Petty recalls Reagan visit for perfect 200th victory (cont'd)

"I was leading the race, Cale was running second and as we come across the start/finish line, down in the first corner right on the edge of the infield was [Heveron's] car way up in there, that's when we raced back to the flag," Petty said. "So Cale and myself knew that this was the last lap, guys.

"So we go through the corner, going through the backstretch, Cale passes me like I knew what he was going to do because I couldn't do anything with the draft," Petty said. "As he did, he went into the third corner and the car moved up a little bit and I pulled in beside it and we are hung side-by-side going into 3, into 4, down the frontstretch. And I happened to be on the inside lane and when we got to the dogleg, then we both turned and my car runs three foot shorter than his and I wind up winning the race."

The leaders came up on lapped traffic at that point, and although the slower cars stayed low on the track, Yarborough was forced to run up into the portion of the track where there was more loose rubber. Petty, in the preferred line, wound up beating Yarborough by no more than the width of his bumper.

"When we came off the fourth turn, naturally if it had been anybody in the way, then I probably would have drifted back to the inside and took the inside of the race track," Petty said. "The way it was, there was already some cars there that we were lapping, so we had to stay [to the high side].

"So really when we came through the dogleg, Cale was really out of the groove. In other words, his part of the car was probably up in the loose stuff and I was able to do that without really blocking him because everybody was seeing that you had to get out of the way. So probably, I never thought about it playing a part in it, but it could have played a very big part in the way we come across the line."

All Petty had to do then was follow the pace car for the next two circuits and take the checkered flag for his 200th win. That's exactly what he did, but Yarborough did something completely unexpected. Thinking the race was over, he headed for pit road.

"You know, they was throwing the caution, and so we still had another lap to go, and Cale came down pit road the next time in, thinking the race was over and we still had a lap to go," Petty said.

By the time Yarborough realized what was happening and hustled back onto the track, Gant had positioned his Chevy behind Petty, leaving Yarborough to finish third.

Yarborough wasn't the only one confused that day. Reagan, watching a NASCAR race in person for the first time, admitted he was having a hard time following the action during a short stint on the radio broadcast.

"Somebody just went by somebody in front of us," Reagan said. "I have trouble trying to sort out who's on first. There was a moment out there when the Air Force One was coming in, when I thought that we were over the track and it was just one of the expressways in normal holiday traffic."

Instead of heading to Victory Lane, Petty was instructed to stop on the track and then have the opportunity to meet the President.

"They had said for the winner to stop at the start/finish line and get out of the car and go up into the announcer's booth because the President was up in the announcer's booth," Petty said. "So I get out of the car and I wander up, go up in and talk to the President a little bit up there and he's kind of blown away because you know, we are running side-by-side and smoke is coming off the car and running 200 mph. It blew his mind. He had not seen anything particularly like that.

"Then we got through that and came back down to the winner's circle and we do the winner's circle for the 200th win and all this stuff and when that was over with, then they let everybody out of the track and they let all of the drivers and crew chiefs and their families and stuff back into the garage area. And we had a picnic with the President of the United States on July Fourth, so you know, it was a great, great day for us. I think it was a great day for racing."

For the France family, staunch Republican supporters, the day could not have been better scripted. Petty was in charge of overseeing Reagan's re-election efforts in North Carolina's 4th congressional district. And he was driving a car owned by the former lieutenant governor of California, Mike Curb.

"You must be very pleased and proud and you have every right to be," Reagan told Petty.

Twenty five years later, Petty recalled that race -- his final Cup win -- as a "good day."

"When I look back 25 years ago at Daytona when we won our 200th race, everything was perfect, to come down to the last lap of the race and we just needed to win," he said. "But the main thing was we was prepared to do the best we could and we was prepared for what the circumstances were and were able to beat the circumstances.

"So, you know, although it's been 25 years ago, I still remember a lot of it, but it's the last time I won a race driving, so naturally that's going to be in your memory the most."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.