Nothing lasts forever. You’re on top one day and lost in the crowd the next.
As long as there has been NASCAR racing there have been the Petty family and the Wood Brothers involved in the sport.
The Wood Brothers, who first brought precision pit stops to the sport and won 96 Cup races with such legendary drivers as David Pearson and Cale Yarborough behind the wheel, have struggled to remain competitive the past few years.
They hired fan favorite and former champion Bill Elliott with the hope this past champion’s provisional would get their car into more races if he couldn’t get it up to fast enough speed to qualify. Today the Wood Brothers car is out of the top 35, missing races with no light at the end of the tunnel in sight.
Petty Enterprises’ 45 car, driven by third generation driver Kyle Petty, has fallen from the top 35 and failed to make the field at Martinsburg. Kyle stepped out of driver’s seat for last weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.
This past week General Mills, the primary sponsor of the famed No. 43 car for the past nine years, announced they will be leaving the Pettys at the end of the year, and will sponsor a car for Richard Childress Racing. Speculation is that driver Bobby Labonte will leave the Pettys at the end of the year to join Richard Childress Racing. Without a name driver and without a win since 1999 the future looks bleak indeed
The clock is ticking and sadly, one day soon and one by one, these once proud powerful, names will be gone from the scene.
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