The Auto Racing Journal: Richard Petty

In 2008, I was the editor for The Racing Journal, and I was visiting Farmington Dragway. A couple of drag racing folk were telling me that a drag racer in Greensboro, N.C., was more famous than Richard Petty.

I was stunned that they'd think this, since I had never heard of this guy. Clearly, he wasn't as famous as John Force (whom I've met) and Shirley Muldowney (whom I interviewed by phone).

I pointed out that every drag-racing fan in the world had heard of Richard Petty, and NOT ONE NASCAR FAN had ever heard of their guy.

They stuck by their guns, and I gave up on the argument. Still, their view was unbelievable to me.

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More entries from TARJ

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

RICHARD PETTY WITHOUT THE HAT

YEARS AGO, we were on the Winston Cup media tour in Charlotte, and the tour was visiting with Darrell Waltrip in Uptown Charlotte.

DW was announcing his silver No. 17 car, and there were a bunch of famous drivers in attendance, guys named Jarrett, Petty, Pearson and Earnhardt, to name four. Waltrip was big-time, too, with three Cup championships. Those five drivers had 22 Cup titles among them.

After the presentation, I went to the front and was talking to Jeff Hammond, Waltrip's crew chief then, and someone else was talking to DW.

Suddenly, someone taller than me put his left arm around my right shoulder, and I looked up at Richard Petty shaking hands with DW. Richard, sans cowboy hat and wearing a sports coat, pulled DW and me into a sort of a group hug, and Hammond said he wished he had a camera.

I said I wished he had one, too. And I did. It's a cherished memory.