Q. Richard, first of all, tell us what it was like to get back into victory lane this past weekend, and also, what’s it going to be like when you come back down to Daytona and look back on the unbelievable win in ‘84 what will that be like?
RICHARD PETTY: You know, just winning any race, being involved in it, whether you’re a mechanic or owner or driver or whatever is great, and it’s been pretty good while since we won one, so I was trying to take it all in.
You know, it was just a good day. Everything was perfect for that day for us. And you know, then it’s the same thing when I look back 25 years ago at Daytona when we won our 200th race, everything was perfect, come down to the last of the race and we just needed to win. But the main thing was we was prepared to do the best we could and we was prepared for what the circumstances were and were able to beat the circumstances.
So, you know, although it’s been 25 years ago, I still remember a lot of it, but it’s the last time I won a race driving, so naturally that’s going to be in your memory the most.
Q. I know in victory lane, you told me that this would be good, obviously, for your company, we all know that, to have a win and the economics of the whole situation. But I want to ask you, because you’ve been around for a long time, people don’t always remember the struggles that you guys have had up until most recently, but thinking years and years back, can you remember going through an economic time like this or times when you guys have had to really struggle just to stay there years and years ago?
RICHARD PETTY: Well, you’ve got to figure, we was there way before people had sponsorships. You know, my dad and mother run it out of their pocket book, and so we’ve been up and down in those situations over a period of time. We have been there when the factories were involved and the factories got out, and we’ve been through other recessions or whatever they want to call it, over a period of time, but none of them have affected us as directly as what’s going on today. You know, it might have been in the back of business or might have been in textile business but that didn’t really affect us or most of our fans. Now the way the economy is, it’s affecting everybody, whether you’re in the limelight or wherever you’re at, it’s really affected everybody.
It’s really affected racing because it’s affected the whole economy of the United States.
Q. Do you feel being a tough guy that was very resourcefulness that your resourcefulness will propel you through it?
RICHARD PETTY: Always look at when times are tough, tough’s got to get tougher, okay. And you have to sort of do with your business or your personal deal, you just have to tighten up on some of the stuff, you’ve been maybe a little bit too loose on anyway.
You’ve got to figure, our economy has been really, really good, and being it was good, a lot of times me at home or me in my business have got a little bit too easy with our money, I guess, because it was easy come, so you just went ahead and spent and went on down the road. Now you’re going to have to tighten up some of the places you got too loose on.
It’s like anything else, the ones that can control it now and all of the people that really come through this deal are going to come out the other end a lot stronger and a lot of people are going to go buy the wayside, so we’re going to come out of it and we’re going to come out of it in pretty good shape.
Q. Let’s go back to happier times back there 25 years ago, do you remember a lot about that race, and that day? Can you give me sort of a snapshot of that day for you?
RICHARD PETTY: I’m going to tell you the things that really stood out with me. We went down there and we went into practice, and I don’t even know if we qualified. I guess we was running pretty good. The big deal was the President of the United States was going to come on July the 4th. He was coming to the race, and you know, he was the one that said, you know, gentlemen, start your engines. He was flying from somewhere to Daytona.
Then I don’t remember, that was. It we went out and we do our racing, and it comes down to the end of the race, and Ken Yarborough and myself, I happened to be leading and Ken was running second so we come down to I guess three laps to go and as we came across the start/finish line, I was leading the race, Ken was running second and as we come across the start finish line down in the first corner right on the edge of the infield was his car way up in there, that’s when we raced back to the flag. So Ken myself knew that this was the last lap, guys.
So we go through the corner, going through the backstretch, Gil passes me like I knew what he was going to do because couldn’t do anything with the draft and as he did, went into the third corner and the car moves up a little bit and I pulled in beside it and we are hung side-by-side going into three, into four, down the front stretch. And I happened to be on the inside lane and when we got to the dogleg then we both turn and my car runs three foot shorter than his and I wind up winning the race.
You know, they was throwing the caution, and so we still had another lap to go, and Kale I think came down pit road the next time in thinking the race was over and we still had a lap to go. Then when that was over, they had said for the winner to stop at start/finish line and get out of the car and go up into the announcer’s booth because the president was up in the announcer’s booth. So I get out of the car and I wander up, go up in and talk to the President a little bit up there and he’s kind of blown away because you know, we are running side-by-side and smoke is coming off the car and running 200 mile line, blew his mind, he had not seen anything particularly like that.
Then we got through that and came back down to the winner’s circle and we do the winner’s circle for the 200th win and all this stuff and when that was over with, then they let everybody out of the track and they let all of the drivers and crew chiefs and their families and stuff back into the garage area. And we had a picnic with the President of the United States on July the 4th, so you know, it was a great, great day for us. I think it was a great day for racing.
Q. I talked to Mike Curb last week and I didn’t really realize that he was your car owner that year, so that win actually went to Mike Curb. Can you talk about Mike and his role in that win?
RICHARD PETTY: Well, we got involved with Mike I think in ‘84, and he was, I guess, governor, vice governor, whatever they have, in California, and a big Republican. So I don’t know, and he knew pretty much knew our President at that time. And so I think he was one of the big instigators in getting the President to come to the racetrack to begin with. So you know, he was naturally up there getting his picture took with him. It was a big deal, big deal for us and it was a big deal for him because I think he had something to do with getting the President there.
Q. I’m sure you’ve heard there’s been a lot of speculation recently about whether Richard Petty motorsports would change manufacturers this season or next season.
RICHARD PETTY: Something about next season. What do you want to know?
Q. There’s been speculation about whether Richard Petty motorsports would change manufacturers this season or next season, wonder if you can clear that up for us.
RICHARD PETTY: I can’t say because I don’t know. I do know that we are looking at all option that is we have got. We’ve been with Dodge all these years, and you know, we don’t really know where they are at. We are talking to Dodge. We are talking to anybody that wants to talk.
Right now we are in the process of trying to come up with what we think is going to be best for Richard Petty Motorsports, not only in the near future but in the future way on out there. So I really can’t speculate on that, or can’t say anything about it because it would be purely speculation.
Q. A bit off the subject of Daytona but I’m wondering, I’m working on a project on Pocono racing, can you recall the early days of you coming to Pocono and the role that Pocono played in expanding it’s series to a national series from a southern series.
RICHARD PETTY: Really I think the first time we went to Pocono we ran a couple of USAC races up there right before NASCAR came. A couple of 500-mile races and when NASCAR got up there, I had a little practice on the track, so we was able to win the first race. But it really opened up a big area of people up there, all in Pennsylvania, you can’t believe how many fans we had in Pennsylvania. I think we did a survey one time and North Carolina had the most fans but Pennsylvania was the second most populous as far as going to the races all over the country.
And so it really opened up that whole area in the northern part of the country. We were a southern sport and that’s where we started and we was there for a long time, and then when you did get to go to Pocono, you was exposed to New York, but you was exposed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, all of the northeast at that particular time because that was the only thing up there.
So I think it made it more legitimate. It helped moved us out of the south and made us more of a national sport.
Q. If my memory is correct, you just referred to your running in a USAC race or two before NASCAR came to Pocono. You were not exactly welcomed by the USAC folks were you?
RICHARD PETTY: Well, not really, okay. When we got there, they had some garage areas, and there was some of them that was still empty but anyhow, they made us park out in the tent in the gravel working on the track, behind the garage area, and the gentleman that owned the racetrack, he decided that wasn’t going to work and he told them guys, if Richard Petty did not get in the garage area he was going to run them all out.
So that pretty much took care of it. Once we got there and got talking to them guys and stuff, hey, it wasn’t the guys we was competing against; it was the USAC officials.
But I think everybody got on their fanny and by the time it was ready to race, everybody had come around. We came back the second year and we was welcomed with open arms.
Q. One last thing. Do you recall any strange or funny things happening at Pocono? I recall one specifically where you tried to run down or catch David Pearson in the last lap of a race and his car was smoking and you could not see through the smoke to catch him. Do you recall any things like that?
RICHARD PETTY: Yeah, I kept telling him I couldn’t see through the smoke.
I kept telling him, I said, “Man, you could throw a black flag to the guys that’s swinging down a bunch of smoke. ” And he wound up winning the race. They finally black-flagged him the last lap or something, but anyhow, that was one of the deals.
One of the worst times I had deals was back in 1980 or something, I blue a tire or broke a wheel going into the tunnel turn, and wound up breaking my neck. That was, I remember that part more than the good times, I guess.
| 
|