King for his day

Sandi Estep worried when Richard Petty wrecked during the 1988 Daytona 500, and she cried when he retired as a driver following the '92 season. She rejoiced when Petty made it back to Victory Lane as a car owner, and she mourned when Adam Petty lost his life.

A race fan since 1960, Estep long has cheered for Petty with every ounce of her being. The well-known photograph of Air Force One landing at Daytona as Petty zips by on the backstretch hangs over the fireplace in her home in Hermitage, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville. There's a door panel off Kyle Petty's car in the corner, along with several other Petty-related items here and there.

Although meetings between the two were fleeting and spread across the span of nearly 50 years, it wouldn't be much of a stretch for Estep to consider Petty very much like a member of her own family. Thing is, Estep is not alone in her devotion. There are thousands of intensely loyal fans just like Estep, and they're all focused on one man -- Richard Petty.

How many children have been named Richard in his honor? Considering the question, Petty grins that famous Petty grin and says, "I don't have any idea."

It's almost impossible to imagine what it must be like to be Richard Petty, the icon, the uber-legend who has transcended his sport for more than 40 years now. Petty has somehow managed to wrap his arms around such attention and keep it all in perspective.

"I was fortunate coming along at the time I did," Petty began. "[I went] to that first race, and nobody had ever heard tell of Richard Petty. Then, the next time you go, somebody had heard tell of you. Then, the next time, there was a few more people. I grew up with it. So it wasn't a deal where it hit me all at one time. To me, that would be really hard to take.

"Drivers [today] ... they've been running down here at Caraway and all of a sudden, they get a big contract with Hendrick or Joe Gibbs and they're driving the biggest thing going. They're in Cup racing. My notoriety came on a little at a time. My fan base came on a little at a time, so I grew up with them and they grew up with me." (Continued)