Richard Petty flashed his broad, infectious grin as he posed for photographs beside the #43 STP Pontiac, the spitting image of the car in which 'The King' won his 200th race, on 4 July 1984, at
Daytona International Speedway.
The state of the economy - and of manufacturer support for stock car racing - is far less certain today than it was for Petty's final victory in
NASCAR's Cup Series in front of a packed house that included president Ronald Reagan.
Reports surfaced this week that General Motors is likely to drop its Pontiac brand, with an announcement perhaps as early as Monday. The Dodge brand Petty currently fields for his Richard Petty Motorsports drivers is in limbo, as Petty puts it, amid reports of a possible merger between parent company Chrysler and Italian automaker Fiat - or of a possible Chrysler bankruptcy.
"They haven't got a clue what they're doing," Petty responded when asked whether Chrysler had communicated a commitment to ongoing factory support at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, "They can't tell me nothing, because they don't know what's going on.
"They don't know what the government's coming at. They don't know if they're going to have to do this or do that. They're in limbo, so they can't tell us nothing. We communicate with them and [they] say 'well, we're still in business as of today'. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
Petty said stock car racing has survived in the past without factory support, but today there's a difference.
"The only thing about that was that it survived because the economy was okay with everybody else," he noted, "[The manufacturers] just went home - and their economy was good. They just decided they didn't want to race. When they go home now, then that means the economy is bad, or they wouldn't be going home.
"I don't think anybody's seen a time like this, because I wasn't born until after [the 1929 stock market crash] - believe it or not. None of us have been through any of this kind of stuff. It's new to everybody. We've been in this business before where the factories went home, but the economy was still okay, so we were able to pick it up somewhere else.
"If the factories go home now, we'll have to pick it up somewhere else. You can believe that, no matter what goes on, there's going to be some racecars somewhere, 'cause some idiots like us are going to make it work some way or another."
As to Pontiac's possible demise, Petty was philosophical.
"That's all history," he said, referring to the Pontiac he'll drive to pace the field at this year's 4 July Coke Zero 400, on the 25th anniversary of his last victory, "I've got no control over what Ford does or what Chrysler does or what GM does. What we've done, that's history sitting out there. It's 25 years ago.
"I'm worried about what's going to happen after a while or tomorrow or next week. Petty Enterprises was in business for 60 years. Now it's Richard Petty Motorsports, going into a different era. So you just forget about that era and say I'm glad I come through there, and I enjoyed part of it as I come through. Now let's go to the future."
by Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
