'The King' picks an heir
Petty, John Andretti an unlikely duo with common cause
Posted: Thu February 5, 1998 at 4:13 PM ET
ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina (AP) -- The Winston Cup version of the odd
couple showed up in fire-engine red vehicles for a testing session
at North Carolina Speedway.
Richard Petty was in a 4-wheel-drive pickup, which perfectly
suits his image as the homebred hero of stock car racing. He
climbed down from the cab on the dark, rainy morning adorned with
his requisite sunglasses, cowboy hat, leather jacket and snakeskin
boots.
John Andretti pulled up in a Porsche convertible with tags from
his adopted home state of Indiana. He was wearing sneakers, pressed
denims and a windbreaker. No sunglasses and definitely no hat.
Never any hats. Hats would only hide the perfectly coifed razor
cut.
The car owner and driver, second-generation stars from two of
the most famous families in racing, look like they couldn't
possibly be a worse match. They know better.
"It was just almost like it was supposed to be," Andretti said
of his decision to work for the man he routinely refers to simply
as "The King."
Petty, the son of stock car pioneer Lee Petty, won 200 Winston
Cup races and seven NASCAR titles before turning his attention to
full-time car ownership in 1993.
Petty struggled to keep up with advances in technology and to
attract quality drivers for a few years. But he broke through with
several strong runs and one victory in each of the last two seasons
with Bobby Hamilton as his driver.
Now that Hamilton has moved on to drive for Morgan-McClure
Racing, Petty thinks he is primed for his best year yet because of
the acquisition of Andretti.
A son of Aldo Andretti and a nephew of Mario Andretti, John
doesn't exactly fit the mold of the typical Southern stock car
driver. Born and raised in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Andretti has a business
management degree from Moravian College, co-owns two retail
businesses and says he probably would be an investment banker if
not for racing.
But Andretti clearly has talent. He won on the USAC, IMSA and
CART circuits before migrating to the larger cars of Winston Cup in
1993.
Andretti bounced around for two years, even driving for Petty
for 11 races in 1994, and showed flashes of promise. He broke
through with his first victory in last year's Pepsi 400 at Daytona.
When his car owner, Cale Yarborough, had sponsorship problems at
the end of 1997, Andretti saw it as the perfect time to rejoin
Petty.
Petty agreed.
"When he first started, even with them other boys, I think he
was too anxious. I think he's matured a lot in three years," Petty
said. "He knows now that you don't have to lead the race to win
it. All you've got to do is be there when it's over with."
Petty, whose team finished 16th in the 1997 points chase, also
thinks he has grown up since the last time Andretti drove for him.
"We have improved our team to the point now that we need
someone who's hungry to win and capable of winning, and I feel like
he's done that," Petty said. "The three years that he went
somewhere else and drove for somebody else, he learned a lot. And
we've got a better team now, too. So the fit is better now than
what it would have been three years ago."
The two appear to enjoy each other's company, and often joke
while discussing strategies for setting up cars and driving on
various tracks.
While they were at Rockingham for several days of testing the
team's Pontiacs, speedway officials took advantage of a lunch break
to give Petty a plaque honoring him as the track's leading career
winner. Petty proudly looked at the plaque, which featured a
souvenir program for each of the 11 Winston Cup races he won at
Rockingham, and then he turned to show it to Andretti.
"You'd better get started, son," Petty said with a playful
grin. "You've got some work to do."
Andretti threw up his arms in mock disgust.
"I haven't even been here 11 times," he said.
Now that Petty and Andretti have proven they can be winners in
their new ventures, the next step is to try to make a habit of it.
"You don't want to set your goals too high, because if you
don't get them, you're disappointed," Petty said. "We're very
capable of winning three or four races. Hopefully, if we come
together quick we can win more than that. We were close last year
on a bunch, and finally we did win, but we should have won more."
Andretti is taking a more cautious approach.
"I'd love to win one and then build on that," he said. "I'd
like to think that we can do one better every year as you go along
until you reach your ultimate goals, and then you've got to keep
setting those goals further and further."
How high could those goals be raised?
"If The King can win 200 races, they're out there to be won,"
Andretti said. "That's not to say anybody can ever do it, but if
somebody else did it, that means it can be done. Maybe it won't be,
but seven championships? Who would have thought anybody would have
ever tied it, let alone have a chance of surpassing it?"
Andretti shrugged.
"I've got a great opportunity in front of me," he said. "I
think we can build over time to become more and more successful,
and I'm excited about what's in front of me. What could be better
than driving for The King?"
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