Published: June 24, 2008 02:55 pm            

PETTY ENTERPRISES: THE END OF AN ERA

Monticello — Petty Enterprises has been one of the most storied names in NASCAR, but

that may change in the future.

Sixty years of racing history ended last week with the announcement that

Petty Enterprises will sell majority ownership of the company to a private

investment firm.

Richard Petty realizes that his family¹s sale of a majority ownership in

Petty Enterprises could signal the end of an era.

His family has owned the team since 1949 and has won 10 championships,

but its last race victory came in 1999. Petty confirmed last Wednesday that

Boston Ventures will now have controlling interest in the team, with the

investment firm getting four members of the board of directors and the Petty

family getting three.

³From an era standpoint‹I don¹t look at it [that way],² Petty said. ³I

just look at it as growth. It¹s just like us not going to North Wilkesboro

[N.C.] anymore or not going to Rockingham [N.C.].

³This is progress as far as I¹m concerned. For us to get bigger and

better, we can¹t continue to do the same thing we¹ve been doing.²

Boston Ventures will help with sponsorship and branding the Petty name.

It also has named a chief executive officer to replace Richard¹s son, Kyle,

in that role.

³I¹m 70, 71 years old, and Kyle doesn¹t want to run the business,²

Richard continued. ³He wants to be involved in it, but he doesn¹t want to

take it to another dynasty. For his purposes and for the rest of my family,

everybody just felt like the way the business is growing and the way NASCAR

is growing, this is the only way we can go and be competitive next year and

five, 10 years down the road.²

Petty insisted he wasn¹t sad.

³Look at what I¹ve seen 60 years ago and what I see now‹look at how big

this business is,² Petty said. ³You grew up in it and you had a part of it,

so it makes you real proud that the dadgum thing has got away from you and

has got that big.²

And Petty insisted that in his new position as chairman emeritus, his

role hasn¹t changed.

³It¹s still got my name on the door, and I¹m still responsible for what

goes on in there, no matter who the people is that¹s running the business,²

Petty said. ³It¹s up to me to keep them kind of straight from that

standpoint.

³You¹re not going to see any difference in the way I operate or the way

I run the business. No matter what happens, the buck stops here. It is my

company. If things get screwed up, you can come back to me.²

Let¹s hope so, Richard. The sport still needs an ambassador like you.

Next Week: What is NASCAR¹s New Car Really Like

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.