The King

Foyt announced in 1991 that the Indy 500 that year would be his last, then changed his mind. He couldn't bring himself to quit. Petty says his decision is final. "He won't come back," says Kyle. "It's been too hard to get to this point to have to go through it again."

Petty will remain around racing as a car owner. "Even though he's a legend and he's done more for the sport than anyone could even sit down and think about, he'll still be just an owner," says Kyle, "not Richard Petty getting his 200th win or Richard Petty making his 1,500th start. Just an owner. He has to deal with that. He'll still be nice to people, but the Richard Petty y'all know will be dead. He'll be standing there in the pits, but you'll know he'd give everything he had, all 200 wins all seven championships, if he could go just one more time. Guys like Daddy and A.J., guys who have done this for so long, they look at quitting as terminal illness. They look at this year as the last few days of their lives."