It’s a curious occurrence in the world of motorsport, but racing dynasties are prevalent — like father like son has never rung more true than from behind the wheel.
The Andretti family is still racing as grandpa Mario watches over his little ones. When the Brabhams aren’t winning world titles, they’re running championship-contending racing teams. Father-and-son team Graham and Damon Hill have three F1 titles to their name, and the Unsers can hold a family reunion at just about any race meeting in the US.
The list goes on and on, but the name Petty always rises towards the top. Richard ‘The King’ Petty is Nascar’s all-time most successful race winner with 200 victories and 123 poles. His son Kyle has added eight more wins to the family name, and Kyle’s son Adam in turn surely would’ve supplemented the figure with victories of his own, had he not sadly been killed in 2000
after his Nascar Nationwide Series car’s throttle stuck wide open.
It all started with Adam’s great-grandfather though, Lee Petty. Born in the epicentre of stock car racing, North Carolina, in 1914, Lee Petty was one of the pioneers of Nascar and the first of its storied superstars. He got a late start on the dirt ovals (it was a few years before they started paving them), first racing at the age of 35, before winning the inaugural Daytona 500 and forever etching his family name into the minds of race fans everywhere. It helped that the 1959 Daytona 500 race provided a photo finish as Petty’s Oldsmobile 88 edged his two rivals by inches for a three-wide finish. In fact, the finish was so close it took the official three days to finally proclaim Petty as the rightful victor.
Lee also ended his career as a three-time Nascar Championship winner, and continued his legacy by founding Petty Enterprises, which soon became the most successful Nascar team of all time with 268 race wins and 10 championship titles.
Next week marks the anniversary of Lee Petty’s passing on April 5, 2000, at the grand old age of 86. But legacies such as his never die.
