Lee Petty Biography - Hard Times In The Rural South, Chronology, A Nascar Pioneer, The First Daytona 500
car stock racing sport
1914-2000
American race car driver
Lee Petty was a key figure in the early development of stock car racing and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing Inc. (NASCAR). He contributed to the evolution of the sport from an illegal, back road event, to dirt tracks at local fairgrounds and other sites throughout the South and Midwest, to the latter-day super-speedways at Daytona, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina, and other cities. By the time Petty retired—after sixteen years behind the wheel and 427 NASCAR starts—he had racked up fifty-five wins, an all-time high that stood until his son Richard Petty passed him on his way to 200 NASCAR victories, a record that still stands. Lee Petty was the first NASCAR driver to win three national championships; he finished fifth or better 231 times. Besides being one of the best drivers in NASCAR history, Lee Petty played a significant role in the transformation of stock car racing from a sport to a business, testified most clearly by the continuing success of the family firm he founded, Petty Enterprises.
Sketch by Gerald E. Brennan
Additional Topics
Lee Petty was born in 1914 in rural North Carolina. His parents scraped out a living on the family farm and Petty grew up dirt poor. With the hard times of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Petty accepted whatever jobs were available in order to support his young wife, the former Elizabeth Toomes, and his two sons, Richard and Maurice. For a time he was a biscuit salesman and later he owned a sma…
When NASCAR was founded in December 1947, the purpose of the association was to promote stock car racing—races that used standard car makes rather than the special Formula One automobiles driven at other established races. The first NASCAR event was held on December 16, 1948 at the old Daytona Beach track, a course that made its way through the streets of the city before heading out onto th…
In 1959 Petty entered the inaugural running of the Daytona 500, NASCAR's answer to the Indianapolis 500. The race was held on a brand new track, the highly banked Daytona International Speedway. The race was a nail-biter that ended in a three-way photo finish between Petty, Johnny Beauchamp and Joe Weatherly. NASCAR officials immediately declared Beauchamp the winner. Petty was infuriated, …
For some who knew him Lee Petty was uncommunicative, tight-fisted, and a dirty competitor. Others, however, found that he was also a gentleman. Driver Ned Jarrett was close behind Petty for ten laps with no way to get past in one race. Finally Jarrett bumped Petty's car. After the race Petty pulled Jarrett aside and advised him to learn some manners when driving. However a few days later, w…
When seventeen-year-old Adam Petty, Lee Petty's great-grandson, drove his first race on April 11, 1998, he was writing the beginning of another chapter in the Petty family's book of records. It was the first time four generations of a single family had participated in a professional sport. From the start it was clear that he was cut from the same mold as his grandfather (Richard Pett…
Chapin, Kim. Fast As White Lightning. New York: Dial Press, 1981. Petty, Richard, with William Neely. King Richard I. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1986. Bechtel, Mark. "The Patriarch: Lee Petty 1914-2000. #x201D; Sports Illustrated (April 17, 2000): 26. McLaurin, Jim. "Lee Petty, First Winner of Daytona 500, Dies in Greensboro, NC." State (April 6, 2000): 26. McLeroy, Rea. …
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User Comments
almost 2 years ago
van griffith
The Southern 500 at Darlington, S.C. was stock car racing's answer to the Indy 500. First run on Labor Day 1950 this event had been run nine times before Daytona speedway opened in 1959. Over a number of years the Daytona 500 became the premier stock car race...due in part to it's being on televison. And maybe because the France family owned the Daytona track and sanctioning organization NASCAR and promoted the Daytona race much more.