Countdown: N. Carolina

James Taylor had it right when he penned "Carolina in My Mind." From the shoals of Cape Hatteras to the Blue Ridge mountains, the Tar Heel State is a wonderland of experiences.

It's home to the Triangle, the Triad, the Sandhills, "Down East" and the High Country. There are hurricanes at one end and hillbillies at the other. There's room for tobacco and high tech in North Carolina.

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Whether you like your pork pulled or sliced, with vinegar- or tomato-based sauce -- just make sure the hushpuppies are fresh and save room for the banana pudding.

There may not be a real "Mayberry" but Andy Griffith's Mount Airy will do just fine. North Carolina was home to Charles Kuralt after being "On the Road."

It's the place where Michael Jordan and the Wright brothers learned to fly and where two of NASCAR's greatest legends learned to drive.

Best behind the wheel

• Richard Petty, Level Cross
• Dale Earnhardt, Kannapolis

At first glance, "The King" and "The Intimidator" seem as different as night and day, except for their seven NASCAR championships. But on closer inspection, their racing resumes are much more similar than their driving styles might indicate.

Richard Petty has 200 career victories to Dale Earnhardt's 76, but in 500 more races. In fact, looking at the percentage of top-five and top-10 finishes for each driver, the numbers are nearly equal.

Petty finished in the top five in 47 percent and the top 10 in 60 percent of his starts, while Earnhardt's numbers are 42 percent and 63 percent, respectively.

In addition, Petty wasn't averse to a little fender-banging, while Earnhardt had the singular knack of being able to weave his way through a crowd of cars at Talladega.

	Credit: David Taylor/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers The careers of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt   Earnhardt Petty Starts 676 1,184 Wins 76 200 Top-5s 281 555 Top-10s 428 712 Poles 22 123 LL 25,707 52,194 Earnings $42,001,697 $8,541,210

It's nearly impossible to separate Petty from the powder blue No. 43 and STP, as much as the name Earnhardt is synonymous with the black No. 3 and GM Goodwrench. But you might be surprised to learn that both Petty and Earnhardt drove No. 2 before settling on the numerals with which they are most associated.

Plus, both drivers reveled in the spotlight that is NASCAR's biggest stage -- the Daytona 500. Petty won the race seven times, and while Earnhardt only captured it once, he scored more than two dozen victories at DIS.

Both grew up in small North Carolina piedmont mill towns -- Petty in Randleman, Earnhardt in Kannapolis -- and as second-generation drivers, learned the sport under the tutelage of their fathers.

Petty assumed he'd grow up to become chief mechanic for his father's race team, but caught the driving bug after he got his driver's license. Allowed to drive one of the team cars at the age of 20 in 1958, Petty finished 17th out of 19 cars entered.

He didn't win in 1959 -- his father protested Richard's apparent first victory at Atlanta -- but was named rookie of the year. Petty's first win at Charlotte in 1960 then set the stage for consecutive seasons with at least one victory that continued unabated until 1978.

Working full-time by day and on his cars at night, Earnhardt began racing in his late teens. However, while Petty could run team cars from his father's operation, Earnhardt did most of his on his own, especially after his father Ralph died of heart failure in 1973.

Earnhardt moved up through the Sportsman division, running at tracks around the state before making his Cup debut at Charlotte in 1975, finishing 22nd in Ed Negre's Dodge.

Earnhardt made a handful of starts over the next three seasons, but got his big break when Dave Marcis left Rod Osterlund's operation to start his own team after the 1978 season.

Scoring his first win at Bristol, Earnhardt went on to post 11 top-five finishes and win rookie of the year honors. Starting in 1982, Earnhardt would win at least one race each season until 1997.

Other noteworthy drivers from North Carolina

• Sam Ard, Asheboro: Two-time Busch Series champ finished 31st in only Cup start

• Buck Baker, Charlotte: Grand National champion in 1956 and '57 won 46 races in 26-year career

• Buddy Baker, Charlotte: 19 wins include 1980 Daytona 500, 1970 Southern 500

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• Bill Blair, High Point: Captured 1953 Daytona beach race, one of three career wins

• Richard Brickhouse, Rocky Point: Surprise winner of inaugural Talladega race in 1969

• Neil Castles, Charlotte: Four runner-up finishes in 498 starts, including second to Richard Petty in the final dirt race

• Richard Childress, Winston-Salem: Winless in 285 starts, better known for owning car Dale Earnhardt drove to six Cup championships

• Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kannapolis: Seven of his 16 wins have come in restrictor-plate races

• Ralph Earnhardt, Kannapolis: Short-track ace was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers in 1999

• Harry Gant, Taylorsville: Eight of his 18 victories came in September, including a pair of Southern 500s

• Cecil Gordon, Horse Shoe: Finished second to David Pearson in 1975 at Dover, best of 450 career starts

• Jack Ingram, Asheville: Two-time Busch Series champ finished second at Hickory in 1967

• Bobby Isaac, Catawba: 1970 champion won 26 of his 37 races during a two-year span

• Dale Jarrett, Hickory: Of the 32 victories for the 1999 champ, three came in the Daytona 500

• Ned Jarrett, Hickory: 50 career victories resulted in NASCAR titles in 1961 and 1965

• Junior Johnson, Ronda: 1960 Daytona 500 winner won one out of every six races he entered, including 13 in 1965

• Jimmie Lewallen, Archdale: 57 top-10 finishes in 142 career starts from 1949-60

• J.D. McDuffie, Sanford: In 27-year career, posted 106 top-10s in 653 starts

• Billy Myers, Germantown: Wins at West Palm Beach and Norfolk in 1956; killed in 1958 accident at Winston-Salem

• Jimmy Pardue, North Wilkesboro: Wins at Richmond and Moyock; killed in 1964 tire test at Charlotte

• Benny Parsons, Ellerbe: 1973 champion averaged a victory a year in 526 appearances over 21-year career

• Phil Parsons, Denver: Scored a win in the 1988 Winston 500 at Talladega

• Jim Paschal, High Point: Two of his 25 career wins came in 600-mile races

• Kyle Petty, Randleman: Rockingham was the location of three of his eight career victories

• Lee Petty, Randleman: Three-time champion scored 54 wins from 1949-64

• Leon Sales, Winston-Salem: Lone victory came at North Wilkesboro in 1950

• Morgan Shepherd, Conover: Three of his four career Cup wins came at Atlanta

• Buddy Shuman, Charlotte: 16 top-10s in 29 starts, including a victory at Niagara Falls in 1952

• Gwyn Staley, Burlington: Scored wins at Myrtle Beach, Syracuse and Langhorne in 1957; killed the next season at Richmond

• Donald Thomas, Olivia: Drove brother Herb's Fabulous Hudson Hornet to victory at Atlanta in 1952

• Herb Thomas, Olivia: 1951 and 1953 NASCAR champ won nearly a quarter of the 228 races he started

• Speedy Thompson, Monroe: Eight of his 20 career wins came on Tar Heel tracks

• Brian Vickers, Thomasville: 2003 Busch Series champ has five top-fives in 77 Cup starts

• Bob Welborn, Denton: Scored five of his nine victories in 1958

We wish ...

Basketball star Brad Daugherty had become a NASCAR driver.

Daugherty, a native of Black Mountain, wore No. 43 for the North Carolina Tar Heels because his hero was Richard Petty -- and co-owned a Busch Series team with Robert Pressley. At 7-0, Daugherty would even tower over the tallest driver in the series, Michael Waltrip.

Keeping it on track

• Lowe's Motor Speedway

Race promoter/car dealer Burton Smith and driver Curtis Turner formed a partnership to build a 1.5-mile oval north of Charlotte in 1959. Smith left in 1962 to pursue other business interests but returned in 1975 as majority stockholder and regained control of the day-to-day operations, hiring Humpy Wheeler as general manager.

Lowe's Motor Speedway has the distinction of being the first sports facility in America to offer year-round condominiums overlooking the speedway in 1984. Eight years later, Smith and Wheeler added a $1.7 million permanent reflective lighting system, making Lowe's the first modern superspeedway to host night racing.

Gone but not forgotten

• North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh

Originally built as a mile, the track on the fairgrounds property was shortened to a half-mile in 1940 and hosted its first NASCAR race in 1955, when Junior Johnson beat Fonty Flock to win the $1,350 first-place check.

The track hosted two more events -- David Pearson's win in the 1969 North State 200 and Richard Petty's victory in the 1970 Home State 200. That race is memorable for two reasons: It remains the last dirt-track race in NASCAR's premier series and because the car was owned by Don Robertson, it was the last time Petty drove a No. 43 for anyone other than Petty Enterprises.

Other tracks which have hosted NASCAR races

• Asheville-Weaverville Speedway, Weaverville: Rex White won five times at the dirt half-mile; rain-shortened race in 1961 caused a near riot

• Bowman-Gray Stadium, Winston-Salem: Paved quarter-mile inside the football stadium was host to eight of Richard Petty's poles

• Champion Speedway, Fayetteville: Bob Welborn won twice at the paved third-mile

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• Charlotte Speedway, Charlotte: Inaugural Strictly Stock race was won by Jim Roper on the .75-mile dirt oval, now the site of a junkyard

• Cleveland County Fairgrounds, Shelby: Ned Jarrett and Buck Baker won two races each on the dirt half-mile; Herb Thomas was critically injured in a 1956 wreck

• Concord Speedway, Concord: Jack Smith scored three wins on the dirt half-mile

• Dog Track Speedway, Moyock: Wendell Scott is the only driver to make all seven races at the dirt quarter-mile

• Forsyth County Fairgrounds, Winston-Salem: Lee Petty swept both races on the dirt half-mile in 1955

• Gastonia Fairgrounds, Gastonia: Buck Baker beat Lee Petty in 1958, the only NASCAR race held on the third-mile

• Greensboro Fairgrounds, Greensboro: Dirt third-mile hosted three races over a two-year span in the late '50s

• Harnett Speedway, Spring Lake: Herb Thomas beat Dick Rathmann by three laps in 1953

• Harris Speedway, Harris: Richard Petty and Ned Jarrett paced the field at the paved third-mile

• Hickory Speedway, Hickory: Tiny Lund drove a Camaro to the win in the last Cup race held on the half-mile where Junior Johnson won seven times

• Jacksonville Speedway, Jacksonville: Buck Baker and Ned Jarrett won by more than a lap in the two races held on the dirt half-mile

• McCormick Field, Asheville: Jim Paschal won on the quarter-mile around the baseball field in 1958 as Lee Petty crashed into the dugout

• New Asheville Speedway, Asheville: Richard Petty won the last two NASCAR events at the .4-mile oval

• North Carolina Speedway, Rockingham: Kyle and Richard Petty combined for 14 wins at "The Rock", which was removed from the Nextel Cup schedule in 2005

• North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro: Richard Petty won 15 races and Darrell Waltrip nine poles at the 5.8ths-mile in the foothills of the Blue Ridge before the track was shuttered in 1996

• Occoneechee Speedway, Hillsborough: Buck Baker drove in 22 of the 32 races held at the dirt mile before its date went to Talladega in 1969

• Raleigh Speedway, Raleigh: Paved mile hosted seven races, including three on July 4 before that date was switched to Daytona in 1959

• Salisbury Superspeedway, Salisbury: Lee Petty beat Buck Baker for the $800 winner's check in 1958 on the dirt 5/8ths-mile

• Southern States Fairgrounds, Charlotte: Dirt half-mile hosted races from 1954 through 1961, with Lee Petty and Buck Baker starting all 17 races

• Starlite Speedway, Monroe: Darel Dieringer beat Clyde Lynn by eight laps in 1966 in the only NASCAR race on the dirt half-mile

• Tar Heel Speedway, Randleman: Petty Enterprises won all three races on its home track, a dirt quarter-mile

• Tri-City Speedway, High Point: Herb Thomas won both poles on the dirt half-mile

• Wilson Speedway, Wilson: Herb Thomas beat Buck Baker by a foot in 1956, the closest finish of the 12 races held on the dirt half-mile

A word from our sponsor

• Lowe's Companies, Mooresville

With fiscal year 2004 sales of $36.5 billion, Lowe's serves approximately 11 million customers a week at more than 1,200 home improvement stores in 49 states. Based in Mooresville, N.C., the 60-year old company is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world.