Richard Lee Petty is a veteran American stock car racer who is regarded as the most decorated stock car racer in American history. He is also the man with the most NASCAR Cup wins with a record of 200 times in over 3 decades.
Richard Petty, a.k.a “The King”, is a second-generation stock car racer. He was born on the 2nd of July, 1937 in North Carolina. He began his stock car racing journey at the age of 15 years in 1952 but made his NASCAR debut in 1958 aged 21.
He raced for his father’s team, Petty Enterprises with a No. 43 Plymouth/Pontiac. Over his 35 years career, he raced in over a thousand NASCAR races out of which he won 200 times and completed in the top 10, 712 times. He also holds the record for the most NASCAR Cup wins per season with 27 wins- a feat he achieved in 1964. He was awarded a presidential medal of Freedom in 1992 and was inducted into the NASCAR hall of fame in 2010. He also made appearances in the Disney car racing animation, Cars, where he voiced an old racing car, also by the name King, who was preparing for his last race before retirement.
Richard Petty competed in his first NASCAR Cup race in Toronto, at the 1958 Jim Mideon 500 and his last race in Atlanta at the 1992 Hooters 500.
Richard Petty married Lynda Owens in 1958. The pair had 4 children together. They were married for over 50 years until Lynda was diagnosed and subsequently died from cancer at age 72 in 2014.
Richard, currently 85, now owns his father’s business- Petty Enterprises. He manages his own NASCAR team by the same name. He can be occasionally spotted during races where his team is competing.