to sit at the house. Other days, you feel yourself getting kicked in the rear end and you've got to get up and move." The patriarch of the family, seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty, was also choked up by memories of a year ago. "I get kind of emotional with this type of stuff," he said. "Adam got off to a good start here last year. He qualified good. His daddy didn't qualify. That was the downer that they never got to run a race together."
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