In additional than 20 years in NASCAR, Brad Keselowski had by no means spent any vital time with Richard Petty till they traveled collectively April 7 to Washington, D.C., to go to with Congressional members of the Nationwide Motorsports Coalition.
The time with Petty was eye-opening for Keselowski, who quizzed the seven-time Cup champion about his life and profession.
Keselowski explains what the time with Petty meant to him and why he calls Petty — who’s tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson for essentially the most Cup titles — because the “biggest race automobile driver that ever lived.”
Keselowski on Petty:
“It was someday over the yr final yr I used to be fascinated with him and the way particular he’s to our sport, actually distinctive particular person, and I may get on a soapbox right here as a result of my private opinion of Richard Petty might be totally different than lots of people’s opinion of Richard Petty.
“I really feel that Richard Petty is the best race automobile driver that ever lived. The rationale why I really feel that means is broader than simply his persona, which is, I feel, it’s fairly cool. It’s broader than his 200 wins. I feel it connects again to one thing that makes racing very distinctive in comparison with different sports activities.
“It’s the facet of he raced in an period the place the contemporaries he had that no less than may win or have been top-level drivers would, candidly, not make it out yearly, and he himself a number of instances barely made it out of huge crashes. He had the one in Darlington, the couple in Daytona and never solely did he survive these, however he stored racing. And he didn’t simply preserve racing. He stored profitable.
(Authentic Caption) Richard Petty’s arm hangs out the window of his Plymouth after the veteran inventory automobile driver hit the retaining wall alongside the pits and took off on this airborne flight. Petty was taken to the hospital.
Richard Petty’s arm hangs out the window of his Plymouth after his automobile hit the retaining wall alongside the pits and took off on this 1970 crash at Darlington Raceway. (Picture: Bettmann Archive)
“Like no one else can actually declare that, no less than not on the NASCAR stage, possibly you may have a look at a Mario Andretti or anyone of that nature. So to me, there are drivers which are going to have superb resumes of championships, superb resumes of huge race wins or whole race wins, however he has the quintessential race automobile driver story of success, persona and guts.
“All three of these collectively are simply, they’re legendary. I don’t suppose he will get sufficient credit score for that, significantly these days once we turn out to be so stat primarily based with every thing. We neglect simply how spectacular it’s that this man at one level in his profession had gained a number of races, a number of championships and been via crashes he that hardly lived via, watched different folks of comparable nature die at races. After experiencing all of that, he received again within the automobile and gained races and championships.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – JULY 4, 1984: Richard Petty recorded his 2 hundredth, and ultimate, NASCAR Cup Collection win on the 1984 Firecracker 400. (Picture by ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Name Group by way of Getty Photos)
Richard Petty recorded his 2 hundredth, and ultimate, NASCAR Cup Collection win on the 1984 Firecracker 400 (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Name Group by way of Getty Photos)
“There’s no one like that that I can put a finger on. So, I used to be fascinated with that someday final yr. What I used to be actually fascinated with, ‘Brad, what are the issues in your life that you just take totally as a right that you just’re going to completely remorse 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now?’
“And one in every of them as I used to be sort of making this psychological listing was I had entry to Richard Petty and didn’t do something with it, like didn’t get to know him, didn’t get to construct a relationship with him, which was totally true up till I went on that journey (in April), for the final decade or extra of my life. I used to be like, ‘Man, I’m going to actually remorse that at some point. I don’t know when or how, however at some point I’m going to actually remorse that.
“I keep in mind making a psychological observe of that, not essentially having a solution to it. And so when the chance got here as much as go to DC for the journey with NASCAR and the congressional committee and I noticed his title was on the listing, I used to be like, ‘That’s nice, possibly I’ll get to spend a while with him.’
“And simply by full happenstance, it ended up being that I used to be on the airplane with him. And I don’t wish to undersell (it). Toni Breidinger was on the aircraft with me and Rajah (Caruth) was on the aircraft with me, in order that they have been there too. So it wasn’t simply Richard and I, nevertheless it was me sitting in entrance of Richard for 3, I don’t know, it might have been 4 or 5 hours. And simply ‘Inform me about this. Inform me about that. What was this like? What was that like? What was that like? How would you deal with this? What’s your opinion on that?’ And it was superior.
“I want that we had the Google Glasses … I want I used to be sporting them for that aircraft experience and pushed the file button. So, it was an actual, actual blessing, actual deal with. And I might prolong that very same thought to all of us within the room, what are the issues that 10, 20 years from now are you going to say I want I might’ve taken benefit of that chance and remorse I didn’t do it, and Richard was one in every of them. … He’s received so many superb tales and has lived a fullest of lives. He’s lived 20 folks’s lives, proper?”
HAMPTON, GEORGIA – FEBRUARY 25: Legacy Motor Membership co-owner and NASCAR Corridor of Famer, Richard Petty walks the grid previous to the NASCAR Cup Collection Ambetter Well being 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 25, 2024 in Hampton, Georgia. (Picture by Todd Kirkland/Getty Photos)
What stood out most about all that point with Petty that day?
Keselowski stated: “I’m nonetheless blown away by the identical factor, which is ‘Richard, how did you get again within the automobile after profitable all these races, championships, having two or three youngsters and after seeing the Ned Jarretts win and retire and the Fireball Roberts parish on the racetrack, like how did you endure? How did you retain going?
“Like how did you not simply say, ‘You already know what, I made my cash, I’ve received my farm, I’ve received my spouse and children, I’m simply going to pack it up. How did you retain enduring and enduring at a excessive stage? Since you may simply preserve enduring within the sense of I’m simply going to maintain racing, however when the tires seem like they’re going to blow out, or, you already know, when it seems to be a bit of furry, I’m simply going to fall on again, proper?
“He may have performed that, however he didn’t. And, so, you already know, asking him, possibly much less candidly, these questions and simply listening to him and his dedication to the game and the way NASCAR is and what he was and what he all the time needed to be, that simply blew me away. These days folks aren’t a lot dedicated to issues as I feel he was and his technology was. Full ship.”
