Richard Petty appeared on Speeds Pre-Season Thunder program Thursday evening and said a mouth full about where he thinks NASCAR is heading. The past champion was interviewed during the last day of the media tour.
Petty was asked about his recent move of his racing operations to
their new location . The King himself began by saying he was trying to "get into the mainstream instead of being on the outskirts" of NASCAR. He admitted he had been "eat-up by the competition." Squarely in Petty's sites were the "super teams" in the sport. Petty quietly admitted he once led in the sport, then he just wanted to stay with the crowd. Now, in his most candid admission, he flatly stated he was "just holding onto the back" of the sport. With the recent changes at Yates Racing and the departure of Morgan McClure, his words really carried a lot of meaning for veteran fans. It was almost like he was saying that this could be near the end of an era of Petty Enterprises if his team didn't do better this year. Hanging on by a thread so to speak.
Petty was asked about his recent move of his racing operations to
their new location . The King himself began by saying he was trying to "get into the mainstream instead of being on the outskirts" of NASCAR. He admitted he had been "eat-up by the competition." Squarely in Petty's sites were the "super teams" in the sport. Petty quietly admitted he once led in the sport, then he just wanted to stay with the crowd. Now, in his most candid admission, he flatly stated he was "just holding onto the back" of the sport. With the recent changes at Yates Racing and the departure of Morgan McClure, his words really carried a lot of meaning for veteran fans. It was almost like he was saying that this could be near the end of an era of Petty Enterprises if his team didn't do better this year. Hanging on by a thread so to speak.He was also asked about foreign drivers coming into the sport of NASCAR. Asked what his thoughts were, he gave the most honest answer I've ever heard and almost a shock heard around the world. He said he flat out did not like all the open-wheeled and foriegn drivers entering the sport because "fans want to see drivers they have rooted for at local tracks for years and to watch their racing careers grow". He was referring to the IRL or IndyCar Series that has seen so much decline in popularity.
He said "these foreign drivers had fans overseas, but that did not sell tickets and souvenirs here in the states". Petty also said it wasn't bad to "pepper" the sport with a few of them, but you could read into him that he thought there was enough in the sport of racing. Referring to the IndyCar Series, he said the series "hurt itself when you could no longer pronounce the drivers names". Although NASCAR does not hire the drivers Petty was referring to, it's the owners who make the decision to hire drivers.
In the long run, and if histioy repeats itself, NASCAR's fate could be heading down the same road that the Indy Series has seen in the past few years. The Daytona 500 could have the same dismal ticket sales and shortage of teams as the Indy 500 someday. Plummeting television ratings, empty seats at tracks, and the loss of long time fans show that the NASCAR series is in trouble. Money and greed has gotten in the way of what we're all here to see and that's just "good racing". The COT, massive rule changes, bad television coverage, and the flood of non stock car drivers equals unhappy fans.
Bottom line, if Richard Petty's worried about where the Series going, we better all be worried. Petty's move from Level Cross to Mooresville, NC was basically to "go down swinging" as a NASCAR team owner. He's about to go down with the big corporate ship. We're seeing big teams call it quits and from what he's saying, he "may be next". He's giving NASCAR a warning but will they turn a deaf ear, probably. They have been turning it to the loyal fan for the last couple years. If Petty goes down will NASCAR as a whole be next? Grab on to your lifevest folks, the ships a sinking!
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