I do recall Jimmy and I would watch the black and white television episodes of Superman and although we really didn’t realize what special effects were back in those days, the way Superman would fly, break through walls, and “bend steel with his bare hands” would leave me to suspect something was fake. Jimmy, on the other hand, believed it all. I remember watching him almost get a hernia trying to bend a crowbar. I can still remember the day George Reeves, who portrayed Superman on TV, was found dead. Jimmy was devastated. I don’t think he ever fully recovered from that. Jimmy and I lost contact after high school and it was not until just recently that I began to wonder whatever became of him.
Kids today seem to lack a specific hero in their lives. Many have their fathers; many have sports figures; some entertainers, and others just adults they encounter at church or school. Nothing wrong with any of those, but not one kid I’ve encountered in years has the kind of hero fixation that a kid in the 50s had for Superman or some other “super hero”. I wonder; is that because the world is just too wild now? Someone who is on top today, may be the lowest form of life on the planet tomorrow, when some news-leak reveals something that is detrimental to the image. However, it is not the intent of this writing to criticize or comment on anyone who now enjoys a hero's status in today’s world. What I want to do, is tell you about my hero.
It was much later in life that I realized what a hero my Dad was. I was born in 1946, just a little over a year after my Dad had returned from almost four full years of fighting Japanese in the Pacific. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was not known in those days. Although I don’t profess to know my if Dad suffered from that, I found out things in 1987, when I attended a reunion of his Division in the war and spoke with his Colonel. How my Dad could have been all that he was, after all he had been through in the war, is amazing. He had never told us of the medals he had earned in the war and even after the Colonel went to great lengths to tell me the stories, my Dad still didn’t talk about it. Watching how for three long years he battled the cancer that finally took his life leaves no doubt of his strength or heroism.
Now that all the background is out of the way, I’ll try to tie all this together with Superman and the blue Plymouth. For, you see, I grew up with a huge case of hero worship for a guy who drove a blue Plymouth in stock car races.
Thanks to my uncle Bobby, I had started out as a fan of Lee Petty back in 1952, when I was first introduced to the sport. On a hot July evening in 1958, my uncle and I went to the Convertible Race at Columbia Speedway and a young Richard Petty was there to drive his first stock car race. I met Richard Petty after that race and being 11 years old, I’m sure I was impressed because he actually talked to me. I don’t remember what was said, but I found out in April of 2009, that he credits his first autograph as a race driver as having been given to me that evening. On the way home that night, my uncle commented that he didn’t think “the kid” would ever be a driver like his father. I guess that was the start of my independence, as I immediately decided that from that night on, Richard Petty was going to be MY driver. Little could I imagine what a ride I had strapped myself in for.
In July, 1959, my uncle and I were back at Columbia Speedway and this time, Richard Petty won the convertible event. Even as I sit here 53 years later, I still feel the excitement I felt that night as MY driver... MY hand-picked driver, had won!
At the 1959 Southern 500, I was convinced that Plymouth 43 (although not blue at the time) was going to win. He (or it) didn’t but I was thrilled beyond measure to watch that car come by me as I sat next to the fence in turn three. In 1960, I was at the first World 600 to watch that Petty Blue (Thumper II) big-finned Plymouth run a fantastic race with wire cages protecting the grill and windshield.
No, I’m not going to bore you with a race by race description, but I do want to relate a few things about my involvement with Richard Petty. He was my hero as a youth and, especially today, anyone can look and see that he is still the hero to many folks my age, some older, and many of the younger drivers coming up today.
In February, 1962, after I got back from the Daytona 500, I set up, with the help of some of my friends, “The Richard Petty Fan Club of Columbia”. For the first year or so, there were about 12 members and we got together to listen to the races on the radio and pull for Richard. On August 8, 1963, we had Richard and his Father Lee sign a “Charter” that we had written up and headlined in large print painted in with Petty Blue Model Car Paint, "Testor Number 8", I think it was. I still have that Charter in a frame, hanging here in The Legend’s Lair. The local Chrysler-Plymouth dealership that brought Richard to town for the Columbia Speedway event that day, actually gave us a check to start a treasury. Oh, and Richard won the race that night!
That fan club started to grow when I wrote a letter to “Southern Motorsports Journal” which was published in September, 1963. We started to get requests to join from all over the country. By mid 1964, we had over 400 members in 23 states and a U.S. Marine in the Philippines. My church gave us an old mimeograph machine and we started putting out a month Newsletter, which we mailed out thanks to the continued support of the local Chrysler-Plymouth dealership. We had artwork and articles on any subject dealing with Richard Petty. We organized a club meeting for the infield, turn three, for the Southern 500 in 1964 and an unbelievable 130 plus folks showed up there, including folks from Virginia, Indiana, and Ohio who were members. Even Sammy Bland, an announcer in those days came, as he was a member of our club. When we notified members in 1965 that we were ceasing the publication of the newsletter because we had no funds left (the Plymouth dealership wasn’t giving us money then because Chrysler was boycotting NASCAR), the money came rolling in. Unbelievable! We kept the Newsletter going throughout 1965.
Now, please let me explain the title of this writing. To my friend Jimmy, and many others, Superman was a hero because he could do extraordinary things, even if only in imaginations. We had Batman, The Lone Ranger, and so many others to lead us by example, but, when it came down to it, even Red Ryder reminding us to the radio of the good things we should do and the proper course we should follow, could not provide a continuing example of excellence. My hero did, and to this day still does.
If you ever see Richard Petty dealing with kids, watch him. Each kid that comes to him is, at that moment THE point of attention. I have watched Richard hold conversations with 5 and 6 year olds who are fascinated by, if nothing else, the hat and the glasses. Richard gives the kids undivided attention. I have watched hundreds of kids walk away almost in a trance because they met The King.
I remember that feeling, although we didn’t call him the King back then. And, if you want to know the truth about from where that title came, there was a reference in The Richard Petty Fan Club of Columbia Newsletter in 1964 calling him King Richard because the writer of that article was deep into the legend of Merry Ole England’s heroic King. Seemed to that writer that Richard Petty fit that label pretty well. The writer never sought credit for that but we need to set that record straight.
I have watched Richard deal with older folks in wheelchairs who come to see him. He kneels down to be eye-to-eye with the person. When mentally disabled persons come to him, he makes an exceptional effort to connect with them. I have marveled at the responses he gets from some mentally disabled folks who seem not to know of their surroundings but will look into The King's sunglasses and hang on every word he says.
I had the opportunity, along with Jeff Gilder, to have a one-on-one interview with The King at his Museum in Randleman in April, 2009.
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It was during that interview that Richard remembered our first encounter in July, 1958, and mentioned the first autograph deal. He went on to say how I had aggravated him ever since that day. It was a jovial discussion about the connection I have been fortunate to share with Richard for 55 years. I attempted to tell Richard how having him as my hero had shaped my life in good ways, but he waved that off almost as an embarrassment that he was being praised.
Interview 2
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When I watched that video, I could tell that he was actually touched by that. As I told Richard, I think I turned out alright and sure, part of that was parents, part my church, but a huge part was having a hero who was truly the kind of man worth the attempt to emulate. You know what? I still try to treat others like Richard Petty has treated others his entire career. That cannot be a bad thing!
So, to the comic book Superman, sorry you never drove that blue Plymouth but it is sort of appropriate that during the STP years, those Plymouths and later Dodges had sort of the Superman color scheme. Wonder if that was planned?
-Tim
Here is a link to over 1300 Richard Petty photos on RacersReunion.com
Email: legendtim83@yahoo.com
Twitter: @legendtim83
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