The story of Petty Enterprises is the very definition of building an empire from the ground up: Ten NASCAR championships, more than 270 victories and four generations of drivers bearing the Petty name.

NASCAR's early pioneers have been described as "shade-tree mechanics," and that's an apt description of Lee Petty Engineering's early days. The entire team -- which basically consisted of Lee Petty, brother Julian, and sons Maurice and Richard -- began in what has been described either as a chicken coop or an open-air shed beside the modest family home in Level Cross, N.C.

The Petty brothers caught the racing bug late in life. According to one tale, Lee owned a garage in town and worked on hot rods in his spare time. At some point in 1948, he and his brother got the idea to stick a Chrysler engine in a rebuilt 1937 Plymouth and go racing. Whether it was beginner's luck or a harbinger of the future, Petty won the first time out.

Petty to GEM

• Merger talks in final stages
• History of Petty Enterprises
• Andretti gave Petty last win
• Driving Experience lasting
• By the Numbers: Petty

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• Petty Enterprises: Early Years
• Petty Enterprises: Later Years

When Bill France announced plans to start a touring series for late-model sedans in 1949, the Pettys showed interest -- especially since first place paid $2,000, a princely sum in those days -- but didn't have a car that met the qualifications. So in order to race in the inaugural event at the old Charlotte Speedway dirt track, Lee borrowed a 1946 Buick from a friend, drove his family to the track and then painted a No. 38 on the side.

Even though it was almost impossible to see because of the dust churned up by the 33-car field, and the track was developing huge ruts in the corners, Petty was in contention at the halfway point -- until one of his tires hooked a rut and he barrel-rolled the car multiple times. Petty climbed out unhurt, accepted a $25 check for finishing 17th, and realized he had no way to get home. The story goes that Lee and Richard hitchhiked back to Level Cross that evening.

On the trip home, Petty came to two conclusions. One, he needed to figure out how to tow his cars to the track. Two, he needed to figure out a way to make money at this game, because if you could keep the car in one piece until the end of the race, the better chance of winning and taking home a bigger check.

While others at that time viewed racing as something to do on the weekends in order to supplement their full-time salary, Petty realized early on that running full-time in NASCAR might pay the bills. In order to do that successfully, Petty needed two things: reliable equipment and a successful strategy.

Petty's operation might have been the first to reach out to manufacturers in Detroit in an effort to improve reliability. In between races, Petty used trial and error to come up with parts that would stand up to the stresses of racing. And while other drivers were going flat-out until their equipment broke, Petty saved his car for when it counted.

A torn-up car meant a smaller share of the purse, and the additional cost to repair it in time for the next race.

"He was smart in that he didn't try to run out front all the time, like Joe Weatherly and some of the others did," said Bill Gazaway, former NASCAR director of competition. "A lot of times he'd run a six-cylinder Plymouth against the bigger V-8 engines. They'd blow up, and there he'd be leading the race."

With Joe Weatherly (top) not on the lead lap, Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp raced to the finish line in the first Daytona 500 in 1959.

The team skipped the next race at Daytona in order to concentrate on preparing a 1949 Plymouth -- wearing what would become the famous No. 42 -- for the rest of the season. It immediately paid dividends, as Petty proceeded to finish in the top 10 in each of the final five races, including a victory at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh when only five cars were running at the finish. Petty's share of the total season purse money was $3,855.

Throughout the next two seasons, Petty had 32 top-10 finishes in 49 starts, earning almost $15,000. That doesn't seem like much, until you consider that the average income in 1951 was $3,500. From that point on, Lee Petty Engineering never made less than $15,000 in purse money again.

Junie Donlavey, a longtime team owner, credited Petty with having the foresight to take team ownership to the next level.

"When he started, he really went at it and made it a full-time deal when others were just playing," Donlavey said. "I always admired him for really putting an effort in it to make the sport what it is today. He was one of the ones who devoted lots of time to making it a true profession."

In 1957, Petty Engineering switched from Plymouths to the powerful Oldsmobiles, and Lee promptly won 18 races during the next two seasons. That included a photo-finish victory in the inaugural Daytona 500, in which Johnny Beauchamp was originally declared the winner but shots of the finish proved Lee to be ahead by no more than two feet at the stripe.

"He'd do anything to win a race because he liked those dollars," said Rex White, a NASCAR champion in his own right. "He was a lot like David Pearson in that he didn't worry about qualifying, he just wanted to be fast at the end of the race. He always came prepared to take money home."

While Petty might have been the first driver to understand the adage "in order to finish first, you must first finish," that didn't mean he wasn't willing to dent a few fenders along the way. He was an aggressive driver when he needed to be, and Herb Thomas and others thought of him as a "dirty driver." Petty was even accused of running sharp pieces of metal on the fenders and bumpers of his cars, alledgedly to cut the tires of his competitors. But Petty was smart, and knew that mind games were half the battle. If he could use that to rattle the competition, so be it.

Richard had always planned to be his father's crew chief.

"When we first started, I went to school, came home at night, and worked on the cars," Richard said. "My ambition was to be a good mechanic, to be able to build a race car and pit race cars. I never really thought about driving until I got out of high school."

Richard Petty Private Collection

Richard Petty poses with his Plymouth during his second championship season in 1967.

Lee told Richard he would have to wait until he turned 21 to drive, and when that happened in 1958, Petty Engineering became a two-car operation. Two years later, after switching back to Plymouths, Lee and Richard combined for eight wins and $73,000 in purse money, giving promise of much more to come in 1961, especially after Lee won at Jacksonville in one of the events leading up to the Daytona 500. Unfortunately, fate would intervene in the two qualifying races.

In the first qualifier, Richard spun out, crashed and wound up in the infield care center. While he was being treated for glass shards in his eyes, the second race began. Lee was racing alongside Johnny Beauchamp when they came upon a spinning car. The two crashed through the guard rail at the top of the track and Petty's car tumbled some 200 yards, landing upsidedown in a parking lot.

Richard immediately left for the accident scene. What he saw put a chill in his bones, according to Mark Stewart's book, The Pettys.

"I ran down the bank and saw what was left of the car," he said. "There was blood all over the place and people said he was dead for sure. I thought he was dead, too."

It may not have seemed lucky at the time, but two things were in Lee Petty's favor that day. Halifax Hospital was a short distance from the accident scene and there was a trauma doctor on duty at the time. He suffered a broken collarbone, punctured lung and shattered leg -- and would wear a leg brace for much of the rest of his life.

Lee Petty's career lasted six more races. At that point, he took over as a full-time owner, turned the driving duties over to Richard and placed Maurice in charge of engineering. In 1969, the name of the team was changed to Petty Enterprises.

Throughout the next two decades, Petty would dominate NASCAR, winning championships in 1964, '67, '71, '72, '74, '75 and '79. He was fixture in the final season top-10, finishing no worse than eighth from 1966 until leaving the family operation in 1984 to run two seasons with Mike Curb.

Petty won an amazing 27 of 48 races in 1967, including 10 in a row. In a five-year span that concluded in 1971, Petty visited Victory Lane 81 times. In addition, a relatively unknown New England driver named Pete Hamilton drove one of the team cars to victory in the 1970 Daytona 500.

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Driving the Plymouth Superbird with a rear wing, Pete Hamilton won the Daytona 500 in 1970. Hamilton won three of the 18 races someone other than a Petty won for Petty Enterprises.

Kyle Petty made his Petty Enterprises debut in Talladega in 1979, driving a No. 42 STP Dodge. And Kyle's son Adam would make it four generations of Pettys behind the wheel when he made the field at Texas Motor Speedway in 2000, finishing 40th.

But tragedy would strike the team hard. Three days after Adam's first race, Lee Petty would die from complications following surgery. And one month later, Adam was killed practicing for the Busch Series race at New Hampshire.

Petty Enterprises never fully recovered from those blows. The team's last victory came with John Andretti behind the wheel at Martinsville, almost a decade ago. And even with the addition of Bobby Labonte, Petty Enterprises hasn't had a top-10 points finish since Bobby Hamilton wound up ninth in 1996.

Until the team made the decision to relocate closer to Charlotte in December 2007, a cluster of buildings scattered about the Petty property remained the hub of racing activity. And Lee Petty never let success go to his head -- or his wallet. He could sometimes be found hitting golf balls in the front yard of his house, next to the shop, until his death.

But the rising costs of running a racing team, particularly the research and development, forced Richard to look elsewhere for financial assistance. In June, private equity firm Boston Ventures purchased a "sizeable investment" in Petty Enterprises.

"NASCAR is a different sport than it was when my dad won three championships, or when I won seven," Richard said. "If there is one thing I could point to as the biggest difference, it would be the technology and engineering that is required to be competitive.

"We have known for quite some time that we need to find a partner to help us improve those areas of our race team, but we wanted to make sure that it was done correctly. I'm proud of what the Petty family has built over our 60 years in this sport. I am confident that Boston Ventures will help us continue that legacy."

No matter how this merger fares, there is no doubt that history will look favorably upon the legacy of Petty Enterprises, a team that went from a dirt floor to a dynasty.