Petty says he won't change engine builders

JOLIET, Ill. -- Kyle Petty said Friday he had no intention of removing Mike Ege Racing Engines as the engine builder for Petty Enterprises, despite his scathing statements last week at Daytona.

	Kyle Petty says he may have gotten a bit too vocal about his engines last week at Daytona. Credit: Autostock

Two Petty cars, those driven by Shane Hmiel and Christian Fittipaldi, failed to qualify for the Pepsi 400, and Petty placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Ege, whom Petty contracted with before the 2002 season.

"No, not at all," Petty said when asked if Ege would be let go. "Mike's done a really, really good job for us. I just think as of lately, they've dropped the ball a little bit, they've become complacent in where they're at. That's easy to get."

Petty said he went public with his criticism of Ege because private efforts to get Ege's attention went unheeded.

"They were such a huge impact on us last year," Petty said. "I said it before. I gave all the credit to how we performed in 2002 to Mike Ege Racing Engines. It was a huge boost for Petty Enterprises.

"This year, whether I'm naive or whatever, I expected it to continue upward and not to go flat, not to level out. I didn't expect the same growth that we had last year, but I did expect some level of growth.

"When that growth didn't come, it disappoints me, it hurts my feelings, it peeves me off, to be totally honest with you. I was a little bit vocal, maybe more vocal than I should have been.

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"But sometimes when you're vocal to the people that should be making the change and they're not, the only way to do it is to get it out in the public and say, 'OK, everybody else knows I'm not getting the job done either.' That's kind of the way it is."

Petty said Ege's company responded by working 72 straight hours to bring better engines to Chicago. Petty practiced well, posting the 20th-best speed. But he and Fittipaldi still needed provisionals to make the field.

"It's not a huge step forward, but it's a step in the right direction," Petty said. "It got a lot of people's attention. I think Mike can do the job, and we're committed to Mike Ege Racing Engines.

"We signed a long-term deal with them, and we have no intention of backing out of that deal and going anywhere else because we think he can be a huge part of Petty Enterprises and what makes Petty Enterprises win."