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Richard Petty’s 200-win mark is arguably NASCAR’s most unbreakable record, but, what if I told you that an argument can be made for Petty to have as many as 202 wins but as few as 199 in his racing career? Indeed, there are three races in Richard Petty’s career that are shrouded in mystery to this very day. Is Petty’s 200 win total actually accurate?
On paper, the June 1959 race at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia looks like a feel-good story. The wise veteran Lee Petty beats his son Richard Petty in a father-son 1-2 finish. However, this is only half the story.
Richard actually crossed the finish line first, and he seemingly earned his first career win. However, the second-place finisher, his father Lee, protested, claiming that Richard was not on the lead lap. NASCAR agreed with Lee and took the win away from Richard. Petty said this afterward in The Atlanta Constitution according to Autoweek.com.
I won the race. I lapped Richard twice when he was in the pits. He’s my boy and I’d love for him to win a race, but he’ll have to earn it. This wouldn’t be the right way for him to get his first victory.
Lee Petty
Now, timing and scoring in 1959 was not nearly as advanced as it was today, so, it’s easy to envision that NASCAR simply made a mistake. Richard has never publicly protested this result, but, at the end of the day, we don’t know exactly what happened.
Whereas the 1959 race was seemingly more of a “Happy Accident” Richard was irate after the 1971 Myers Brothers 250 at Bowman-Gray Stadium. Bobby Allison took home the win by 3 seconds over Richard Petty in a borderline illegal car.
The Nascarman History video above goes more in-depth, but, here’s the cliff notes version. To fill out the fields for some of the lesser-paying races on the calendar, NASCAR allowed Grand American cars from the second division to compete with the Grand National (now Cup Series) cars. However, some drivers found out that these smaller, sportsman cars were actually preferred over the bigger Grand National cars on short tracks like Bowman Gray, which caused controversy.
At the height of the controversy, Bobby Allison, driving a 1970 Ford Mustang, a sportsman entry, beat Richard Petty in a 1970 Plymouth, a Grand National entry. Since Allison was not driving a Cup Series car, he was not credited with a Cup Series win, but, neither was Petty. To this day, Allison’s win total sits at 84, tied with Darrell Waltrip for 3rd on the all-time list, which does not include the win at Bowman Gray in 1971.
Petty was furious and did not sign autographs after the race. NASCAR soon did away with Grand American cars racing in the Cup Series. Petty would have easily won this race had Allison not been there, since those two drivers were the only ones to finish on the lead lap. Should Petty have been credited with this win?
Whereas the first two on this list are Petty getting the short end of the stick, this final one is “The King” getting away with something. This happened at the Miller High Life 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the fall of 1983.
Richard Petty ran away late in the race to defeat rival Darrell Waltrip for the win. This was a big story, as Petty was now only two wins away from Number 200, but, after the race, problems arose.
In a post-race inspection, NASCAR found that the No. 43 team messed with two major areas, the engine and the tires. The engine was found to be 24 cubic inches too big, and left-side tires were mounted on the right side of the car.
The result was a $35,000 fine and a 100-point penalty. The fine was so severe that Richard Petty was forced to leave Petty Enterprises and find a new ride so that Kyle could continue racing. However, the 198th win was allowed to stand.
Petty obviously broke major rules at this race, but, NASCAR in this era was not keen on taking wins away. They would dock all of the points, fine drivers, suspend crew members, and everything short of taking away the checkered flag. Whether NASCAR should or should not have allowed the win to stand will always be debated, but, NASCAR just did not take wins away in this era.
At the end of the day, things worked out pretty well for “The King”, Richard Petty with his 200th win coming with President Ronald Reagan in attendance at the 1984 Firecracker 400. These technicalities are fun to discuss, and, they do open up an interesting conversation. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that Petty is still “The King”.
