CHICAGOMOTORSPEEDWAY

In a career that spanned from 1959 through 1984, Richard Petty ruled the NASCAR Sprint Car nation with 200 career victories, with three Grand National Titles in 1964, 1967, and 1971, and four more Winston Cup Titles in 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1979. In a way, the days of Richard Petty were the days where NASCAR was still the wild, wild west. It was days before big sponsorship, the days it became mainstream, and the days before political correctness was embraced. Those were the days where most of the races weren’t sponsored, and the ones that were sponsored by beer companies. Heck, the entire tour was sponsored by a cigarette company, something that you would never see anymore.

In truth, some people look back at the Days of Richard Petty on the NASCAR circuit as the “Golden Years” of the sport. While that is debatable, the truth is Petty was the king of the “Good Ol’ Boy” generation, the last before NASCAR became a corporate behemoth. At the age of 73, Petty remains a force in NASCAR, with his large cowboy hats, as he owns Richard Petty Motorsports, which is one of the top teams in the sport. Regardless of what you think of the Days of Richard Petty, he was an awfully important person in the history of the sport.