Kyle's absence brings end to Petty streak at Daytona (cont'd)

Kyle Petty clearly feels alienated, forgotten, and at times even hurt by the way his family's old team -- started by his grandfather, Lee, in 1949, and in existence as long as NASCAR itself -- was slowly sold off and dismantled. He didn't support Petty Enterprises' move from its ancestral home of Level Cross, N.C., to Charlotte, but the organization did it anyway. When Petty was absorbed by GEM late last year, there was no place for Kyle in the new organization. He seems to be reticent to even mention the name of Richard Petty Motorsports, which in his mind will always be the team that Ray Evernham founded.

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Basically, we're just going in different directions.

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RICHARD PETTY

"Let's be real honest. There's Richard Petty Motorsports, or whatever you want to call it, but there is no Petty Enterprises. Petty Enterprises ceased to exist when it left Level Cross, N.C. It further ceased to exist when the other group bought it. That's just a fact of life. Once somebody else bought the team, that was different. Once it moved, that was different. There have been things that have happened over the past 12 or 13 months that have, little by little, got Petty Enterprises away from what it was," he said.

"In my mind that's Ray's team. George [Gillett] bought it, now the King's over there, but it's still Ray's team. Still Ray's team. Sorry."

His father would likely disagree. Richard Petty was in the garage area Saturday as he always is, the spectators looking down from Daytona's Fan Deck cheering at the very glimpse of his omnipresent cowboy hat. No, it's not Petty Enterprises anymore. But in its final days, Petty Enterprises was bereft of sponsorship and low on cash. To keep the Petty name in NASCAR, to keep the team's old flagship No. 43 car on the race track, Richard saw merging with Gillett as an absolute necessity.

"We haven't got a family business as [Kyle] grew up in, as I grew up in," Richard said. "The business world has changed. He's an individual, he's 48 years old, he's going to have to go do his own thing also."

Richard also downplayed speculation of a rift between him and Kyle. "Basically, we're just going in different directions," the seven-time champion said. "I'm 72 years old, I'm looking at the world one way. He's 48 years old, he's still a young man, he's looking at it from a different way. Which we've always done, but we've always made it work. We're doing the same thing now. We're still in business together in a couple of different situations. I don't see any of that changing. As far as personal stuff, none of that's changed in the last 48 years."

But things have changed on the race track, and it hasn't come without a price. Sunday, for only the third time in its 51-year-history, the Daytona 500 will finish without a driver named Petty in the race. In 1961, Lee and Richard both missed the event when they were involved in serious accidents in the 40-lap qualifying races. In 1965, Richard skipped the race because he was drag racing, a protest of NASCAR's banishment of the dominant Dodge hemi engine. Kyle's absence will end a 43-year run of Petty drivers competing in NASCAR's biggest race.

"It's sad for a lot of people to know that there won't be a Petty out there on the track, or really even as names as car owners," said Jeff Gordon, who will start third Sunday. "It's exciting that there is still a No. 43 out there, I just wish that it was still a Petty Enterprises 43. Hopefully, that can at least continue that legacy and they can have some success with the 43. I think everybody is always going to recognize that as Petty."

Not Kyle. Reed Sorenson topped the speed chart Saturday, leading Daytona 500 final practice in the No. 43 car that Richard Petty made famous -- even though this latest incarnation of the vehicle is red, rather than trademark light blue. No matter. "Means nothing to me," said Kyle, whose only race at Daytona this year was the 24-hour sports-car event two weeks ago. He's been in every Daytona 500 since 1981, buying Eddie Bierschwale's starting spot and slapping his sponsors on the car after wrecking in a 1989 qualifier. Sitting out this season's event clearly hurts.

"It's bothersome, because of the way it was done," he said, referring to the sale of Petty Enterprises to GEM, which included the transfer of the 43 and 44 cars, but not Kyle's No. 45. "Because I don't like the way it was handled, because I don't like anything about it. On the reverse side of that, hey, that day's going to come, man. I'm the last one in line."

With that, he left to do a television appearance and prepare for the long drive home. Sunday, the Daytona 500 will go green without him. And another small part of the Petty legacy will be chipped away.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.

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