Being from one of professional stock car racing’s most prestigious families is no guarantee of a successful NASCAR career. And NASCAR/ Winston Cup driver Kyle Petty realized early in life that his famous name wasn’t a free ride into life’s ultimate victory lane either.
While he is the third generation Petty to have a successful career on the NASCAR circuit, neither his father (racing legend Richard Petty) nor his grandfather (NASCAR pioneer Lee Petty) gave young Kyle any special encouragement to enter the dangerous sport. “My father and grandfather didn’t encourage or discourage me from following them,” Petty told EP News. “They didn’t push me that way, but they didn’t push me away from it, either. It was there if I wanted to go for it, but it was my choice.”
The choice to enter the family business came easily to Petty, however. With a total of more than 50 years in the sport, the Pettys have always considered racing to be their line of work. “We kind of compare what we do to the family farm that is passed from one generation to the next,” Petty said. “We just happen to drive race cars, and not farm or do anything else.”
While his 23 years in professional racing hasn’t matched father Richard’s 200 career Winston Cup victories, Petty has had a respectable career on the Winston Cup circuit. He now manages the Petty racing team, which is the most successful organization in motor sports history.
Petty said he can remember the precise time when faith in Jesus Christ began to take on importance for him. “I had an uncle, Randy Owens, who was killed at Talladega [racetrack] when I was 14 years old,” Petty recalled.
“It was during a pit stop during one of my father’s races, and a fuel tank blew up in the pits, and it killed him.”
“I could not fathom how that could happen,” Petty recalled. “I’d never lost anybody. But through my grandmother and through my mother and our family, that is when my relationship with Jesus Christ came to fruition.”
He added, “I grew up in a time when it wasn’t the coolest thing to be a Christian. And when you’re 14 or 15, you want to be cool. But I realized that there was more to life than just being cool and hanging out. There was a relationship that you needed with Jesus Christ, and that gave you eternal life.”
Petty said, “I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but from that day forward that relationship with Jesus Christ has been there, and I’ve always been able to call on Him when times are bad or when times are good.” He added, “I call on Him as much when times are good as when times are bad.”
One of the bad times for Petty and his wife, Pattie, was May 12, 2000, when their 19-year-old son Adam, a rising star on the NASCAR circuit, was killed at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during a practice run for a race there.
“The only thing that sustained us was our faith in God,” Petty remembered. “The outpouring from the fans was phenomenal,” he said, remembering that one of the ways fans demonstrated their love and concern was by sending “tons of books on how to deal with grief.
“But you know, I don’t think we ever opened a book. We went straight back to the Bible and read the Bible, and found our comfort there, and not in what somebody else said. We found it in what Jesus said.”
While it would have been easy to question God about Adam’s death, Petty said that he and his family never did. “I think for us we looked at it differently,” he explained. “We saw that for 19 years Adam had been a blessing to us. And yes, it was a loss for us, but we looked at it as a loss for everyone. Yes, it still hurts, and it’s incredibly hard to lose a child. I don’t think there is a minute of a day that goes by that we don’t hurt and think about it.”
Adam’s death served to strengthen the family’s faith, however. “Every night before we go to bed we gather to say prayers,” Petty said. “That’s a big part of who and what we are, and how we handled Adam’s accident and death. We sat and talked about it.”
He added, “I think one thing that came from Adam’s accident was how important family is, and how important the people around you and the people you love are. That grounds you a little bit.”
Like most men, Petty’s busy career has forced him to choose priorities. “I think God had a good plan when He made 24 hours,” he said, “but for today’s guys and today’s people I’m not sure 24 hours is enough.” But, he said, “If your job becomes the most important thing to you, then you’re way skewed.”
Petty has made an effort to keep God number one in his life. “God should be your first priority when you get up,” he said. “I say a prayer every morning and read the Bible, and that’s the last thing we do before we go to bed at night.”
He continued, “My family is the next thing that’s important to me. They travel with me as much as they can to the races, and when I’m home, I’m home. I’m not taking days off to go fishing. I spend time with my family because that’s what’s important to me.”
On the NASCAR circuit there is more focus on spiritual things than the average spectator might notice.
A ministry known as Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) goes to all the major NASCAR races to hold chapel services for the drivers, pit crews and families, and to pray with the teams before every race.
Petty explained, “Lots of people wouldn’t notice it, but before each race a couple of the MRO pastors will start, one at the back of the field and one at the front, and they’ll stop at each and every car and pray with each driver and each wife and each crew member. The spectators watching them might think they’re just having a team meeting.”
In Petty’s line of work intense preparation is important. “What we do is obviously a little more dangerous than the ordinary guy sees his job as being,” he said.
Spiritual preparation is important regardless of your walk of life, he said. “I don’t think you can go out there and race, … go out in everyday life, without having Jesus Christ with you.
(EP)
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