The Dale Jr. Download - 279 - Richard Petty: The King

Episode Date: October 22, 2019

An interview fit for a King! Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with The King, Richard Petty. The two discuss Petty and NASCAR's humble beginnings, an unexpected ride on Lee Petty's racecar, driving with a broken neck, the drag racing days, lecturing The Intimidator, running liquor, and the 1979 Daytona 500. They also talk about change in NASCAR and the day they ate fried chicken with Ronald Reagan. Dale & co-host Mike Davis tackle an interesting Kansas weekend as they sort through controversy and grade the Xfinity Series post-race fight. Odd History tells the tale of a "Turtle" that raced without its shell. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the show. Welcome to the pain. Welcome to the pros. Welcome to the grind. Your story's never told. Unless you leave it with a legacy before you go. This is a production of Dirty Mobit. Hey, everybody.

It's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download with my co-host, Mike Davis. Hey, buddy. Producer Matthew Dillner. And social media guru, we evolved. Two weeks in a row. You're rude. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, we got some good stuff in the show today. Obviously, the king. Richard Petty is our guest. It's going to be a lot of fun. We got something very important to me. I hope you guys will enjoy a special Team Rubicon segment. That'll be cool.

I want you to learn about Team Rubicon. Some of the things that me and Jeff Burton and other guys in the booth are doing for the Bahamas. And, yeah, so let's get this show started. All right. Let's go right into the open segment. What do you say, Mike? Let's do it. Open segment time.

Let's open it up. All right, so open segment, man. Pretty awesome race weekend. The Xfinity race was amazing. The Cup race was amazing. I had a lot of fun. Kansas, just such a great racetrack. Good and wide.

Run the bottom, top, where you won't run. It provides a great place to race. If all the cookie cutters were so good. Still feels cookie cuttery to me, but yeah. Does it? It does. Yeah. But the quality of race absolutely matters in that.

And it's not a hit and miss. It's always pretty much on time at Kansas. Plus, you know, Kansas barbecue. And it's just a great, yeah, I mean, love being able to go out in the Midwest because that's probably the best barbecue, in my opinion. Yeah. Anyhow, Exfinity race, pretty wild. And shoot, man.

You already start. I mean, to be honest, you get the last. I know. You get the lap car that goes in there and takes out the leaders. You've got the fight afterwards. I'll be quite honest. So I was in the booth for this exfinity race. Typically, they stick me down on the pit box,

and I come in and out and just give a little insight real quick after each stage. But this race, I was in the booth the entire time, and I had to bite my tongue quite a bit. You know, the one thing that I want people to realize is that, when I'm in the booth, I take my job very seriously. I don't play favorites, and I don't pull for one driver over another. The only thing that I'm pulling for is excitement. The only thing I'm pulling for is storylines.

The only thing I'm hoping that happens is that fans are wowed. Okay? And so if I'm excited about a driver, excited about something happening or a pass about to happen, it's because I'm excited that the fans getting something good. And with that said, you know, when it comes to Xfinity race, I go maybe a little bit overboard to try to maybe even be overly critical toward the junior motorsports drivers. Just so fans don't get it confused, all right?

just so fans don't, you know, I'll call them out when they make a mistake, maybe even more often than someone else who doesn't drive for us. And in this particular race, it was quite frustrating, man. You know, Noah had a really good car in the first stage and just seemed to compound his day by a few mistakes here and there. Obviously, you know, coming on that last restart, he's leading coming off turn two after the mistake between Reddick and Cole Custer. But he got a flat tire kind of getting through that mess. Um, so, uh, you know, and Noah, Noah is tweeting after the race, man, I had to lead, you know, going to win that race and I had a flat. And I'm like, man, darn, I wonder if he really learned anything from the day, all the mistakes that he was making. I'm not sure if he did, but, um,

and then Michael Annette, uh, they, they pulled some great strategy. Uh, Travis Mack did some good job, did a good job with the strategy to put him on 20 lap better tires than everybody at the end of the race. And I'm like, you've got to seize that opportunity. Here's your chance to go up there and drive up there and take this race and win it. And whereas when we go to a track where they run the fence, I would worry about Justin Algar and Noah running the fence all day without hitting it multiple times. Of course.

And I go back to Darlington where Justin had such a great car and, hey, I pounded the defense seven, eight times it seemed like. But with Michael, he is conservative, right? Where those other guys maybe are too aggressive sometimes, he's never going to put himself in that situation, and you don't have to worry about that with him as a driver. And I'm thinking, okay, that's great, because here we are.

We're still in his championship battle with his approach to driving. But here's a moment where maybe you don't need to be conservative anymore. Time to get after it. Yes. Your crew chief has done something extremely, extraordinary. He got after it. And he's put you in position to go. All right. Let's see some damn moxie. And, you know, he ended up running third, which was great. I was hoping that he would maybe attack a little bit more, but it's his style to sort of, you know, do what he did. And I'm hoping,

though, when it comes down to it, if he's in position where it's a make or break moment, that he knows how to respond. We don't know that about Michael because he's rarely never been in this situation before, and I hope that he realizes as a veteran that he's got a unique opportunity in his career right now. So it was a bit frustrating for me, and I think, you know,

not because I didn't think those guys all did well, it's just frustrating to be in the booth and, you know, have to call it straight. This is usually why they put you on the pit box, by the way. So you don't get put into this kind of conflicting position. It's okay. I don't mind.

I'll be honestly, I don't really care or mind being in that position. As long as our partners and our drivers know that I'm there to be the broadcaster. I'm not there to be your buddy and take care of you and coddle you across the finish line from the booth. Right. If you make a mistake or you don't do something the way it should be done or the way I think you could have done it, I would be even more critical, you know, just to prove the point that I'm up there to broadcast. And so maybe that's not the right way to go about it.

I don't know. But I don't know. It's a tough day. Ended up, though. All the cars ended up reasonably well. So it was a good day for junior motorsports. And we had a, I don't know if it's an upset win, but we had our new win. I think it was an upset.

You think it was upset? I feel like it was because there was clearly, you know, the dominant cars of that. I mean, I look at it as an upset in the context of that race alone. I mean, and I still don't know where I net out about that whole lap car situation, taking out the leaders. That was another thing. I've always been on the position that, look, they're out there on the racetrack. It's their racetrack as much as anybody else.

But that was pretty egregious. It was. Austin Cendrick is the guy that I was touting at the start of the race is, hey, you know, okay, we got the big three, whether you like that or not. Those three guys are very good, and they're going to, make it to homestead more likely. Christopher Bell and Custer and Reddick. Who's going to be the fourth, right? Right.

I was touting Cindrick as I was handicapping him as the fourth guy over Justin. Your own guy. You are hard on your own guys, aren't you? Well, I have to look at the stats and go, wow, if I had to bet a million bucks, where would I put my money? Fair, yeah. All right? And Cendrick has shown me he out pointed Justin in the last round. He had a better average finish.

and I figured, I thought that he had sort of tidied himself up as a race car driver, you know, and was through making, you know, big mistakes and taking himself out of races. He had a bad race, didn't, he didn't have the race that I thought he was going to have for a lot of different reasons. And then I had Justin behind Cendrick and then Chase Briscoe, sort of an outside chance. I didn't think he was in the same boat with Justin and him, but dang. There he was. There he was. He's sitting there leading that race, really going to win it more than likely.

But that, yeah, that lap car, you know, I kind of go, it was a mistake, it was bad, awful, caused the leaders to crash. Chase was more angry, or Chase's team, I guess, was more angry with Christopher Bell. But in that situation, you know, no of them guys can lift. and I don't think any of the leaders thought that the zero was going to bottle them up like that off the corner. Am I wrong for not being mad about it, though? I mean, I...

Oh, no, no. I don't think you're wrong for not being mad about it. I'm not mad about it. Look, I'm too far removed from it to have any direct emotions about it. I've always... I just felt like that there's something that that could have been avoided so...

So easily avoided. Absolutely. It should have been... It should have never happened. But those things happen all the time. Yeah. Seems like a lot this year, too. Yeah.

You know, and I don't know. I, I, I, I, I teeter between, I teeter between the obvious reality and, and, and, I teeter between, dude, that was a freaking awful decision that that lap car made. And he caused a problem. Yes. I teeter from that to, man, it made, it was a, it made the race more. exciting. It did. Right?

So like. Yeah. Got us to fight it. Thinking sort of long term big picture growing the sport. I see. Broadcast drama. Yeah. Right.

Right. I have a hard time sort of knowing which way I should be. Right. I walk out of the booth at the end of the race going, should I be mad and more critical of this lap thing and lapper and what happened there? Or should I, I was a little bit not glad it happened, but I was a little bit like, oh. You know? Yeah.

Yeah. My interest is peaked. I'm captivated. I'm entertained even. You know, right? So, but I hated it for Chase Briscoe. I've actually had a lot of conversations with him over the last year, particularly mainly about plate racing, but the kid is a great kid.

And I read somebody's comment. I think it was Swindell said on social media that, hey, you know, you might not think about it right now, but that mistake costing Chase the opportunity to win could spiral the wrong way for him personally and for his career. We don't know that. You don't know. You can't make that assumption. But I want Chase Briscoe to do well.

I want Chase Briscoe to win because I want Chase Briscoe to be around. I like who he is as a person and a racer. And I hope he continues to shine. I've got one question for you that I've wanted to ask after watching the couple. race. We don't have to talk much about the cup race, but I do want to talk about this. Obviously on that restart, that last restart, you had a points battle just all over the place. You had basically Chase Elyette sitting in third, and it looked like he had to win to advance. That's what I thought.

Because he was behind by three or four points, Kozlowski, who had, I think, had taken some of that last wreck, is sitting there. And I don't know what position he was. I'm going to say he's, like 13th or 14th. But he really, novice logic, which is what I possess, novice logic, is just hold your position and you advance. Who? Who holds? Brad Kislowski. Oh.

Brad Kislowski. Okay. You've got three or four points. Now, it clearly, when they restarted, it looked like something was wrong with Brad Kislowski's car. But as we know now, nothing was wrong with it. It was literally he just couldn't go. What did I watch from Brad Kislowski?

I know that you aren't in the car with him, but like I just, it seems so baffling to me that a car that didn't get a tire go down or didn't get damaged by, you know, contact with another car lost that many positions with that much on the line that's a result of the lack of down that's a that's a that's a result of how dirty the area is where brad was okay um cycle cycle tires dirt you know kind of even a newer cycle tire not as good as a sticker that is also a result

of lifting off the throttle in the low horsepower package if you aren't everyone around he's wide open right if he has to lift for any reason which he did uh in turn one and two, that he could never get his momentum back up. It took him almost a lap to build his momentum back. And then, you know, he's in such dirty air. He got in the fence and it just compounded his issues. But at that point, he was already out of it. You know, his car was terrible.

Yeah. He was slow. Before that caution came out, he's getting ran down, you know, by cars that he typically isn't being outran by, you know. He just had a bad, bad car for whatever reason. did not have the speed that he needed. I thought one of the most compelling things from the race itself was that the freaking light came on

before Denny crossed the finish line. So they're wrecking off turn four, and I thought the race was over. I'm like, absolutely they got the white flag. And somebody comes over our headsets and says NASCAR is looking at, you know, whether they got the white or not. And then somebody sent word through the headset, not on national TV yet, that NASCAR says that they didn't get the white.

And I immediately thought in my mind like, how in the hell did they not get the white? Because it was, yeah. It was fucking impossible. There's no way the human hand or eye and coordination and all that was quick enough. And maybe they don't use them. And maybe there's not a human waiting to mash to that button to turn that light on. Maybe it's automated in their, you know, they have some pretty good technology, watching the guys on pit road as far as going through too many stalls,

too many guys over the wall and da-da-da-da. But somebody's got to make a call to put up yellow. Maybe there's some automated technology that throws that light on. That's the only way I can explain it. That's the only way I can explain it. I cannot see how the human hand and eye was fast enough to beat. Denny Hamlin to the finish line. It's impossible.

You agree that when you saw the reply, I mean, like it did come on, like Steve LaTartre said, a half a car length before he took that light. Maybe even shorter. I think it was about a foot. Yeah, it was stupid close. And it was, and it's a light underneath the flag stand, not really the lights on.

So the lights, there's a light under the flag stand. All right. Yeah. That light came on, but the actual caution lights on the track weren't on till then he had crossed the finish line. Really? Yeah.

So those, so the real, this little orange light pops on, which I don't know what that light is. Yeah, you think all the lights

are on the same. Yeah, under the flag stand. And then the light lights, the yellow lights that we know as caution lights around the track, they flashed after

he had about six inches of his splitter across the finish line. That's so crazy because how many times have we seen a race where they use those track lights as the thing to go off of

on replays, the track lights on the track like, oh, there's where, usually it's like, you know, whether Pitt Road

was going to be closed or whatever it is. But if they're not on the same, what's the right light? Denny's still won the race, but shoot. I know. That was.

I just don't know how in the hell the caution, I don't know how in the hell physically they did not cross the finish line before the caution come out. That crash was right off turn four. I mean,

for 20th. I mean, the whole field was right underneath us at the flagstand. And anyway, I don't recall you actually questioning all this on the broadcast. So are you saying that you had to bite your lip in two different races? Well, I bit my lip a little bit, but I didn't know anything more clever to say than whoever's smashing that button's very fast.

You did say that. Yeah. I was trying to think of something clever that would dispute or bring into question, you know, the validity of it. But I didn't want to say something stupid or, you know, being about it. but I felt like what I said might stir some, you know, some conversation. It's like you put it out there and you're like disgust amongst yourselves. Right. That's the thing that I've learned from LaTart.

So I've told him, I've said there's been times in the races where something happens I disagree with, whether it's between something NASCAR does or the drivers do. I said, how do you not just blatantly call it? Like, I don't like this. I think this is wrong, right? Because you can't, you, how do you do that with that hijack? in the broadcast, right, and turn it into something it's not supposed to be. The broadcast is supposed to be impartial, and we're supposed to just talk about what's happening and deliver

it to you as a fan to watch, and you, you're, it's subjective, right? You make your decision, right? And that's what he said, man, I don't, I don't, I don't choose, right? I don't choose one side or the other. I just bring it up and push it out there and let them, let the public decide how they feel, what they like or don't like. So I'm learning how to how to do that. that. I'm still not quite where I want to get. That's pretty good. You just dropped it in there, let them discuss amongst themselves. Yeah, you know, and I get to walk out of there and go home without worrying about people agreeing or disagreeing with me. Right.

You know, if you push it out and make it a conversation, then that's great. That's one thing. But if you say, I'm on this side, then you're like, all right, you've now chosen your side and you've got to back up. You've got to back that up. Right. But I'll be honest with you. I don't know how in the hell they got that light on that. This ain't no damn way. Something's fishy. A day later, we're still wondering how that happened.

It was on. It was on. It was on. One of those lights was on. Yeah. It might have been a traffic light outside, but one of them lights were on. Yeah. Put it out.

Speaking of what the hell moments, how can you guys talk about the junior motorsports in the broadcast and not mention the freaking fight? The two junior motorsports drivers? Yeah, you mentioned all this stuff. That was the most awesome part of the weekend. It was good. I mean, I didn't have a. strong opinion about that one way or another.

I like to watch a good fight. And, you know, if it's former Junior Motors' drivers, all the better, I guess. You know, as long as they're not driving for us now. But, you know. I thought it was a lousy example. Of a fight? Of a fight.

I got you. Well, you had a little blood. I mean, that's usually more than what you get. All right. So the blood... I know it didn't come from the action. It didn't come from a fight. It came from rolling around the ground.

Yeah. No, I know, but that's where you get blood sometimes. So at 1255, they were going to show me and Steve and Rick in the booth working before the race. They were going to come just kind of give a live shot of the booth and whatever we were doing, right? And apparently we were all three on our phones like a bunch of teenagers. So they couldn't use that. No, they did. Oh, they did?

They put it on TV during the countdown to Green with Chris Devota. But me and Steve had, we didn't know. we were coming on camera, but we had planned to be wrestling in the floor. Yeah. Wait, what? Yeah, what? So they were basically mocking, they were mocking the fight. We were going to wrestle in the floor when they came to, when the camera cut to the booth to say,

hey, here's the booth guys, they'll be on here in about five minutes for the race, you know, start to broadcast the race. We were going to actually be wrestling in the floor. And I was going to see if Rick Allen would just hold his knees and rock back and forth. Look, look, I can appreciate. the sense of humor on that. But let's be honest, that is typically a NASCAR fight

is a bunch of rolling around. I mean, I remember one of the most, you know, really like rambunctious things was when Matt Kinseth and Brat Kislowski met in between the haulers and all they did was hugged each other

when it really came down to it. So, all right, Cole Custer. He does this, we've seen a lot of Cole Custer this year. Guys got a great personality, good kid. He does the interview after, and he's like,

I don't know, you know, what happened. and he put his hands on me and da-da-da-da-da, right? Or that was actually what Redick said, but Cole Custer, Cole Custer has this really conservative interview. Yeah. But then we cut to Cole Custer walking up to Redick before,

and he's using a, you know, he's using the F-bomb, and you can drive like a effing, you know, moron or whatever he's getting ready to call him before they actually started grabbing each other and spiraling out of, you know, sanity. So I wish that Cole would just be that guy all the time. Of course you do.

You know, if he walked up to Reddick to drop an F-bomb and give him a little bit of his opinion about things, I wish he would do that in his interviews. He's too reserved. Like when he gets in front of the camera does the interviews, he sort of,

he gets calmed down. He calms down. Yeah. I wanted him to still be fire. He just got out from, he just got off the ground and gets interviewed, like five, literally within the next five minutes.

And he's like, so put together and thoughtful by his words. Yeah, you're wanting a dumpster fire. You're wanting the guy that went up and put his hands on Tyler Reddick and is dropping F-bombs. Listen, to your credit, you have said, I'm here for the show. That's America. You want what America wants. That's right. Yeah.

Nothing wrong with that. All right. So we're grading the fight. It's a C-plus. It's not 1979 Daytona 5-4. You must have been a straight A student because I was a C student. Oh, so I would probably give it about a D-boss. All right, fair enough.

Fair enough. All right, let's bring in the king, Richard Petty. His name is Richard Petty. King of the Roos. There is. There he comes. Look at this. has been come down this time.

Once in a great while in every sport, a superstar emerges. Richard Petty rolls into the winner circle as his father did five years ago. His name is Richard Petty. Cheers as Richard Petty in his number 43 Clemuth takes the checkered flag going away. He's going on the homestretch, a car upside down. His head's beat on. A blue car, it is Richard Petty. Bloody in his eyes hurt a little bit.

It'll be a hard though. This will be a special day. as the president of the United States will be here a little bit later. Richard Petty has won the 200th races of his incomparable grand national duck car racing career. I understand that no one in the whole history of racing

has ever done that, or ever won 200 races. The legend, the man, the king, Richard Petty. The big deal is we're here talking to you when it's over with, and I wouldn't change none of. I wouldn't trade nothing for nothing else. Have a seat right here. This is your seat. Where's your seat?

What's the hand them for? All the die casts? No, these things here. All the headphones, I know. You don't have to. You don't have to wear them. No, you don't have to. That's all it matters.

That works for me. Okay. Hello there. Hey, I hear you, King. I got you. How was the trip? We made it. Always good when you get where you're going.

That's right. Well, man, I'm telling you, I appreciate you being here. had an awesome season, but this is going to top everything we've done so far. I'm about that. Well, I tell you, it's pretty awesome. So I guess to start out, when did you first start wearing the hat? Really, back in the late 70s. Why did, where, where does, so the hat is the signature.

And we use that to sort of promote that you were coming on to the show, a silhouette of you and your hat. And I know you didn't always wear it when you first started racing. really didn't. You got into one of the deals probably more so used to than what it is now. If he's talking to the good year guy, you had a STP hat. You're talking to the STP guy. You know, you had something else on it. I said, man, this ain't working. You know what I mean? So he was always behind, so you say, okay. And one thing about the hat, if the sun's shining, you don't get hot. If it's raining, you don't get wet. So it works out pretty good. Wow. Did anybody ever

to make you wear a branded cowboy hat. I imagine knowing sponsor people. With a logo on it? Yeah, with a logo. I imagine somebody tried to come over that idea somewhere. Not really. You know, Charlie One Horse, I got with him back in the late 70s. Kyle used to have what he called a boot barn.

You know, he sold boots and hats and stuff. So the guy I come by one day and said, would your dad wear one of my hats? I don't know. Give me one. Let me see. So it just started from there. You've been wearing that guy's hats since. been wearing those hats since 1979.

Wow. Who, how, like, was the decor on the hat always is extreme? Yeah, every one of them's different. Were they always that extreme from the start? They were always that extreme. That's that guys. A little wild, yeah. Yeah, they are.

You like that? Well, yeah, at least they, with these dudes here, they can hear me coming. Rathies on me. I don't know if that's good or bad. Yeah. So this is a show where I get to ask people about the way they got their start and their beginnings. And when I was a little boy, there was this, it came out around 1979 or so, there was this sort of a comic, big, big, large sort of comic book. And I love that thing.

I don't know how I got my hands on one, but I did back in the 80s. And I would read it a lot. And it was actually a story about Richard and Maurice and his family, Lee, and how they kind of, how. he grew up as a race car driver in comic book form and it was very very well done very well done and uh and then i ended up getting my hands so that's where you got all the history of us right well in the comics as i grew up i realized how uh accurate it was actually to be honest with really yeah i mean it's for kids and it does a really good job of illustrating that that petty history and i ended up getting my hands on about four of them in

really good shape about five years ago and had you sign them for me so I could keep them. But, um, oh, wow. So my point is, is that I, I kind of want to go back. And in that, in that, in that sort of comic strip, uh, it starts, you know, you're racing, obviously your dad raced, but, uh, it has you and Maurice and all those guys building little, uh, building little carts and stuff and rolling down heels and crashing and all that. Definitely. Right.

So do you remember, um, um, your childhood and being around your dad's race cars and trying, you know, being around your family, all of you were in racing, going to racetracks all the time, but as a kid, right, helping your dad. Do you remember those times? Yeah, definitely. You know, the first race that NASCAR had as far as the Cup Series was 1949. And I was like 11 years old. and my dad didn't have a car to go to the race.

Talked a couple boys at a service station up there, and they borrowed the great big old Buick, four-door. It run good on the highway. It was a fast car. So anyhow, he borrowed it, and they brought it home, and my mother and Dee and my brother and myself got in the car, and we drove it to Charlotte.

Okay? Yeah. He still had the hub kept, some mufflers all that. He pulls it in a service station on a forklift, raise it up, takes a muffler off, takes the hib-keps off the thing. I think it'd tape a number on the side or something,

and we go to the race. I mean, that's how stock there was. And he ran about half the race, broke a sway bar or something, turned the thing over, tore the doors all off of it. We was lucky my uncle was there, so we did have a Ray home. And they went back the next day with a flatbed truck to get the thing.

So I don't know how he ever talked to the guys that he bought it from. I don't know if he ever paid for it or what. Oh. Then, you know, at that time, I think they paid $1,500 to win a race. Yeah. So dead comes and he said, you know, if they run enough races, well, I can make a living doing this. So he goes out and buys a 49 Plymouth Coupe for $990. That was the lightest, cheapest thing he could get.

And so we went to racing and been in it ever since. Wow. Man, that's crazy. That is crazy. Y'all would just pull in the anti-gas station? Hey, man, take the muffler off his thing. I'm going to race today. My dad done that.

Yeah. He was a mechanic. So he was a mechanic before he was a race car car. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he worked on cars, had a few liquor cars from time to time. So he had a little bit of experience working on them, that kind of stuff. And then he had a couple of times. trucks. A liquor car is moonshine.

Well, yes. Okay. Yeah, he hauled a little bit from town. He hauled some? Just a little bit, yes. But he worked on him, mostly souping them up. Well, souped his own up. Yeah, I got you. Oh, wow. You know, later on, we used to run just stock cars. And I know the first two or three cars he had, once we went to V8, he sold to bootleggers because they were kind of hopped up. a little bit and they were better than what they had. Wow. That's crazy. I can't even

imagine. I mean, we hear the stories about moonshining and sports starting from that and Junior Johnson and all those guys. You've got to figure you know, 60, 70 years ago life was different. Everybody was running in. Everybody did. Everybody didn't want it took to survive.

And my dad done whatever it took to make sure that, you know, we had a rip over her head and clothes and planted eat and that's all it was at that time. Wasn't no TV, wasn't no you know we didn't even have a radio i mean you know i grew up on a dirt road uh about a mile off of the highway uh and uh we had no electricity no running water no indoor plumbing so but the guys next door they didn't have anything either so we'd never been anywhere so we's as well off as anybody

yeah right you didn't what you didn't know right what you didn't know was good yeah yeah and then when we got to racing uh all of a sudden uh all of a sudden you're all of a sudden you're all of a sudden you man, these people got toilets inside the house. I mean, you know, places take a bath, you know, electric lights. I mean, it's just unreal, man. Wow. I always was curious about this. You mentioned that it's all you knew.

I always wondered if the people that were running moonshine and bootlegging knew the danger involved in it or if it was literally just the way of life that everybody kind of knew. And if you say they're just out for survival, did the sense of danger? even occurred to you get you kids? No, it was sort of like racing. Yeah. None of us ever think about the danger of racing. We love to do what we're doing, so we go do it.

And the bootleggers said, okay, where they loved to do it or not, they could make money at it. Right. So they never thought about any danger or anything. The only danger was getting called, you know, so they had to be careful about that. Yeah. What was the, I guess when we, you know, when I drive all my career when I drove race cars in the, in the cockpit of the cars has changed a ton of.

hunt a lot like where you didn't have really much of a headrest when I started racing you obviously you know the interior of the cars were way more stripped down when you started racing when I started we had bench seats right and you just had one lap bell right had one lap bell and had a little something on the side to keep you from sliding over in the seat that was a safety piece and y'all and y'all probably had no fear of you never thought about anything never thought about never never thought about, you know, having a wreck or getting hurt. It's crazy. That was, he just never thought about it.

How much it's progressed now, and when you look at the cars now, and then you look at what Richard drove, I think, in my mind, like, I could never, I would, you know, I would never feel safe driving something so fast. The deal, we didn't know any better. Right. Okay. You know, and I think a lot of times now, you got these drivers and stuff, they know they They know they're pretty safe compared to what they were 10 years ago, 20, 30, 40.

And sometimes I think they probably take that into effect when they get to racing with people. I can't get hurt, so let's go for it. That's where it looks anyway. I'm not out there, so I can't tell you. Which is great for us watching. Makes a big show out of it, that's for sure. So when did the petty cars go to what we call petty blue? They weren't always blue.

Your dad's cars were white. Yeah, really about 1958, 59, I think. What was the, why I go from white to boot? Yeah, somewhere along in there. Why? Well, what happened, we worked on an old race car, I think it's 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, getting ready to go to race, and it hadn't been painted.

And so we got the check, and we didn't have enough paint to paint the car. So we had some white paint, and we had some blue paint. We just poured it all together. Really? Okay, painted the car. You know, and after we run the thing, looked at it, said, man, that's pretty good. We like that color. And so then I remembered how much white paint.

We had 57 Chevrolet white, which was refrigerator white. And we had 55 Dodge Blue, which was a true blue. So there were true colors. And so we just poured them together. Mixed them together. Wow. That's how petty blue started. Just like that. Whoa.

There's a lot of things that's. happened in our lifetime that's mistakes. This just happens. You know, you don't, you're looking for one thing and you wind up for something else. Ain't that the truth? That's the truth. Wow. So your first NASCAR, or Grand National Race, was in Toronto.

Toronto County. So your dad's racing for, you know, roughly $1,500 to win. How are y'all traveling so far? Oh, how did y'all make it work? We just made it work. You didn't know any better. I know. That's the deal.

Your bar was not very high. It was high to us at the time. And everybody had it. I mean, the car, we had a tow car, didn't even have a truck. I had a tow car, and you just hooked the car behind it with a toe chain. Wasn't even on a trailer. No, it wasn't on a trailer. What?

And you went down the road, and that's what the deal was we was as well off as anybody else when it come to that. Because that's where everybody was doing it. And then all of a sudden, somebody got. gets a trailer. Well, we've got to have a trailer. Somebody gets a truck. We've got to have a truck. You know, and then now, you know, you've got these million-dollar tractor trailers, all the stuff inside them now. But why would you go all the way Toronto?

Right. That was the schedule. You had to. My dad ran most all the races. And that's how we made a living. So you had to go where the race were. Did y'all not look at Big Bill and go, why are we in Toronto? No, we didn't.

You didn't ask. You didn't have nothing. They'd sent out a deal two or three. weeks before the race didn't even have a yearly schedule oh i mean it changed from week to week or month to month wow okay so that yeah back in 53 i think we went to uh rabbit city south dakota wound up in nebraska i mean you know we've been all over man y'all were like a traveling circus just looking for a place to race exactly what it was yeah dang that's fascinating yeah so what was that race like in toronto Do you remember?

Well, Deity and I think Cotton Owens, I think it was racing. They were leading the championship. They were racing for the championship. And I think, I don't know if Cotton was leading the race. I can't remember that much, but him and Daddy was racing. And they come up on me to lap me, and I don't know where Cotton gave me enough room. My dad didn't. Knocked me in the fence.

Okay. Anyhow. So he wound up winning the race. Dad ran me the same way for a few times. What is it about those dads? I'd run a couple of convertible races before that. Right. And so I think this was the third race that I'd ever ruined my life.

Ever. Ever. And see, I didn't start until that's 21. Yeah. And finally talked Diddy into letting me have a car. So off we went, me and Dale. How long had you been asking him? Since I met about 18, I think Buddy Baker started a little bit earlier.

And I said, well, if Betty started, why can't I go? Yeah. Oh, okay. And he said, not right now. I said, come back when you're 21. And, you know, you'll learn a lot between 18 and 21, which I did. Yeah. Because basically once I looked at it and said, you know, I might want to try this.

I started paying more attention to how the other drivers done, how, you know, how things were. before it was just my mechanical. You know, my dad said, do this to the car or whatever. And then I got to watching how people approached the racing. There wasn't no strategy. You just run just hard as you could as long as you could. And so I learned a lot by watching, you know, Tim Plock or, you know, Junior Johnson. Watch Curtis Turner.

You know, you watched these guys. All of them had a different approach. So I said, okay, this guy I like this part. This one here, I like this part. I like what he does over here. And so then you just wind up being Richard Petty. What was Lee Petty's approach? What was your dad's approach, right?

It was strictly conservative. Was it? Especially for the first seven-eight years. He was doing it strictly to make a living, which he always did. But once we got into 54 and 55, he had a lot faster cars. So then he got pretty racy. and, you know, he was a whole lot like Dale Senior. You got in the way, you better watch out.

Oh, really? Yeah, he took no prisoners. That's great. And I've seen a bunch of times when we'd run a race and he'd spend somebody out or knock him out of the way, and they'd come over when the race was over just, I don't know, we're going to leave any minute. When they left, they said, sorry we got in your way, Lee.

Why is that? What effect did they happen? He was a big guy. His personality. he was just, you know, he'd be persuaded to people just by talking to him. Is that right? Yeah. Every once in a while, he'd pick somebody up and talk to him.

You know, other than that, he didn't have no trouble. He was a big guy. I didn't know that, but that's interesting. That's interesting. So he had that effect on people off the track as well. So, like, who was he primarily racing against that was giving him a run for his money? You know, back then, you know, he raced against Tim Flock or all the flock boys. Junior was starting.

He was run a bunch of. bunch of races against him, you know, I don't know that anybody really dominated at that time. Yeah. If anybody dominated, Lee Petty was the one that dominated, you know what I mean? Man, and then you started racing against him. Was that? Well, I never raced against him. I got in some races with him.

Yeah. But I was just starting out. I got you. I got you. And he was in in his career. Do you mean? I got you. And what was racing a convertible like?

Not really much different? No. You didn't pay any attention where you had a top or not. You didn't think about the difference in the deal. The big difference that we found out in convertibles were when we went to Daytona in 59, and the convertibles run 130 and hardtops run 140. We found out there was a lot of difference. But the quarter mile, half mile tracks we run, they really wouldn't a whole lot of difference.

And the way we had the car is fixed. we had the car, I had a hard top, and we cut the top off, and then we bolt it back on. And my dad had run in the race one week with the top on it, and I take the top off and run the race the next week. We had a couple of cars. It's all we had. So there's a story, I guess, from when your dad was racing,

and he came in, the pits, had mud all over the windshield. He was in the pit working his car and went to clean the windshield, and he took off. Yeah, that was like 1954, I think. We was in High Point. They had a little half-mile race track up there. And it was real muddy to begin with, and then it gets dusty, like all dirt tracks at that time.

And so they made a pit stop, and there was mud all in the way. So I jump up on the windshield, you know, try to clean the mud off. Well, here comes the pace car. Out we go. We'll make a laugh around the racetrack. time we get back he goes down pit road by then i got the windshield clean on his side anyway i jump off and he goes on from there so you rode a lap on the hood yeah on the hood what they say about that well does that constitute is taking equipment johnny bruner was a chief uh NASCAR guy at that time

i didn't even have a pit pass man oh no you know i was like 15 16 years old you know anyhow didn't nobody think anything about it. Really? Oh, come on. Back then, everybody done everything just to survive. Yeah. Whatever it took, you know, they didn't penalize you a lot of times because there was no rules. You know, you just done what it took to make a race.

Yeah. How old were you when your dad went out of Daytona with Bochamp? I had just started. I think I was 21, 22 years old. What was that experience like? That was really a bad deal. They ran a 100-mile race. and I'd gotten in trouble.

I'd went off the first turn. Somebody had got a big wreck, and I ran over a bumper or something, and I went out the track? So when I out of the track in the first turn. I didn't know that. And then when I got out, I had glass in my eye because it busted the windshield.

So I went then over, I go down to the infirmary, and they're picking, glass out of my eye. Well, just as I come out, then Dad and Beauchamp go in the third corner, the fourth corner, they go out to the wall.

You mean? And so I'm sitting there about half blind, so, but anyhow, and, you know, the time we got there, I mean, the car tore all the pieces. There was no safety deals then. I mean, they went off where the tunnels is there, and that's a long way, buddy.

And so they take him to the hospital, and you can see where the been because he was bleeding pretty bad. And we go to the hospital. They said, you know, going back and we'll go in and see what's going on. So me and my wife go back and clean up

and then we come back. And, you know, he's laying there all doped up and all that stuff. It broke a bunch of ribs. Just shattered his left leg and knee, all that stuff. And so we go and they said, you know, come back. So we go back Monday. go back Monday morning and go in and he's about half groggy

and he says go home, go to Greensboro. We had two race cars. That's all we had. And we crashed total, both of them out. He said, go home, go to Greensboro, buy another car, and me and Mom be home about Friday. Four months later on Friday he'd come home. But, I mean, that's how positive he was.

So me and Chief went back and bought a car. And like I say, they wasn't really, they were pretty stock at that time. You had to put a scroll bar in and safety belts and a few safety deals, but there wasn't that much change. So first thing you know, and we didn't run all the races in 61 because we didn't have the money, didn't have the sponsorship, didn't have any sponsorship. So we just done the best we could. And then by the end of the year, we kind of got things together because daddy had always run all the show.

He told us what to do, when to do it. All of a sudden, here's 21, 22-year-old kids running the whole show, and no leadership. Okay, it took us a little while to get our feet on the ground. But by beginning of 62, then we started winning races, started putting it all back together. So how much more, how much of any racing did he do after that crash? I think he ran a couple of three races. Yeah. The last race that I remember him running, he ran at Martinsville.

And I think he ran third or fourth in the race. And he got out of the race car and said, it ain't no fun no more. This is it. Oh. I mean, you know, he drove for a living, but he loved to drive a race car. And he said, he drove up there, and he said, I'm not enjoying driving. So he quit and got his golf clubs and went golfing. Yeah, so did he step into, I know you said you guys were kind of running the show,

but was there a point during, you know, the 60s that he was a little bit overseeing what y'all were doing and where you all? Basically, basically when he came back from having an accident in 61, we were pretty much running the show. You know, as all dads do, they come in and tell you what to do. But really, the operation was up to us from that standpoint. Wow. He'd come in and suggest things and change things, but we pretty much overcome that. Really? Did y'all disagree?

No, not really. You never argue where you did. Right. You might go behind his back and change stuff, but you didn't argue with. I've seen that car. So that car sits in Moorsville in a museum over on 150. Yeah. That car that went out of the racetrack that lead drove.

And it was behind Petty Enterprise for a while in the woods. For a long time. We got them buried in the backer, a bunch of them. All right. So that is, we got to talk about that. So I had, God, who was it on the show? Childress.

Was it Richard? They was talking about burying cars? Yeah. So I used to drive for a guy named Gary Hargett who worked in racing back in the 70s. You probably would know him if you saw him. But I was working with him in the 90s. He had worked with Harry Gant, my dad in the 70s running a sportsman stuff. And he talked about burying cars out on his farm.

And I thought he was pulling. my leg. And then Richard Childers came on the show and said that they buried a few cars. And so, um, y'all, y'all put a car, y'all dig a hole and push it off in there. Well, behind the shop was a big old gully. Right. So we just throw them down in the gully. Fill it up.

There's a building on top of it now. See? I mean, there's million dollars, millions of dollars worth old racing parts. Underneath. Underneath. A car is buried under a big building over there now. Oh, wow. That's pretty cool.

But at that time, it was worth nothing. Right. You mean? So you just needed to get it out of the shop. Shop wasn't that big to have any extra place. He had no storage. He didn't store nothing. You used everything they had.

So that's where it was. They were great for filling up gullies and holes. I guess so. On crashed cars. Yeah, you ain't filling up the holes at your place. You're still setting them on top of the ground. I know, I am. Yeah.

We got the race car graveyard. I don't know what for. Sometimes I ask myself. The trees will grow up in. It will look good. It will. It does. It doesn't take much to entertain ourselves, does it?

Whether it's rolling cars into a goalie or putting them out there for the trees to take over. Your entertainment is racing. You know what I mean? Anything else is okay. Yeah. You know, listening to this conversation with the King is so good that it makes me want to hire people. Dale, that starts with our partner, ZipRecruiter. Well, Mike, ad reads are cool.

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Recruiter for free at our web address. It's ours. That's right. ZipRecruiter.com slash Dale Jr. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash Dale Jr., D-A-L-E-J-R. ZipRecruiter.com slash Dale Jr. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. So back in the 60s, y'all ran at pretty much every type of racetrack, dirt tracks, asphalt tracks.

Little Bull Rings, a lot of short tracks, a lot of dirt tracks. but then you finally they built Darlington Daytona comes along Yeah they built Dayton was the first one Right When Darlington was the first one

Right See Darlington used to be our biggest race Right That was like the Daytona 500 Before Daytona Right So when that track gets built What is y'all's

What's the buzz In the shop What's the buzz In the community And the industry Y'all been running These little tracks Not worrying about safety

Not worrying about anything But just racing and beating and banging and having fun and working day to day to day and now you're going to go run this big giant track. It was unreal. I think they started 75 cars or something. Anybody had a car and put a number on a come.

And I think my dad, they had two weeks before the race that started to qualify. And I think he had to qualify two or three times just to make the race. Had a six-siller Plymouth, you know what I mean? Even though a Plymouth wound up winning a race, Not because of the speed, but he didn't wear his tires out.

Yeah, he had an average speed of about 75-mile-hour wide. It was unreal. They'd, the guys didn't, I don't think they even thought about the tires. He didn't, they were a bunch of cars when the race was over. A bunch of cars in the infield jacked up because people would go out in the infield and get a wheel and tire off of the Cadillac or Cibillac or Cibbillet or whatever it was. So again, it was just survival. Yeah, but the size of the track.

I mean, it doesn't... That was just completely different. And the first time they ran the thing, the track was kind of flat, and then it had one group up again. When everybody ran on a flat, you know, nobody thought about running up. You know what I mean? The next year, I think somebody slipped up there, you know, and then all of a sudden we started running up.

And then a few years after that, the one and two corner at that time, they re-banked it completely. But you still had the one groove in three and four. And that's where the Darlington Stripe came from. You know, they talk about the Darlington Stripe now. They just run into the wall, man. Back then, the wall was the one that kept you inside a raceback.

Yeah. That was the craziest thing. I watch old videos Darlington. And one and two was, well, I guess, yeah, it was one and two back then, was two lanes. Yeah. Turn three and four was one single groove forever.

Like you just didn't pass there, right? You made you pass before or after you ran through there? Yeah, you just, you get back and get you, you either get a running and start at them going in or one coming off. So you just, you'd float that thing in. And when it did, just before it hit the fence, you'd open it wide open to try to keep it off the fence. That's crazy.

When they first built Bristol, it was really flat too. And y'all would run. It was a lot flatter. It was really a nice racetrack. Really? When they built it, yeah. I was watching an old race there, and y'all are like six wide in the corner. You could run everywhere.

Really? And then I think there was a little speedway up the road that claimed to be faster than Bristol. So they said, we'll fix that. So that's when they come back and back to a racetrack. Is that right? Wow. Yeah, because Bristol was pretty flat when they first built it. Really?

And then they came in and re. But like you said, you could run all over the race. the racetrack. It was a really nice racetrack. Really? What's one of the nicest racetracks you think you ran on? When you went there, you were like, man, this is great. But I tell you, we ran on some ragged ones. I know. I mean, really ragged ones. And, you know, when I first started, the majority of racetracks was dirt. And then they'd start asphalt and, you know, places like Hickory or

wherever. And the deal then it got to be even the dirt tracks, they got to fix a nose and learning how to work the dirt so much, it was like a slick asphalt. I mean, we used to run Hickory and run asphalt tires on a dirt track and run Columbia, same way. And then they finally asphalted everything. So again, you're looking at a bunch of history when you look back 70 years.

Oh, yeah. Raggedy tracks seem to be prevalent in your mind still. Give real awful a couple of raggedy tracks that had quirks in it and just, you know, just. We run, me and Dill was talking about last night. Used to run the fairgrounds in, I think, Nashville. Man, that was a hole in the wall. You know what I mean?

I mean, it was just terrible. And they'd re-banked that thing two or three times. You know, we used to run a lot of truck. We'd run Hillsborough, North Carolina, didn't have any fences. The only fence was down the front stretch to keep you out of the grandstand. Right, right. I mean, and when we first went down there, there was a little creek behind the racetrack.

And back in the day, the cars had run hot during the race. These guys would pull off down there, go down the creek, cool the car off, and pull back up on the racetrack. Just go get a little creek water. Go get a little creek water. Cool that thing down, man. Oh, my gosh. You know, I think about those tracks.

Like, I used to, in South Georgia, I used to go to Oglethorpe Speedway, and it didn't have any walls. and it was like a half-mile thing, and I used to love watching those cars go, and they'd carry so much speed that they wouldn't be able to make the corner, and they'd go off, but then they'd come back on the backstretch. We've seen some wrecks like that.

He was in New York, Fonda, New York, and the Mohawk River was right, the race track was right next to it. And this one guy, he runs off, coming off the second turn, goes down where the, trucks are running as far as picking up water, comes back up on a racetrack

and crashes about three or four cars. Tiny Lund and somebody. They had a big fight in the infield. I mean, it was just survival. That's all it was. Yeah. There was a lot of fighting in the infield back in a man. I can imagine.

I wonder who has the crown of the best fighter. Nobody talks about the best fighter in NASCAR all-time history. Who is that? I don't know. Probably Maurice Petti Yeah Super Jeff

Did you get him in the middle of a bunch of fights? Anything that went on I didn't have to argue with him Because Dale would go argue with him And chief would go fight him So I could just stand back Oh I guess he'd like to scrap I hear you

One of the One of the most interesting Kind of turning points for your career 1965 NASCAR banned the hemi engine, you guys went drag racing. So I've always wondered in my head how much of that was Richard Petty's decision to go drag racing versus doing everything you've always done and known in stock cars. At that time, it was a pocketbook. Chrysler was driving for Plymouth and Plymouth said, you know, if you're not going, we're not being able to run NASCAR. Yeah.

Then we'll put you going drag racing. And they was paying the bills, so we said whatever it takes, you know what? Really? So we ran drag racing for about six months. And then in the middle of the season, there wasn't nothing but Ford's running. So the fans got to complain in so much that they let us start running anything from a mile or less. Then we was able to run to hit me. And so I think I ran... I think I ran 14.

races that year. Yeah. Something like that. So there wasn't another engine operator, another motor you could run? Well, not the Chrysler was going to come out with. Right. It was,

they had the Hammy and that's it. He was the Chrysler deal and that's what they was going to stick by. Wow. So were you missing racing pretty terrible? Drag racing was really neat for a little while. You mean? Yeah. But when you got down the end of the strip, I always wanted to turn left.

But I mean, you know, you know, you. six, seven seconds and the race was over. You need a little more. You're looking for a little more. You're looking for something else. What did y'all do with that car? Well, we had a real,

we never been in drag racing. Y'all had a purpose. We ran a stock car. So we get a car and modify the thing and make it, and we didn't even went to the drag strip. We don't know what. So at that time,

it was a lot of match racing and run what you brung. It didn't make, had a big engine, a little engine, big car, a little car, big tires, we didn't make any difference. So we went basically a match race is what we did. And we went all over the country. We went to, you know, they had a big deal in Phoenix, Arizona. We went out there for a big show.

Bristol, it just opened up. We went to Bristol. They opened their dragstreet. We went some, you're talking about some ragged places. I bet. So get back into stock cars, you get back into NASCAR and start immediately back to winning. In 67, you ran 48 races and won 27 of them. I mean, I don't think there's ever been that kind of dominance.

That was with one race car. Really? Really what happened. That car started life as a 66 car and won Daytona with it. Okay. And then we had another car that we didn't. so we didn't run that car all the races. And I think I won 8 and 9 more races with that particular car.

Come back in 67, we'll build a brand new car, all the greatest, latest stuff. And I ran that car four races, and I think I led every race, but fell out of four races that year with that car. I told Dale, I said, put that thing in the corner. Personality ain't no good. down the goalie. So they changed the grill or tail lights or something. I've been 66 and made a 67 out of it.

And it was just, just everything fell together that time. State, the stars lined up, whatever, it didn't make any difference. You know, wherever you went, no matter how far behind you got or what, you're going to win the race. What was the main, so you're racing that car, race after race after race. What was the one thing that had to be done? What was the main maintenance that you had to look after on that car? We run that thing on dirt. We run it asphalt.

We run a mile tracks, road courses. I mean, you didn't make it different. Like you run a race, what do you got to do to get the car ready for the next one? You know, at that particular time, I think we was some of the first people that really tore a car apart, magnifluxed everything, redone it. Wow. You mean, I mean, so each time we went to the racetrack, we had basically a new car. It might be in the same car, but all the first. pieces on it, the engine-wise, everything was as first-classes we could get.

So our dominance become, was because of the maintenance and stuff that we've done on the race car. Yeah. I think we was ahead of the head of the curve when it come to that. So 1970 Darlington crash, come off to turn for it, Darlington. Everybody remembers that. Seeing the videos of that crash time and time again. God's waving at everybody, right?

Man, everybody thought she was in big trouble there. I mean, you got it, were banged up pretty bad. Yeah, dislocated shoulder. That's it. Yeah. How did you pop that back in? You do that yourself? Well, the deal was dislocated the thing.

And so they go to the hospital and they finally get it put back in. After all my hollering and hooping. And so the guy says, you know, you need to keep it wrapped up and don't do nothing for four or five weeks and then he'll back up. Because if you start too early, then it's a lot of it. says I would pop out any time. Okay, so I miss six, seven races or five or six, you know, come back and run again. Then somewhere later on in my career,

I mess around and dislocates the right one. I just stuck it back in and said to heck with it. And the left one of them gives me more trouble than the right way. Yeah. So, you know, it's one of them deals where you drove hurt where you wanted to or not. Yeah, you raced with a broken neck. Kyle tells this story.

he's told it a couple times to me I don't know where you were where you had your neck injury but you went to Talladega Yeah we went to We was running Pocono Yes that's right

Broke a wheel going in a tunnel turn Went upside down And so They take me over to this little hospital And the doctor comes in He's holding an x-ray looking at He said When did you break his neck before?

In other words it showed That the calcium and stuff around another bone. It slipped over about an eighth of an inch or something. So I broke my neck some other time, but I probably broke some ribs and stuff and was hurting so bad. I didn't even feel the neck.

So I was lucky on that part. Yeah. But then we went to Talladega the week after that, and I started the race. I had a big brace, you know, and so happened. They started a race under caution. Okay, so I was able to come in and get out of the car and we put Joe Milliken in the car.

And, you know, I think he ran for a while, I'll blow the engine anyway. But anyhow, then by the next week I was back in the race car going again. It's amazing. I saw, there was a video on social media this past week of a wrecking Charlotte right front tire blew out. Was it Charlotte? It was. Yeah. God Almighty, man.

That hit. That was. That was, me and Freddie. in the generation for the lead there. That looked nasty. It was nasty. Godly. Because they didn't even have a cement wallhead guardrail.

Guardrail. And that guardrail, you went into a guardrail and it would give. And then when it called it, throw you back out. Man, kind. Like a spring. And when I got home that night, at that time, our seatbelts and stuff, but they were narrow. instead of they got the real widens.

And it drawed blood all the way. You know, you took your shirt off, you can see. You can see it. And I bent the, I hit the wall so hard. I bent the dash on the right-hand side of the car. That's how much everything give inside the car. But you've got to figure the cars were so much bigger then, and they could take a lick better than any small cars.

Yeah. So everything was kind of crashed slowly, you know. Yeah. Yeah, was that, what was the hardest crash you think you've been through? You know, something like we was running Asheville, come off the fourth turn, blew a tire, hit the cement wall, and the car to stop. I mean, it hit so hard, it knocked a windshield out of the car. Yeah.

Now that's, anytime you see these wrecks and the cars are turning over, all this kind of stuff, most of the time, nobody gets hurt bad. it's the sudden stop that what's getting... Oh, yeah. And what track was that, Nashville? Asheville. Asheville.

I got you. There's a little town bud. Had a little bank, half-mile track up there. That was a nice little track. That was a nice track. A good little banking. They had a big... The track tore up one week.

I think my dad was running. We was up there and the track tore up bed and they stopped the race and some guys on the outside got a little disturbed about it. I wouldn't let the infield people out. They had a big fight. I mean, it was something else.

Yes, and we talked about that on odd history. Some big boy swung a pipe and everybody and got them all clear it out. Oh, that's that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pop Erdle. Yes. Well, what happened was that they wouldn't let nobody out and all that stuff. So all the pit crew and all that, we got our stuff ready.

We got ready to leave. This guy was up on the back of a pickup. He had a big board and stuff. up. He was knocking people, wouldn't let nobody out. Pop, poker, pop o'erle, he must have weighed 400 pounds. Grabbed six, eight, six, six. He just went up there and grabbed the thing, grabbed the board out of the guy's head, knocked him off the deal.

Just pushed the pickup out of the way, and we went home. That's right. Good old days when everything was easy. We've heard that story. You know, we've done enough odd histories, by the way, We ought to just run them all by the king here just because he probably knows about all of them. There's so many crazy, wacky stories. You got to figure I've been here for 70 years.

Yeah, yeah. They're going to race for 70 years. That's amazing. It's a lot of people. Y'all wasn't even thought of it that time. We weren't. Nope. A lot of people remember your big battles with David Pearson throughout the 70s.

Yeah, that was a big deal. When he drove for the Woods Boys, even when he drove for Herman Moody, but really when he got to driving for the Woods Boys. How did you guys race, you knew when you went to the racetrack, good chances coming down between you two. How did y'all keep a good relationship? How did y'all not get competitive or have disagreements that sustain the relationship? Because as far as I know, y'all had a pretty solid respect for each other.

I think both of our personalities was kind of low-key. Yeah. You know, we didn't get too excited about whatever was going on. and I guess the only time I remember that anything really ever happened was the 76 race at Daytona. Other than that, I mean, you know, I had told people, if David went down in the first corner and turned right, I'd follow him. I figured he knew what he was doing. Is that right?

You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, that's how much confidence I had in him, and I think pretty much he had confidence in me. Yeah. And we raced each other, we'd done the deal. I don't know if we ever been a fender with each other. But we run probably more side-by-side laps than anybody in the world. Absolutely.

And, you know, he wound up winning a couple more races than I did. I mean, we were in 60-some races first and second. Most people ain't even ever run that many races. Yeah. I never finished that good in any races. For sure. So that was, it was very competitive because the Woods boys didn't run all the races. And they just come in for the big races.

and they always had basically the car to beat. And so the competition was between, and we always, we might not always had the car to beat, but it was one of the cars to beat because junior had some really good cars, but more from time to time had some good cars. So the competition really come down to the 21 and the 43 more times than not. Yeah.

Did you carry that sort of respect and appreciation or nostalgia for that rivalry all these years? Oh, yeah, definitely. You know what I mean? And then on top of that, first thing I knew, Kyle Petty was driving the 21 car. I said, man, what's going on here?

But, you know, no matter all the competition, all the years that we really competed against each other, they're probably not two families. They get along any better than the Petty's in the Woodsville. It just worked that way. I mean, they were low-key. We was low-key. we had a job to do, they had a job to do,

and it was after the same prize, but we didn't knock each other out of the way to get it. You said things got a little testy after the 76 Daytona 500. What was the... Well, not from me and David. Yeah, between the teams, maybe. I think Chief and Dale got a little excited. I bet they did.

Yeah, I bet so that's a real... You know, I always look back at the race and you know David said something about something I don't know and I said I got hit from the back buddy I was in front when we were wrecked

but it was just it was a real rest and actually I was doing everything to beat him he was doing everything to beat me yeah so 1984 I was at that race in Daytona when you won

200 and the whole sport seemed to know how big a deal that was. Did you know what was going on? Did you understand what you had just accomplished? Yes and no. You know what I mean? It was just another number at the time. Okay. And, you know, it came down, Kelle and myself. And I'm going to say this. Kail had the fastest car, and he knew it. So he's just going to follow me, follow me, follow me. And with about seven, eight laps to go, I was leading the race.

So I keep backing off a little bit. And instead of turning 8,000, I turn 7,900. Next lap, I turn 7,800, 77. Well, he's back there watching me and all that. So he's having to land off anyway to keep from running into him. So the first thing, he don't realize that he doesn't slow down 10 mile higher. Oh. You know what I mean?

Because we're still out running everywhere. Yeah. And we come with a lap to go, two laps to go. just as we get to the start finish line, you see a car up in the Eric in the first corner. So they throw the caution, I think, either on us or right behind.

But anyhow, we knew whoever made it back was going to win the race. And so, as I seen that and he's seen it, we both got wide open. And it took him all the way down the backstretch to be able to pass me. And when he went in the corner, he went in a corner, 10 mile faster than you've been going.

He moved up just in. enough for me. I popped right in there beside it. I done the same thing to David in 76, and I thought I'd cleared him. I didn't. I didn't clear kale. I got beside him, and it got what they call side draft now. And when we got together, got hung together. Both cars run the same speed. So we come off a four, down the front stretch, run exactly the same speed. The deal was I was on the inside. When we make the turn, when we make the turn, I beat him about this far, not because my car was any quicker. It was just made a shorter road.

So we wound up winning a race. And Keel got so excited to come back around and still one lap to go. He comes down pit road. Oh. Okay? Yeah. He winds up running third in the race, not second. Harry Gantt runs second.

Oh, because he comes down through. That's a trivial for a lot of people. I didn't know that. Yeah. So you end up winning a race and. Well, the president of the United States. was there that was the big deal so standing next everybody loved Ronald Reagan so you're standing there talking to talking to Ronald Reagan after winning your the big I mean it's the biggest moment in your career I would say yeah and you're standing next to president of the United States

what was that like I mean I was there we were me and dad were sitting so they had this big giant tent and everybody's eating Kentucky fried chicken yeah right they're sending out boxes of Kentucky fried chicken and we're sitting about everybody Everybody's got picnic tables, and we're sitting about probably 20 feet from Richard, and y'all are sitting together. You and the president sitting side by side in Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was the most American thing I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen anything more American since.

It was great, man. You know what I mean? The big deal was that, you know, we talked to him when we was upstairs. Right. And then when we come back down there, I'd went and kind of cleaned it up, put on a clean shirt and wiped my face anyway. And, you know, to be able to sit down with the president of the United States at one of our vendors, not his, at the racetrack, not at the Whiteout.

Right. At the racetrack. And eat Kentucky fried chicken. I mean, what more fourth of July can you get? Right. And the big deal there was that the race wound up being he got us on the front page. We got him on the sports page. So it was a win-win situation.

Yeah. For all of it. Because he was running for president at the time. Right. For the second term. So it was good publicity for him, too. Yeah. And the thing about it, I thought it was most interesting is he was upstairs after the race in the press box with you.

And then he extended his stay. I'm sure it was already planned, but the fact that he stuck around. Yeah. And ate Kentucky fried chicken with everybody. Yeah, he got there about about two-thirds through the race. Yeah. Most of them cats leave, you know, after they get done. Oh, yeah.

They come and wave at the crowd and we're out of here. That's right. But, no, I mean, you know, all the drivers and the crews and their families got to eat with the President of the United States. I mean, that's a big deal. You got to eat with the President of the United States. Yeah. You might have done it since then. But before that, you never done it.

I don't think I have. You know what I mean? Pretty big deal. When you won the Daytona 500, you talked to him on the phone. The whole garage was under that tent. Yeah. And we all, and I'm not saying this because you're sitting here because this is way it was.

We all, even dad, I could feel it and, and dad knew it was important to be there. He was the first one to leave when the race is over with. Yeah. We weren't leaving today. And it was important for him to be there and everyone else in that tent. And we were there, we felt like we were there because Richard had brought the president to the race that he was going to win. Is that making sense?

No, it makes perfect sense. But even if Joe Bluett had won the race, it was still one of the biggest things that ever happened. It wouldn't have been the same, no way. It wouldn't have been the same. It was just the icing on the cake for me anyway. Do you recall what do you talk about with the president when you're sitting there eating fried chicken? Do you even recall that conversation? Not really.

I would lock up. You know, even when the first time he ran for president. My wife and myself went to Baltimore, Maryland, and met with him in a hotel room for about an hour, just us. Because I was a big Republican in North Carolina. He thought I could help him, I guess. And we talked about school, we talked about wars, we just talked. This was before that race? Okay, so you guys sort of knew each other.

So he knew of me, and I knew him. So I wasn't a complete stranger to him. Yeah. But, and, you know, I don't even know we talked about family. I don't, man, I was so excited. I know. I might not even talk. So the first race that, well, one of my favorite races, I don't know if it's the first race, I remember watching,

but one of my favorite races, 19th and Daytona 500, you end up winning that race, and everybody remembers the big fight. But another thing that was interesting about that race is dad is running his first Daytona 500. Right. All right, and he's in Australon car, and it's a pretty decent old car. He gets up and leading a race going on. He did, yeah. You know, what do you remember about, obviously, so I guess we should probably go even further back than that

and talk about Ralph Earnhardt, driving for Petty. Yeah, he drove for us in 58, I think. Right. He drove three or four races for us. That's right. Wow. So there was already a, you all already knew each other. There was a connection there, but.

what do you remember about dad as a driver? And he kind of came in a little bit rough. And you and Bobby and maybe even David Pearson, but I know Bobby had an influence, but all y'all had to talk to him a little bit there in those first couple of years about how to get around here and get to the finish line without tearing the fenders off of it. Yeah, you know, I think the first remembers that it really sticks.

I don't even know the first time I heard tell a deal learned hard or whatever. Was it Martin'sville? And I don't know, I started fifth or sixth or tenth or somewhere. Your dad was behind us. We go down the first corner. They throw the green plaque. We go down the first corner. I'm turning here.

Here comes a car across the grass. Lands on my hood. Who is it? Taylor Art. So I went over and said, don't let that happen again. I give him one in five. anger deal. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And that's the first time I remember Del Earnhardt. That was a nice way of putting it. I've posted video of that wreck or that lap on my, on my social media on Twitter last year, I think. Yeah, dad goes three wide into Term 1, first lap. On the inside. On the inside.

In the grass. Yeah. And it ends up wrecking 10 cars, you know. At least. Yeah. Bad, bad. deal and you know knocks the king out

he didn't take notice so that's all he got because I would I'd have figured you'd have grabbed him around and put him in the headlock Maurice did he have anything to say about it How did he get away from Dale and Maurice? I don't know maybe maybe one other time I had to have a little talk with him

I don't I think I did later on when he got where he was winning races and really knocking people around I think I think I told him somewhere that I didn't mind him beating on my driver, but don't you beat on my race car. Oh.

You know what I mean? I don't care what you do with the driver. Was it when he spun Hamilton out at Rockingham? Rockingham. Yeah. What happened? So Dad caught Bobby Hamilton's driving for Richard. Oh, I got you.

And they had a Pontiac, fast Pontiac, and Dad got up on the back bumper and spun him around off turn four. No, he didn't. He just ran the side of it. Yeah. Anyhow, he spent him off. He spun him out. Yeah.

So you went up to him then, even after all those years. I think I had a little talk to him, yeah. Interesting. And I don't know. I didn't know if they'd already had a run in or what. To me, the way I've seen it, it didn't have to be done because it wasn't the last lap or anything. No, it was. But that was Dale.

I'm curious. Did you see any potential in him when he's sitting there running over people? Like back in the 70s and when he's starting out? I mean, did anybody ever once think that this guy, and you knew he was the son of a great one. You know, Ralph Earnhardt, he knew his way around a racetrack. Yeah, you know, his dad could get that done and not let people know about it. Ralph.

Yeah. Ralph didn't mind moving people around, but he'd done it a little easier. Okay. He just moved them over. He didn't knock them out. And Dale took it to the next extreme. Sounds like it. When it showed, you go back and look at it.

at some of the things at Bristol. Oh, yeah. Paul Lamani, I think he worked on him a couple of times up at Bristol. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean? He got by with it one time. Yeah, he did.

So in 1979, are you going down the back straightaway into turn three? Did they already tell you on the radio that the leaders are wrecked out? Did you see them? The deal was, we was like, for what, and myself,

and Darrell. Darrell was racing for third. Right. And these two cars were like 20 seconds. We couldn't even see them. You mean? So we come off a four, I mean off of two. And just as we come off of two, the lights come on.

There's a wreck somewhere. So, you know, you're looking, you don't see nothing. The first thing you do, you look in the mirror. It's the second thing you do. That's what I did. I don't see nothing. So we cruise on down, and we know there's a caution, and I've got to beat.

these guys for third. You're racing back to the line, right? Yeah. And just as you get at the gate, just going into fourth turn, or third turn, you look over, her says number one, number two cars. Golly, man. None of us done anything different. We were still racing for third. The only thing is they just eliminated one and two. So we come back and I wound up beating Darrell. And I think I think, I don't know if Fort just seen the light and let off or what. I mean, you know, me and Darrell didn't. We know we had the race. Yeah.

So I think we left Fort in the dust there. One of the best things about those races back then is everybody riding on the car or the victory lane. The whole team would climb on the car. Well, they tried to. Yeah. We had so many people on the car, the car. It wouldn't even move.

I mean, it wouldn't. You know what I mean? And so I think Ralph Salvino, It was the STP guy. He's the only one that stayed on the hood. Everybody else had to get off. And then I think after that they told everybody not to ride on the cars anymore. We talked about the decision to go drag racing.

Another tough decision, I think, in your career was to leave Petty Enterprise and go drive from Mike Kerr. That was really a bad time of our deal. We just started Kyle and just started really. running and we really didn't have the money for the to run everything and so I said you know you got to figure at that time my my career's going downhill pretty fast and said okay let me let me get out of here you know try something a little bit different yeah and so we still went ahead and run two or three races with curb but still yet at that at that particular particular time you started having people like Hendricks and Rouse and stuff come in with all these

background with all the engineers all this kind of stuff when we were sitting in level across north Carolina you know surrounded by trees you know so we were still from the old school yeah and these guys were coming along and developing a way above us they were they were a notch or two and we We didn't have the facilities or the smarts to go ahead and get involved in that. The main deal, we didn't have the money to be able to go into that next stage. And up until then, we was probably even with anybody, if not ahead of them. And then the whole complexity of racing changed when you started having these people that made a living somewhere else.

At that particular time, Junior Johnson was making a living racing. Bud Moore was making a rhythm. Woods boys, pity. We were all making it from the inside out. All of a sudden, you have these other guys come in. They're bringing stuff in. New money. Well, what happened was that, say, somebody like Hendricks,

and I'm not blaming them for what they do. They go to DuPont, and they said, look, I got these 50 dealerships. I'll use nothing but your product, if you'll give me 15 or 20,000, 20 million bucks to run my car. And they done it from outside to bring it in. We, junior, and all of us, we would go to sponsors and say, this is what we're doing on the racetrack.

Right. You know, so then we were able to get sponsorship up to a certain amount. But these other guys just flooded us out. And that's just timing. That's just the way things were. Rick was on the show a couple weeks ago. So when that happened, I said, best thing for me to do is try to make a little bit different deal.

Try to leave enough here for Kyle to run. About that time, he decided to go drive for Glenn or something for the Woodboys. But anyhow, so we shut down there for a couple of years. Yeah. Yeah, they had, y'all had Maurice run Dick Brooks in a car. Yeah, that's what I said. When we already had the cars, had the shop, Petty Enterprises was still there. But it wasn't but just a few people.

Yeah. But I wasn't involved in that. and just sort of turned that over to Maurice and them. And they didn't have the expertise. Engine-wise, yes, but the rest of the stuff, they didn't have. Did that cause any friction you and your brother? No, it was just, again, back to what's going to take to make me survive, make my family, what's going to make my brother's family survive.

Yeah. Rick was on the show a couple weeks ago. He said he almost hired you as a driver. Yeah, well, we thought we had a deal. Wow. And we done sit down and had, and that was just when he was starting getting his deal started up. And so that, that was an incentive for me to go with the curb deal, because that was the next best thing I seen.

But that deal was pretty much done deal until STP said, no. You know, I mean, they didn't, and they were paying the bills at the time. so, you know, if you work for somebody, you've got to sort of go along with it. Dang. So probably the best thing for both of us was I didn't go to work for him. He didn't have to worry about me. Yeah. You know, though, I wonder, anybody that's been almost like working for their own family

business or working for themselves for all those years and then all of a sudden going and working for somebody else, I imagine that the culture difference alone would be, take some time. Did it ever have a... You got to figure that when we went with the deal with... Curb. We went with curb deal. We took all our people, all our equipment, all our stuff. We just went to his shop, put his name on the side of the car.

Where was his shop? Canapas. Downtown Canapolis. Is it where the building is now? That's the old dealers. There was old dealership there to begin with. Yeah. You mean?

Wow, that's the shop. Yeah. Wow. Drive by it all the time. It's got cars in it. I think it's got a few years. Yeah. Absolutely.

Maybe 200. I didn't. I ain't been over there since we left, I guess. Really? Yeah. It still looks, doing good. Doing good. I know how that is.

But it was a dealership, and we converted it into a racing shop. I think Buddy Parrott was kind of the head guy at that particular time, and we hired him to be crew chiefs. He came in and arranged up all the people. Yeah. Well, it's been a long process from that point to where you are now, but Richard Petty Motorsports is still out there kicking. You got Bubba Wallace driving the car these days,

and you guys seem to have a pretty good relationship. But I think one of the things is, want to ask you, you're at the racetrack every single weekend. Like, you still go to the track. You don't, I don't know the last time you missed a race. Do you know the... I miss Talladegh, I don't like Talladegh, I didn't go to, you don't like going to Taladegh?

That's about the only one I miss on a regular basis. What keeps you going? I'm still going around in circles, okay? Yeah. I guess, you know, I guess it's, you've been doing this 70 years. And I don't know if it's like getting up for morning, you know, brushing your teeth. washing your face, calming your hair. I don't know.

It's just a way of life. Yeah. And I told them it's too late in life right now to change and do something else. I enjoy most of it. Some of it gets to be a drag. But to be able to go see how things have changed and wish that my car was doing better. Sure.

You know what I mean? And I don't know enough about the way they've set up. the cars up on the ground, you know, and shocks and no movement in the cars and stuff. All the safety features have got. It's just so much different now. It'd be like taking me and put me on the moon. Yeah. I mean, that's how far divorced I am from really the actual race car part of it.

Right. And the deal there is, you know, we're not a big enough company to be able to build and do our own. thing. So we're working out out of the Chilers operation. And sometimes we've got good stuff. Sometimes he's got good stuff. Sometimes his stuff, you know, we can run with his stuff. Yeah.

But we run with his crowd. You know what I mean? Yeah. And he's not having really a good year either. So, I mean, if he was winning races and we was running where we're at, I'd feel really bad. But he's not winning races, and we're running pretty close to, to his two cars.

Sure. And so from that standpoint, we think we're getting everything that we can get out of the car. And we've got to just get, he's got to get better so we can get better. Sure.

And hopefully we can help him a little bit. You know, and especially with, next year, I think everything's staying basically the same step. So I think Chevrolet might be getting a different body style or some kind of deal. So we've got to wait and see what that comes up.

and then in 22, then it's completely different. Again, it's going to be completely different. All this stuff is wiped off. We're going to start again. So how do you enjoy working with Bubba Wallace? He's good. Yeah, y'all seem to get along well. I think personality-wise and stuff, he's really good with people.

Fits right in with the Air Force, because those are the kind of people. He fits into their demographics. those are the kind of people that are trying to recruit and he's fun to be around. I mean, I think he's a 26-year-old kid with a 16-year-old mind. I mean, he's still a kid.

Yeah. You know what I mean? And he's still, and he can get serious now. Yeah. You know, I think if we can give him a little bit better car, I think he can do. I think he gets about as much out of the cars

as we put in it. I like to think so, too. You know, and his attitude is, really good. I mean, you know, he don't, so far he's not got down on his cell. And he gets, I mean, we went to Indy and he had a different car.

I mean, he was jacked up like Jack DeBarrup and still wound up third. So we know he can do the job if we give them equipment to get it done. You got it. Man, I love to hear that. I do too. One of our, our only producer, Matthew Dillner, he's a huge, huge fan of yours

and really excited that you're here. I didn't know if you had anything on the agenda, Matthew, that you've... I do have one thing. Buddy Baker one time, I was hanging out with Buddy Baker at Bowman Gray, actually. And he told me a story about Lee and that he and Rex White got into it one night there. And of course, your dad saw that Rex, I mean, Rex is a small guy. He was tough, but he was small. He can't hear you like a headphones.

Oh, that's right, yeah. I'll ask him, yeah. Okay. So he apparently, Matthew goes to Bowman Gray every single other weekend, big fan of Bowman Gray. And we are too, but apparently Lee and Rex White got into it there one day. Rex being a little guy came over to mouth off at Lee, and Lee bent him over and gave him a spanking. Do you remember that?

Rumor or truth? Pretty close. Pretty close. Oh, really what happened, something happened during the race. Yeah. And we had this one boy that lived down. there right next to us and he went to the races with us well the deal was that bumma gray up there at the corner they had them bushes and stuff so daddy had a hold of him on the collar had him

this boy that was with us come across and hit him right now you know that daddy didn't hit him oh knocked him out of my dad's hand and so we just left he was laying up in the bushes but anyhow left him in the bushes things yeah they just left him. Things like that do. But I didn't know that many people knew about it. If it happened to Bowman Gray, Matthew has heard about it, that's for sure. Yeah.

So I guess I'll ask you this last question. You know, the sports, you've seen it. 70 years of, right? So there's so much change. And as, you know, I'm a traditionalist in a sense that change is hard for me. A lot of the things that we do. today it took so a while for me to get used to, but I've gotten to where now I'm more embrace the change.

When something comes, it's not about what was better before. It's about embracing that new. And, you know, so I guess where are you with all that? I mean, were you ever, was it ever difficult for you to handle, deal with the change in the sport, hoping things to kind of stay the same, what was wrong with how we did it? The basic deal in my career. the changes were easy, I don't know what I'm going to say easy, slow. Okay, they came a little at a time, a little at a time, a little at a time.

Then, I guess, in 81, NASCAR just changed their whole deal because all of a sudden they got a NASCAR chassis. Okay, we still used a stock body. Then over a period of time, they got all the bodies looking the same. those are the things that bother me, okay? That we got away from the original deal.

But knowing that the generation change, the things are different in the world, things people growing up now are not as car enthusiastic as what we were when we were growing up. So you've got to keep up with modern times. And I understand that.

Okay. And I understand we've got to make changes and I think we have to make change I'll put that way because no matter what when you get rid of it right down to it you've got four tires

a driver and a steering wheel and the motor and you're doing the same thing no matter how much the car costs or what it is but the deal of keeping up with electronics people in the grandstand

they could care less with these electronics whether it's got fuel injection or you know we've got pedals as far as that they won't see a race. Yeah. The only thing that I,

that kind of concerns me now is the way the races are run, the way they count the points, stuff like that, that to me, over a period of time, it's getting to be more showtime

than it is racing. Yeah. They race a little bit, but the main deal is put on a show, put on the show. Back in the day, again, I hate to use that word, but the race was the show.

okay now it's you know getting the cars all together turn them all loose again and then trying to keep up with who's going to go forward in the point standing yeah you know that that confuses me and you know when they give points for different sections of the race you know to me that's got nothing to do if you play in a football game you win the last second you shoot the last basket you win you could be behind all day long or you could be head all day, but it don't count nothing. It's when they throw the check or flags, when it ought to count. Yeah.

And to me, that's the way that it ought to be done. But it's working, okay. Yeah. And as long as it works and we still get things going, then I got to go along with the show. I always wondered, you know, because I had to, I used to be so frustrated and voice, you know, just complain and, and, and, and, and contest on social media or out to the public and media about my, I don't like to. change and I don't like the way we're going doing this and this and this and and then I got to thinking man you know I'm not going to have good success with a bad attitude about what's going on I need to embrace it to do well with it and now as I'm a broadcaster I see the sport completely

different there are some things though you know that I love about the history of the sport that I that either remains or I wish would come back but well you know it's it's like everything else the seed was planted 70 years ago. Yeah. Okay. The tree is growing. Okay. Some of the branches we'd like to chip off.

But the main tree is still growing. And it's still there. And it has to grow. You mean? Because when it quits growing, we're all going to have to go to work for a living. And we don't want to do that. No, we don't. We don't.

All right. Man, I appreciate you coming out here today. Yes, sir, man. A lot of fun to have you here. A lot of fun to talk to you. The listeners, I love it. Get you up a bunch of more questions.

I'll come back and talk to you again. That's planned. Love it. That's plan. We'll do it. Mountain Dew is championing the power of doing. In this day and age, there's a lot of talk, but it's the doing that leaves a mark. Mountain Dew knows that no matter who you are, one person or a group of people.

You can make an impact through your actions. That is why Mountain Dew and I teamed up with Team Rubicon, the championed selfless men and women who truly embody what it means to do the do. Okay, today we're going to talk to Jake Wood, Mike. Can't wait. He is the CEO of Team Rubicon, also a good friend of mine. All right, so let's try to get Jake on the phone. Hey, Jake, it's Dale Jr.

Hey, Dale, how you doing? I'm doing great, man. Hey, thanks for doing this. Of course. Yeah, the reason I'm calling you, Mountain Dew is helping me do this three-week series on Team Rubicon, which you started. I'm a big fan of what, yeah, I'm a big fan of what you guys do. You know that.

Appreciate it. You and I sort of met via Twitter earlier this year. Yeah. And I want my listeners of the podcast to know what Team Rubicon is all about. So first all, how and when did Team Rubicon start? Yeah, we got our start almost by accident back in January 2010 after the 80 earthquake. Really? Yeah, yeah.

You know, I'd only been out of the Marine Corps for about 60 days. you know, kind of a story goes. I didn't really know what I was going to do with my life. And then, you know, when the Haiti earthquake happened, just witnessing all the devastation and, you know, and suffering down there, I felt compelled to help in some capacity. And so I worked with a couple of guys that I served with in the Marine Corps, a couple of guys that I went to college with. And we went down there about four or five days after the earthquake. And we were taking doctors into the hardest hit areas of Port of Prince and helping these people get back on their feet.

And, you know, it was kind of in those early days, those early moments that we realized that, you know, everything we'd been taught in the Marine Corps, you know, about leadership and, you know, small unit tactics and logistics and mission planning was applicable in disaster zones like that. So we came back and we decided to incorporate as a nonprofit. And, you know, since then, we've been trying to build

the best disaster response organization in the world. Well, how many folks are involved now with Team Rubicon? Yeah, we've got over 100,000 amazing men and women across the country who, you know, I've raised their hand and said, hey, I want to continue to serve my country and team Rubicon's the way that they do it. How do you organize or coordinate that many folks for disaster relief? Sometimes I ask myself that question. What's amazing is, you know, people that come from the military, they know,

how to lead and they know how to follow. They know how to work in systems, but they also, they know how to innovate. They know how to take control of situations. And so, you know, we've built a really robust system and adopted kind of industry best practices to, to ensure that we can get these volunteers consistently and safely to these disaster zones so that they can have impact. But I mean, the real secret sauce is in the people. Again, these are, these are folks that they've been to Iraq and Afghanistan, and they've been to Vietnam, the Gulf War, all of these places over the last 50 years. And what they've brought back from those, you know, often terrible experiences are these wealth of skills. And then we're just putting them to use.

What are the different ways that, you know, so Team Robicon goes into an area to offer humanitarian aid. What are some of the things that you guys specialize in? Well, we refer to the stuff that we do as kind of our capabilities, what we're able to. to do. And it kind of ranges from moving in and doing the damage assessment, helping to use technology and skills from people that maybe had an intelligence background to create a full picture of what's happened. And then, you know, when you're getting down to the work, it's, you know, some of it is, is more skilled like how do you run a chainsaw and effectively cut trees that have been twisted and torn up by a tornado or a hurricane? Or how do you run

pieces of heavy equipment, heavy machinery to clear roads and to clear debris? And to clear debris to just, you know, having people that have strong backs that can go in and muck and gut these homes that maybe were flooded by storm surge or rising rivers. And then, of course, we do international work as well where, you know, we'll deploy some of our most highly skilled, highly experienced folks with medical teams to make sure that we can get medical assistance to these often super remote populations in countries around the world. Last week, one of my colleagues at NBC Sports, Jeff Burton, came on our podcast and talked about his experience working with Team Rubicon in the Bahamas. And for Team Rubicon, though, that was just one of 90 disaster relief operations this year.

And every just about once a week, I'll get a tweet in my timeline where Team Rubicon says, we're monitoring the situation and you can insert the town or country. how do you guys decide what makes you decide hey we're going there this is something we're getting involved in well i mean you really have to think about it from two perspectives one you know if we look at our domestic operations that's where the vast majority of the volume of our work is so of 90 operations that so far this year i'd venture to say off the top of my head that 85 of them have been in the u.s and so our goal is to really say yes to any community in need whether that's a flood that impacted 15 homes or it's a hurricane that impacted 15,000 homes. We try to say yes.

We try to make disasters local. We try to tap into the veterans in every community to make sure that we can do that. Internationally, it's obviously trickier. You have to be able to coordinate with the government of the nation that's impacted. Sometimes that's not always easy. You also have to really determine, you know, is that country's resources? Are they overwhelmed? are we actually going to add value that generates a reasonable return on the donor money that we're going to spend to do it?

And so, you know, we say no more frequently when we look at international opportunities, but it's not because we don't care or the people don't matter to us. It's just a matter of can we effectively execute to have impact. I went to work and learn a lot about Team Rubicon in Florida most recently with a her. hurricane there this year. And one of the things that I took away, I mean, of the many things that I learned, one of the one things that I was most impressed with and heard a lot about was how you guys are there long after the news coverage is gone, months and months after the disaster actually happens. And Jake, do you think about what the long game is for Team Rubicon?

We talk about the long game all the time, Dale. I mean, you know, we're about to hit our 10-year anniversary. And, you know, it would be easy for us to kind of pause and look back and pat ourselves on the back. But we really just, we think about it as we're just kind of approaching the starting line. And we always aspire to do the right things, make the right choices that enable us to build an organization that will last 100 years. And when we think about what that looks like, even 10 years from now or 90 years from now, it's, you know, communities that are made more resilient because those communities turn to their military veterans to deepen through times of crisis. And so when we think about what we're building, it's really a reimagined 21st century

volunteer fire department. You know, we're making communities stronger by organizing their best assets, their people, you know, their veterans to serve on that front line. So yeah, we talk about it a lot. All right, ma'am. Well, I appreciate you giving me a little bit of time today and talking to us. I know you guys are extremely busy with everything going on. So we're going to check back, though, in a few weeks. All right, buddy? All right. I look forward to Adele.

All right, thanks, Jake. To learn more about Team Rubicon's work, go to team Rubicon USA.org. All right, we have a quick, odd history for you. In the late 50s, Johnson City, Tennessee driver, Herman Bean, earned the nickname the turtle. Because what's the hell so funny? That's a hell of a race name. Well, let me tell you why he got that nickname. It's because he raced slow and conservatively to protect his equipment so he could be running at the finish of each race.

Back then, I mean, the cars weren't quite as durable, Mike. I guess so. So maybe the turtle approach was the way to go. All right. Well, at Daytona in 1960, the turtle forgot his shell. In a Daytona 500 qualifying race, beam, was about to start the race and he had a problem. He didn't have his helmet.

So he took the green flag without a helmet on. In 1960, I mean, that's pretty crazy. It didn't take long for NASCAR to notice Beam's uncovered head and black flagged him. After he ran eight laps, shoot, that's quite a few. Some sources even say that it was the first time NASCAR ever used the black flag on anyone. Instead of returning to the track with a helmet, Beam chose to part of the car. for the day. God, don't mess up my hair.

Well, I just don't know if he had a helmet. What if he didn't find one? I'm sure that's it. I'm sure he didn't worry about his hair. He's going 160 and 80 miles an hour. That hair is flapping around the breeze. His hair is already ruined at this point, Mike. I ain't going back out there.

He couldn't find his helmet, Mike. We're assuming. I am. I mean, the guy's not going to do it by choice. Well, you never know about the old turtle. He's crazy. Well, I mean, he still made the race. He still made the race, so it's not like...

Which would suggest he had a helmet, right? Which would suggest he didn't need to finish the race? Okay, I see where you're going on. So he pulls in, parks. I don't know where my freaking helmet is. There's a starting part. I know probably this is confusing the shit out of Mike Davis. No, no, I got it now.

But I can't find my helmet, so I'm going to park in the car. I'm in the race. I must have a great qualifying lap or something. It actually has me locked into the field. Two days later, Beam, finished 32nd, and the Daytona 500. It's like a starting park who doesn't go in with a pitch. crew. But 32nd that year wasn't that bad because it's like one of those years they started like, I don't know, it's like 60-something cars back then, you know? You do, you, you do you, Matt.

30 seconds, not very good. I don't care how many they start. I beat half of them. Only ran eight laps. Beat half of them. All right. All right. Let's go to the white flag. Keep coming, bud. White flag right there. White flag. White flag right there. White flag. Two airings of our TV show this week, 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time this Tuesday. Can I ask you a question? Sure. How did y'all guys, did you guys watch the Burton? Watch the beginning of it. It was during my daughter's soccer game, and I'm sitting there watching the Burton episode.

Yeah. We were on at a unique time. Yeah, on Friday. How did it do you think? Oh, man, I thought, you know, as our TV typically does, our TV show typically does, the producers put in some just awesome photos and imagery. It's just incredible. So like when you're talking about paint schemes and the look Jeff Burton had back in the day, you know, O'Marc Trana and Brian Goodwin, they'll find the pictures of it.

So it was good. Did you like it? Did you see it? I did not see the show. But I have seen a lot of stuff drummed up on social media. Our show brings things to the surface on social media. So a lot of photos, NASCAR man does a lot of cool digging around and finding some great clips and so forth. Got to see Burton win his first race at Martinsville driving for the.

that Samard car. He was talking about that white 12 and some pictures of him from back when he's running late models. And pretty interesting. It was interesting. By the way, speaking of things that drummed up,

did y'all see Ward Burton's tweet of our teaser video? Yeah, he said he had a different story. Of course, there's two stories. There always is. But I think Jeff Burton actually, it's not in the teaser video. I think Jeff Burton actually said

Ward would not agree with this. But anyways, yeah. So two hearings. We got 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. This Tuesday, October 22. That's the Dale Jr. download on NBC Sports Network. Dirty Mo Media is all over social media.

Follow at Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also subscribe to the Dirty Mo Media YouTube channel. We're gearing up for some more content that's going to be exclusive to that channel. So you might as well go ahead and subscribe there. A reminder that if you're not already listening to our other podcast, Door Bumper Clear, you should be doing it. By the way, guys, did you guys catch that little disagreement between Brett and T.J. last week over the yellow line roll?

That was good times. I thought it was actually a good conversation. I would pick Brett in any debate. But the fact is, I thought it was good. So I was sort of hoping that Boyer would make the next round just to keep the sensitivity levels on high for these two guys. But anyway, Doorbop McClare is on Dirty Moe Media. You can check that out.

Check this Apple rating interview out. This was really good. On Thursday, a reviewer. Unfortunately, I don't know their name, but they wrote this. The Jeff Burton interview was an eye-opener for me. I am a retired Marine and have struggled to find a purpose since retiring. Though I have heard of Team Rubicon, I have never looked into any detail with them. After hearing the great things they do, I have reached out to them to get involved.

This podcast is more than just racing. It's really good for the soul. Thank you guys. So awesome stuff there. And then lastly, I just want to say that today there's a beer toast for Josh Barry, his win at Martinsville. We've got a grandfather clock that's being put together as we speak. Looking forward to that. And that's it.

No better way to end than on the grandfather's fault. Good job, Mike. All right, close to show, boys here. Hey, everybody. It's a great show. Thanks for listening. Appreciate the King for coming and giving us a little bit of his time today. Awesome conversation.

We got into some pretty cool history there with him. So I'm thankful. Guys got a great memory, still telling some great stories from way, way back. Good job, Mike. Good job, everybody. That was fun. All right. We'll see y'all next week.

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