In this episode of 'Shift: NASCAR’s evolution Through the Eyes of The King,' Richard Petty looks back on his road to 200 NASCAR Cup Series wins and his lunch with Ronald Reagan. 'Shift' is a series of conversations between Richard and Kyle Petty highlighting the evolution of NASCAR's 75-year history through the dark lenses of Richard Petty's famous glasses.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:02 [BEEP]
00:02 Richard Petty in car number 43 grabs the lead.
00:05 Here comes Petty.
00:06 Richard Petty begins to close in from second place.
00:10 For racing fans, this is such sweet thunder.
00:14 [MUSIC]
00:17 [MUSIC]
00:27 [MUSIC]
00:39 [BEEP]
00:39 [MUSIC]
00:42 It was a big buildup.
00:45 Richard Petty has chalked up more victories in major races
00:48 than any other driver in the history of the sport.
00:51 We had won the 199th at Dover.
00:55 Richard Petty comes off turn four, takes the checkered flag,
00:58 and wins the Budweiser 500.
01:01 And so everybody in the press, everybody in racing and stuff,
01:04 said, "Okay, how long is it going to take to get to 200?"
01:09 I think a lot of people were pulling for you just to go ahead and get to 200.
01:13 The press really followed you everywhere you went.
01:16 They kept up with the crew, kept up with what was going on.
01:19 [MUSIC]
01:22 When we did get to Daytona, everything played out exactly to be able to win.
01:28 [MUSIC]
01:31 Kel and myself kind of wound up in front of everybody else.
01:35 [MUSIC]
01:37 Kel had a quick car, but he followed me in his last laps,
01:40 knowing he was going to pass me going up the backstretch.
01:43 It was going to be an easy win, but he didn't.
01:46 [MUSIC]
01:48 I'd started letting off on the accelerator a little bit,
01:51 maybe 100 RPMs each lap.
01:55 But Kel didn't realize that because he was busy just keeping his eye on where I was at.
02:00 When we did come to the last lap, I'd have a little something that he didn't know I had.
02:05 I think with a couple laps to go and somebody spun out in the first turn.
02:09 And a car is spun out. Doug Heverin's car is spun out in turn one.
02:13 We knew that whoever got back, that was going to be the last lap.
02:18 We went almost into the corner before he got by me.
02:21 And then when he did, he went in and went up.
02:24 [MUSIC]
02:27 There was no way that I could pass him.
02:30 We ran down the front stretch, and I kept him high.
02:33 I was going to keep him high going into the corner.
02:36 And I was able just to make a left-hand turn.
02:39 Then we got side-by-side.
02:41 If you get really close to a car, then you kind of bog it down, or it bogs you down.
02:46 In other words, kind of stick together.
02:48 This may be the race that we're looking at here as they sweep up into traffic,
02:51 a highly dangerous situation.
02:53 [MUSIC]
02:56 When we got there, it was automatically going to put me in front
02:59 because I was going to run this much shorter distance than they did.
03:03 [ANNOUNCER]
03:08 [MUSIC]
03:12 You don't lose your enthusiasm for winning.
03:15 In other words, the reason you go out there is to try to beat everybody.
03:19 [MUSIC]
03:23 And it's very satisfying when the race is over,
03:27 whether you lucked into it or outrun them or whatever, that you won.
03:32 Because that was what you set out that day or that week to do.
03:36 And so you felt that you had really accomplished something after you won.
03:41 [MUSIC]
03:45 We were able to go upstairs up to the announcer's booth
03:49 and meet the president and talk to him.
03:52 All the drivers and their crews and their families were invited.
03:56 We all got to eat lunch with the president of the United States.
04:00 [MUSIC]
04:09 We put him on the sports page. He put us on the front page.
04:13 [MUSIC]
04:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]