Scott Tucker has built his career on a deep passion for motorsports, a heavy dose of remarkable talent, a calculated driver roster and the help of some spending money from earlier in his life. Driver and owner of Level 5 Motorsports, Tucker began racing in 2006 at age 44, and most recently won his third consecutive Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs, an historical finish at a race he’s entered since his first year of professional racing. Although Tucker has now established himself as an elite race car driver in one of the most prolific racing organizations in the world, his career began in a Ferrari.

Three years after Tucker began his professional racing career, he set a record for the most wins in the Ferrari Challenge Series, nabbing 10 victories in 2009. Tucker again made history last weekend when he won his third consecutive SCCA Runoffs -this time in a Porsche 966 Twin-Turbo-but just three years earlier, he and racing partner Ed Zabinski made history when they placed in the top three of the 2008 T1 Runoffs, a year before Tucker himself began his historical tear on the Runoffs circuit.

At the time, Tucker was a relative newcomer to the motorsports scene, and he joined Zabinski on the Ferrari Challenge circuit. Tucker has relied on more experienced racers who can gain driving points while still providing him the opportunity to gain experience on the track, and Zabinski did just that, winning first place at the 2008 Runoffs while Tucker finished third.

Zabinski began in a second-place starting position and quickly put pressure on the first place racer, Andrew Aquilante. Zabinski tailed Aquilante in his No. 77 Level 5 Motorsports Ferrari 360 Modena for the next 13 laps. Several times, his Ferrari pulled side-by-side with Aquilante’s No. 36 Hosier/Phoenix Perf/Hawk Chevrolet Corvette.

As the two fought neck-and-neck until Lap 15, Aquilante happened upon a mistake that allowed Zabinski the chance to pass. A full-course yellow had come upon the track on the penultimate lap of the entire competition, and Aquilante hit the brakes hard. Zabinski headed the other way as Aquilante hit another car and wrecked. Zabinski clinched the first-place win, as Tucker pulled his No. 55 Level 5 Motorsports Ferrari 360 Modena into third place, just behind John Buttermore of Pontiac, Mich.-who, incidentally, Tucker would finally beat in 2009 for his three-win streak.

Zabinski’s win at the 2008 Runoffs was the first top three win for Ferrari-that is, the first two top three wins for Ferrari, with Tucker’s third-place finish. A year later, Tucker would begin an historic effort in the series. Tucker and Zabinski continued competing under the brand new Level 5 Motorsports team, finishing 28th in the Porsche GT3 class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona; 8th place at Iowa Speedway; and races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec.

Just a year later, Tucker joined up with Christophe Bouchut and began a speedy journey to the top of motorsports competition. Although he’s now entered in five series, including with brand new Le Mans Prototypes, the Ferrari Challenge series has always been on Tucker’s schedule, remaining as the first races he was entered in. And, after this past weekend, the Ferrari Challenge series is one in which Tucker has made an inimitable mark.

Scott Tucker – Grand-Am Road Racing Scott Tucker Driver Headshot. Birthdate:

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September 30th, 2011 – Scott Tucker and his Level 5 Motorsports teammates recently began the final quarter of a racing year that has included numerous podium appearances, multiple car changes, incredible accomplishments and yet still room for improvement. Tucker, owner and driver for Level 5, has been a leader for the team despite the rookie status he maintained merely months ago. His tight, balanced driving has earned him top honors in the American Le Mans Series as Rookie of the Year and Champion Driver in 2010. His races often end with stints on the podium, and his career has only just begun.

As Tucker, his co-drivers Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz and team manager David Stone prepare to close the calendar year with the all-important Petit Le Mans and the Ferrari International Finals, the stakes are high-the team has woven itself a reputation of excellence that is best understood by looking back at what has made 2011 a stunning year for Level 5 Motorsports.

The Scott Tucker-owned Level 5 Motorsports team had undergone 24-hour races before, but the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 24 Hours of Le Mans race brought the stiffest competition from around the world, completely changing the face of endurance competitions compared to what Level 5 was used to in the American Le Mans Series.

Level 5 made its 24 Hours of Le Mans debut much like it had appeared up to that point in the season: remarkably well. Even with the challenge of new cars or races they’ve never before encountered, the Level 5 team has made podium race after race in seemingly easy fashion.

Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa drove the No. 33 Microsoft-sponsored Lola Honda coupe in their new LMP2 category. A seamless race ended with a third place finish and 10th place overall. How does a relatively new team that has never competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans stay cool in the face of the toughest competition in the world and manage to pull off podium? It’s the trademark of Level 5 Motorsports-careful, skillful driving mixed with steely determination and an unrelenting focus on a wining finish.

The team, managed by David Stone, was the only American prototype in the 56-car field. Earlier in the week, the Level 5 team sacrificed track time due to a fuel leak. Despite small gains on the track during qualifying leading up to the race, the team started dead last in the LMP2 lineup. The consistency Level 5 is known for delivering worked to its benefit-after competitors faced trouble, the Lola Honda held strong and was cruising steadily at third place by morning, less than four laps behind the leader.

Not that Level 5 didn’t have its own setbacks-but the tight teamwork and the drivers’ ability to prevent any problems from disrupting their internal focus made the teams two hiccups seem minor in the grand scheme of things. Barbosa spun into the gravel trap about halfway through the race, and three hours from the finish, the car received a realignment and rear deck change.

A day after its debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Level 5 Motorsports nabbed the checkered flag. The win was monumental for the team and for Tucker-he had now made podium in all four of the major sports car endurance races in the world, and in front of 250,000 spectators to boot.

“Any time additions we face were not the fault of the car or the engine,” said Tucker. “This team worked hard, and we accomplished something great today.”

Tucker and his Level 5 team hit the road in hopes of continuing their all but total domination of all three of its series. They would next face the Six Hours of Imola in the next round of the ILMC.

Scott Tucker – Grand-Am Road Racing Scott Tucker Driver Headshot. Birthdate:

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Level 5 Motorsports owner-driver Scott Tucker made history this weekend at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. First past the checkered flag, he nabbed his third consecutive SCCA title, an accomplishment a few other drivers can claim. The hat trick of victories began three years ago, when Tucker’s career was just 3 years old.

In 2009, the Runoffs classic was held for the first time in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., its sixth location since it began. The location was close to Level 5 Motorsports’ home base in Madison, Wisc. The team, which Tucker founded in 2008, was still young but had enjoyed some good success already in the 2009 season. Tucker competed and won in the Hawk Performance Touring 1 race.

His No. 55 Ferrari 430 Challenge had the pole position to start, and he led the T1 field through turn one. In turn two, he lost the leading position to competitor John Buttermore, of Pontiac, Mich., who eventually would make podium behind Tucker. Tucker was hot on the tail of Buttermore’s Nearbrook Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette, keeping his second place status even with pressure from behind in driver Lance Knupp of Fenton, Mich., the third driver to eventually reach the podium that day.

The top three drivers fought it out throughout the race. Tucker followed Buttermore closely, waiting for an opportunity to overtake him. In turn five, Buttermore’s mistake became Tucker’s window, and Tucker passed him to regain the lead in lap four, just before turn six.

Tucker didn’t look back for the remainder of the 13-lap, 52-mile race. By the time he crossed the checkered flag, Tucker had sped to a 1.42-second lead for the first place finish in his first Runoffs appearance. In the process, he recorded the fastest lap of the race, with a 2:22.000 lap during the competition.

“Both Buttermore and Knupp were formidable competitors for the duration of the race,” Tucker said. “I was caught sleeping for a second there, when Buttermore overtook me, but he got a little wide in turn five, and I was able to take advantage of that. It really could have been anyone’s podium today; both of those guys put up strong, consistent races. I had to be continuously focused because I knew if I made a mistake, either one of them would be right there to pick it up.”

Not long after Tucker overtook Buttermore, the Chevrolet lost stability due to braking, which allowed Knupp’s No. 37 Dodge Viper to work into the second-place spot. Even as Buttermore decelerated the pace, he still pulled off the third-place podium finish.

In 2009, Tucker was still in the midst of proving himself an elite driver in just his third year of professional racing. His decisive victory at the Runoffs, considered one of the best sports car races in the world, added to his growing list of victories in 2009. Going into the 2011 Runoffs, Tucker was a different driver; he had not only two Runoffs wins under his belt, but a variety of other first-place and podium finishes from five different racing series. The 2009 SCCA Runoffs at Elkhart Lake, Wisc., were the start of two years of explosive success for Tucker and his Level 5 Motorsports team.

Scott Tucker – Grand-Am Road Racing Scott Tucker Driver Headshot. Birthdate:

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Scott Tucker, Luis Diaz, Joao Barbosa and Marino Franchitti will be behind the wheel of Level 5 Motorsports’ new HPD ARX-01g this weekend at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Franchitti rounds out a team of experienced, elite racing veterans vying for the LMP2 class championship victory.

Franchitti is the latest addition to Tucker’s superteam of motorsports competitors, which has been established throughout the Level 5 Motorsports team’s three years of existence. Franchitti will be especially handy in driving the new Level 5 entry, a LMP2-class Honda Performance Development prototype developed in conjunction with Wirth Research. Prior to joining Level 5, Franchitti had raced essentially every iteration of HPD prototypes, including the original ARX-01a with Andretti Green Racing in 2007 and Highcroft’s 2010 ALMS championship winner ARX-01c as well as its ARX-01e, which took second place overall at the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year. Franchitti this year will be seeking his third consecutive Petit Le Mans class victory.

The elite Level 5 team began when Tucker entered the world of professional motorsports in 2006 at age 44. What he lacked in experience he made up for in raw talent, quickly ascending the motorsports rankings. Early on, he joined up with Christophe Bouchut, an endurance racing veteran, who acted as his mentor and co-driver. Bouchut is one of the most successful endurance drivers in the world and a past winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. He has also won three Porsche Carrera Cup France championships, three FIA GT titles and an FFSA GT championship. He is the only triple FIA GT champion in history. Since the Level 5 Motorsports team began in 2008, Bouchut has co-driven with Tucker and been integral in the team’s success. With his wealth of experience and skill in controlled speed, Bouchut’s role as lead driver has allowed Tucker to develop his own skills, adding to the depth of the Level 5 racing team. During the 2010 season, Bouchut earned his 100th career victory.

Joao Barbosa, another Level 5 Motorsports standout began his racing career in his native Porto, Portugal nearly 30 years ago. He won back-to-back kart championships in 1988-1989 and went on to win the Portuguese Formula Ford championship in 1994 and the Italian Formula Alfa Boxter Championship in 1995. In 2001, he joined the Grand-Am Sports Car Series and competed in the GT class until he joined the Brumos Racing team in a Daytona prototype in 2006. After four seasons there, he joined Action Express Racing and won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2010. In 2010, he also made seven starts in the ALMS for Extreme Speed Motorsports in the GT2 class.

Luis Diaz, the third part to this weekend’s Petit Le Mans bid, hails from Mexico City, Mexico. He ran in the Toyota Atlantic and Indy Lights Series from 1999-2003 before making the move to Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2004 when he co-drove the No. 1 car with former Champ Car competitor Scott Pruett for Chip Ganassi Racing. In 2007, he moved into the ALMS, driving an LMP2 Lola B06/43-Acura for Fernandez Racing. The pairing finished sixth in the LMP2 standings that year and won the class championship in 2009. Diaz made his Level 5 debut this year at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a successful start to the season, and his LMP2 experience will be invaluable at Petit Le Mans with the new car.

Ryan Hunter-Reay has been off the grid for much of the 2011 season as Tucker and crew have been focused on the ALMS and LMP2 class, but he has been a major contributor to the Level 5 team’s overall success. He is a regular in the IZOD IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport, where he nabbed his second victory at Iowa Speedway last year. Hunter-Reay helped the No. 95 Level 5 Motorsports BMW Riley to a third-place finish in the 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Scott Tucker – Grand-Am Road Racing Scott Tucker Driver Headshot. Birthdate:

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I recently took a trip back in time to Long Island NY’s past! No I was not in a Delorean. I was actually in a 1929 Model A Ford,It was one of many in a pack of Model A Fords.My trip back in time was hosted by members of the Model A Ford Club of Long Island. The Club Established in 1959 is one of the oldest and largest Model A Clubs in the U.S. The Trip took me back in time to Long Islands distant past,Way Back before the LIE back before even the Northern and Southern State Parkways.All the way back to the glory days of William K. Vanderbilt Jr’s Long Island Motor Parkway. The Motor Parkway or the LIMP has been forgotten by many.Portions of it can still be found across the Island some parts are even still in use now going under other names. I must admit I knew almost nothing of the Long Island Motor Parkway before this trip back but as I learned about its history and how it was a major part of shaping the Island we all know and love today, I became very interested in learning more and I would like to share with you a little of what I have learned.

The history of William K. Vanderbilt Jr’s Motor Parkway began on June 6th 1908 when its construction started. It was one of the first concrete roads in the Nation and it was the first to use Bridges and over passes so as to not have any intersections. The Motor parkway reached its almost full length of 45 miles from Queens to Lake Ronkonkoma in 1911 with 65 Bridges and many twists and turns.(There was a 2 and a Half mile western extension built in 1928)

The Motor Parkways History of racing is that of legend and still remembered by many Long Island race fans, William K.Vanderbilt Jr was an avid race fan and racer. He often raced in America and France. Disappointed by the lack of Americans winning any of the races he started the Vanderbilt Cup races in 1904 here on Long Island. The race was an international event and would pit 16 Drivers against each other for the prize of the $2000 Silver Cup which was designed by Tiffany & Co.The Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. The Races where first held on 30 miles of local roads in Nassau County.These Races where the Beginning of America’s love affair with auto racing.In 1906 when two spectators where killed and many others injured by a racing car on Jericho turnpike near the intersection of what is known today as NY Routes 106 and 107, Vanderbilt and friends soon came up with the idea for the Long Island Motor Parkway. The Cup Races where Successfully held on Long Island in conjunction with the Motor Parkway Until 1910 when four spectators where killed and twenty injured.

With the Cup races gone the Motor parkway became purely an access route with a toll of $2.00 and was used mostly by New York’s rich looking to hit the party circuit or to go for Sunday Drives and of course by those just looking to drive really fast.The Motor parkway was a privately owned toll road with no speed limit, No Commercial Traffic and because it was privately owned it was off limits to law enforcement. During Prohibition the Parkway gained a reputation as a rum runners road as bootleggers started using the road to transport alcohol.In 1917 the toll was lowered to $1.00 and when more Drivers started using the Motor Parkway to travel across Long Island the speed limit was reduced to 40 mph and local Police where aloud to begin patrolling the parkway to improve traffic safety. An estimated 150,000 cars per year used the Motor parkway at its prime. There where 12 toll lodges along the parkway and the toll lodges have a great story all their own. The Long Island Motor Parkway Continued on until Easter Sunday,April 16th 1938 when it was forced to close. The Motor Parkway even after reducing its toll again to only 40 cents was No longer able to Compete with Robert Moses State of the art Toll free Northern State Parkway. After its Closer the Motor Parkway was split up and sold off, Many of its Bridges destroyed and roads forgotten.Although some Remaining Sections of this Historic Parkway like the 13 Mile eastern most Section in Suffolk still remain in use Most of the Parkway and its History has gone forgotten until recent years.

Members of the Model A Ford Club of Long Island had known about a section of the Long Island Motor Parkway with one of its Bridges still standing hidden away behind Old Bethpage Village and Restoration on Round Swamp Road in Old Bethpage Where the Club holds its Monthly meetings. For those of you who don’t know Old Bethpage Village and Restoration is a pre-Civil War Long Island Village with more than 55 historic buildings and a place where anyone of us can travel back in time for the day.I’m sure most of you out there from Long Island will remember it from field trips back in your School days.Well It is all still there with its same historic Magic and those old fashion Sodas and Candies you remember. I have found Old Bethpage to be the perfect place for a first Date! It will not only take you back threw time but it will make you feel like a Kid all over again. In the early Months of 2007 the members of the Model A Ford Club of Long Island started Clearing away what time and neglect had covered up. Then in May 2007 after much hard work the Members of the Model A Ford Club of Long Island got together at Old Bethpage Village and Restoration and took the first Cruise since its closing on their own private piece of the Motor Parkway and Long Islands History. Mark Adler and his 1931 Model A Coop had the Honor of leading the Group and being the first the travel on it! Long Island has some great History and We must always remember We need to save our Historic Buildings and Land marks!!!

For more info about this article go to the Model A Ford Club of Long Island’s webpage at www.freewebs.com/modela

While researching this story one thing that kept coming to my mind was that if Long Island is one of the first place’s where Auto Racing in the US began then doesn’t that mean that Auto Racing really needs to stay here? Lets reclaim the Glory!!!

Till next time this is your Bro L.J. James AmericanBikerX.com

LJ is a independant author on the Biker world and does an online Radio Motorcycle Show LJ has spent many years working to let all in the Biker world know that TV programs like Sons of Anarchy while entertaining are Fiction and being a Biker is about loyalty and freedom !

categories: Long Island,Model A Ford,William K. Vanderbilt,auto racing,Vanderbilt Cup races,NASCAR,Village and Restoration,Motorcycle,rum runners road,Prohibition

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Many NASCAR fans are angry in the face of an event (or I should say non-event) that took place during this week’s race at Watkins Glen. While NASCAR should have clearly acted out, the organization sat quietly while one of its drivers put the well-being of another driver at risk.

To give a little background about the situation, the previous week’s race at Pocono saw Robby Gordon and David Stremme both slapped with penalties due to overly aggressive actions while racing. Gordon was at it again at Watkins Glen, as he very aggressively roughed up Joey Lagano on the track, forcing him into a crash. Nothing happened to Gordon for this.

Yes, I know the Pocono incident was during the Cup race and the Glen incident was Nationwide, but aggressive driving is aggressive driving and the penalty has been issued in both series many times. What is a mystery is how NASCAR officials could watch the on-track actions of Robby Gordon and just see them as a “racing” deal. This was one of the most blatant cases of aggressive driving with the sole intention of wrecking a driver I have seen in quite some time.

The fact that Robby intentionally forced Logano off the track right after a car had spun and the field in that area was under a local caution, which resulted in Logano’s car suffering enough damage that it caught fire and his day was done, should have been enough to put Mr. Gordon behind the wall for the day, but no, he was allowed to continue.

NASCAR has been disciplinary in recent times and has no reason whatsoever to condone behavior like this. Somehow, the organization completely overlooked actions on Gordon’s part that nearly every fan of the sport knew was intentional.

For those who say he didn’t announce over his radio that he was trying to wreck Joey so how could NASCAR know his intent, I say BULL!! Even a non race fan who watched that event could see what Robby was trying to do and the fact that NASCAR allowed it to continue to the point of a crash that resulted in a car on fire is ludicrous. If safety and fair racing are what NASCAR is really interested in then sometimes they need to step up and show it.

I’m sure that NASCAR will probably end up hitting Gordon with some kind of penalty during the days that follow the race, but that’s not what it’s about here. NASCAR needs to be proactive as an enforcer, and not reactive. Gordon should have been pulled from the race on the spot.

I’ve never been a big fan of Gordon, but he just made the bottom of my list. His actions are unforgivable, and I can’t believe that NASCAR doesn’t see things the same way.

Tags: cars, nascar, media

Though his fame would be eclipsed by his son Richard, Lee Petty was a very successful race car driver in his own right and a pioneer during the early days of the sport. His legacy includes not only his son, better known to NASCAR fans as “The King” Richard Petty and Petty Enterprises has fielded race teams for four generations.

Lee Petty was one of the first to take a businesslike approach to the sport of stock car race in an era when many teams and drivers still supplemented their income via bootlegging and running moonshine. He raced in the very first NASCAR stock car race ever on June 19th, 1949. Among his many firsts in the sport is the dubious distinction of bringing out the first caution flag in NASCAR history. To chronicle his achievements in the sport in a nutshell, he won 50 Cup races, including the first one ever on a paved track. He also caused his share of trouble and was never afraid to mix it up. He once hit Curtis Turner over the head with a wrench after a race, and another time got into a fistfight during the pre race festivities. Lees two sons quickly joined the skirmish but the fight was ended by Mrs. Petty (Richards grandmother) swinging her purse”made heavier than the typical pocketbook by the .44 handgun she carried inside.

His greatest accomplishments on the track were three NASCAR championship victories. He also brought his son, Richard, into the ‘family business’ and after a rocky start in his first season the Petty offspring would go on to win 200 NASCAR races. That mark may never be broken and earned Richard Petty the sobriquet of ‘The King’.

Lees career was cut short by a nasty accident at the 1961 Daytona 500, where his car hit a guard rail and flipped a few times. Lee suffered a number of broken bones and internal injuries. He raced a few more times, but hung it up for good in 1964. He left the management of Petty Engineering to his sons Richard and Maurice and spent his time enjoying friends and family and playing golf. He played frequently until a few months before his death in 2000 at age 86 after surgery to treat a stomach aneurysm.

Lee Petty holds a few NASCAR records that may never be broken. He finished in the top five 231 times out of 427 races, and still holds the mark for best average finish for a full time driver at 7.6th place. Making this level of success all the more impressive, it was done in an era before big money sponsorships, on poorly maintained tracks and against legitimate criminals who spent most of their time bootlegging moonshine. The fact that Petty enjoyed so much success in that era is a credit to his toughness, dedication and courage.

Tags: nascar legends, recreation, nascar drivers

The Darlington Raceway in upstate South Carolina is considered one of NASCAR’s most challenging tracks. It’s shaped like an egg and has earned the moniker ‘the track too tough to tame’. That applied to everyone except David Pearson, who won 10 races and took 12 poles at Darlington. These records will likely never be challenged, let alone broken. Pearson’s ability to get around the track was almost instinctive. In fact, he made it look easy.

David Pearson was born on December 22, 1934 in Whitney, SC”a textile town near Spartanburg. Like most of the locals, his parents worked in the local cotton mill and did their best to provide. David dropped out of school after the 10th grade to work in the mill, but soon quit that life as well–he was drawn to racing cars and began running at short tracks in the Carolinas. He ran his first race on 9/19/52 in Woodruff South Carolina. Within a few years, he won his first championship at the Greenville”Pickens Speedway in 1959.

Pearson never really sought much more than this local fame and success, but a couple of his friends and some fans had loftier ambitions”they began raising money to buy a car to compete in the NASCAR Grand National series (which was the forerunner to todays Sprint Cup series). With the financial backing from friends and family, David began racing a limited schedule on the Grand National circuit and was named the 1960 rookie of the year. In 1961, he became the first driver to win on 3 of 4 superspeedways in the same year (Charlotte, Daytona, Atlanta). Success beget sponsors, whos dollars allowed him to afford better cars and crew. This brought about championships”he won three Grand National titles in 1966, 1968 and 1969.

In 1972, he started driving for the Wood Brothers in the #21 car that he was to make a legend. In 1973, he won 11 races in 18 starts”an incredible feat even by todays standards. He cut back his schedule in those years to focus on superpeedways. Through the end of the 1970s, Pearson won 43 races. In addition to his mastery of Darlington, he posted remarkable numbers all over the circuit. He is one of two men to have won more than 100 races, and his 105 is second only to The King Richard Pettys 200 wins. Hes also second on career poles (113) to Petty. Head to head, however, he has a slight edge over NASCARs legendary King: in races where he and Petty finished 1-2, Pearson won 33 to Pettys 30. His 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte is a feat that will likely never be matched. Another record that may never be broken is his 18.29% winning percentage, as well as his record of starting from the pole in 20% of the races he ran.

In March, 2000, SC Highway 221 through Spartanburg County was renamed David Pearson Boulevard in his honor. He lives in Spartanburg to this day. Pearson still takes to the track occasionally–he and current NASCAR driver Carl Edwards were the first to race on the newly repaved Darlington Raceway last Spring. And he’s still known as ‘The Silver Fox’, a nickname given to him for his prematurely gray hair.

Tags: nascar history, nascar drivers, nascar

Although he’s now better known as ‘Richard Petty’s dad’, Lee Petty had a very successful career behind the wheel himself. More significantly, he played an important role in the development and growth not only of his own family business but of NASCAR racing as a whole. Petty Enterprises has now owned race teams for over four generations and Richard Petty–aka “The King” is considered the greatest driver in stock car racing history.

Lee Petty was one of the first to take a businesslike approach to the sport of stock car race in an era when many teams and drivers still supplemented their income via bootlegging and running moonshine. He raced in the very first NASCAR stock car race ever on June 19th, 1949. Among his many firsts in the sport is the dubious distinction of bringing out the first caution flag in NASCAR history. To chronicle his achievements in the sport in a nutshell, he won 50 Cup races, including the first one ever on a paved track. He also caused his share of trouble and was never afraid to mix it up. He once hit Curtis Turner over the head with a wrench after a race, and another time got into a fistfight during the pre race festivities. Lees two sons quickly joined the skirmish but the fight was ended by Mrs. Petty (Richards grandmother) swinging her purse”made heavier than the typical pocketbook by the .44 handgun she carried inside.

Back on the track, Lee won three NASCAR championships (the forerunner to todays Sprint Cup) in his career. He also got his son in the business, but things didnt get off to a good start for his offspring. Lees son would only race 9 times his first season ending up in the wall more often than not, and more than one occasion being put there by his own dad. Of course his son eventually turned things around, and went on to win a staggering 200 races. He is now known simply as The King”Richard Petty.

Lees career was cut short by a nasty accident at the 1961 Daytona 500, where his car hit a guard rail and flipped a few times. Lee suffered a number of broken bones and internal injuries. He raced a few more times, but hung it up for good in 1964. He remained involved in the Petty Engineering team for awhile, but soon figured it was in good hands with Richard and Maurice running the show. Never a publicity seeker, he lived out the rest of his life enjoying the fruits of his labor. An avid golfer, he played frequently until a few months before his death in 2000 at age 86.

Lee Petty holds a few NASCAR records that may never be broken. He finished in the top five 231 times out of 427 races, and still holds the mark for best average finish for a full time driver at 7.6th place. Making this level of success all the more impressive, it was done in an era before big money sponsorships, on poorly maintained tracks and against legitimate criminals who spent most of their time bootlegging moonshine. The fact that Petty enjoyed so much success in that era is a credit to his toughness, dedication and courage.

Tags: nascar, v, u