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Petty Enterprises is a NASCAR racing team based in Randleman, North Carolina. The team is owned by Richard Petty and his son Kyle Petty, who oversee the operations of two NEXTEL Cup Dodge Chargers: the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, driven by Bobby Labonte, and the #45 Marathon Petroleum Company Dodge, driven by Kyle. In 1969, the team was first named Petty Enterprises. Despite being one of the most successful and famous teams in NASCAR history, the team has struggled in recent years.
[edit] Beginnings
The team has been operating since 1949, when Lee Petty formed Lee Petty Engineering and the NASCAR Grand National Division #42. The team's first win came that year in Lee's 5th start at Heidelberg Raceway, with Petty and the team finishing 2nd in points that season. Petty won one race in each of the years 1950 and 1951, before collecting three victories in 1952. 1953 saw the team expand to a multi-car team for the first time, fielding a Plymouth for Jimmie Lewallen at Palm Beach Speedway, who finished second to Petty. Lee grabbed five wins that season and finished second in points before winning the championship in 1954. He followed that with six wins the next season and two more the following year, making him one of the morst dominating drivers in the series at that time. In 1957, Petty won four races as the team began running additional teams. Tiny Lund, Bill Mutz, and Ralph Earnhardt all ran races with the team, before Bobby Myers was killed in an accident at Darlington Raceway.
[edit] Glory Years
From 1954 to 1979, Petty Enterprises won 10 championships in NASCAR's premier series. Three of those championships came with Lee Petty driving the #42, and a record seven championships came with Richard Petty driving the #43.
[edit] Dark Years
From 1980 to 1984, Richard Petty won several races which brought his career total to 200 NASCAR wins. Unfortunately, these were his last wins. At the end of the 1983 season, Petty announced he was leaving Petty Enterprises to drive for Mike Curb.
Following the 1985 season, Petty returned to the family operation, but failed to win another race before he retired in 1992. Since Richard's retirement, Petty Enterprises has only won 3 races[1]. All these wins came in the #43 car, driven by Bobby Hamilton and John Andretti.
PE2 was formed by Kyle Petty in 1997, when he was unable to drive for Petty Enterprises. Kyle has since merged PE2 into Petty Enterprises, and has been taking over the administrative duties Richard no longer handles. [2]
[edit] Comeback
In 2006, Petty Enterprises hired Bobby Labonte to drive the #43 car. Labonte had won the NEXTEL Cup (then Winston Cup) in 2000 while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. Petty also hired Robbie Loomis,who had previously served as NEXTEL Cup Champion Jeff Gordon's crew chief in 2001, as the executive vice president of operations, .
[edit] Petty Blue
One of the most distintive features of the #43 car is its color. Petty Blue, as it's called, was created by the Petty Family. According to Richard, the color was created by accident when they didn't have enough white or dark blue paint to cover the entire car. The resulting mix of white and blue proved to be very popular and remains on the #43 car to this day. [3] Rumors state that Richard Petty would not allow STP to sponsor his car unless he could keep it painted blue. A compromise was reached to paint the car half Petty Blue and half STP Red. Thus was born the most famous paint scheme in racing history.
[edit] History of Drivers
[edit] #1 History
[edit] #7 History
| Driver |
Year(s) |
Sponsor |
Make |
| Kyle Petty |
1983-1984 |
7-11 |
Pontiac/Ford |
[edit] #11 History
| Driver |
Year(s) |
Sponsor |
Make |
| Buddy Baker |
1971-1972 |
Dodge/STP |
Dodge |
[edit] #42 History
[edit] #43 History
[edit] #44 History
[edit] #45 History
[edit] External links
