AT KINGS REQUEST, RICHARD PETTY & FAMILY SIT DOWN WITH SPEED FOR ONE-HOUR TELL-ALL SPECIAL

A RACERS LIFE PREMIERES FEB. 18 AT 8:30 P.M. ET WITH RARE, PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH NASCAR LEGEND AND HIS FOUR CHILDREN

"The King" was on NASCAR Race Hub with me last spring, and when we finished our interview, he removed his mic, looked me in the eye and said, Hey, you need to come to Randleman and interview me for about three or four hours about everything. You need to ask me anything and everything. We need to put that together, SPEED host Steve Byrnes said. I was blown away. He knows we need to record history and I think this was his way of doing it.

Richard Pettys request to divulge intimate details of his and his familys life is embodied in a one-hour SPEED special premiering Feb. 18 at 8:30 p.m. ET. A Racers Life features rare, personal and insightful interviews with Petty and his four children Kyle Petty, Rebecca Petty Moffitt, Sharon Petty Farlow and Lisa Petty Luck. Also included are interviews recorded with wife Lynda in 2009, most of which have never aired before.

This intimate look at the Petty family include topics ranging from Richard and Lyndas courtship and marriage to raising their four children, the couples deep love for each other, the impact of Richards career on his family, Petty family tragedies, Lyndas current health status and his longevity in the sport.

Producer Pam Mariani says her biggest challenge was exposing a facet of the Petty story that hasnt already been portrayed numerous times in the past.

The challenge from the word go was delivering stories that either the public never has been told or rarely has been told, Mariani said. That's why we interviewed Richards family first - to uncover some personal topics he probably wouldnt have volunteered on his own. We tried not to focus on racing but instead on everyday topics with which every family deals.

Below are excerpts from the SPEED special:

On maintaining his residence in his hometown of Randleman, N.C.:

Richard Petty was born and raised in Randleman, N.C., and more than 70 years later, still calls that same piece of earth home because it is there where he can be a regular guy.

This is home, Richard said. A lot of people (in racing) move to another community and they arent the same people because the people around them wont let them be the same people. Here, if I go to town or church or school functions, its Hi Richard, how are you doing? Its no big deal. Youre just one of the gang, and thats the satisfying part of being at home.

On courting Lynda:

Amidst all the wins and fame, there is one girl who kept Richard grounded, a local girl who became the love of his life. Richard married Lynda in 1958 when she was 17 and still in high school. He was 21 and his career had just begun. The couple eloped in South Carolina and kept it a secret, waiting until he could afford a ring.

I brought her home, dumped her out in the middle of town, she went into her house and I went home, Richard recalled. I took me three or four months to get a diamond for her, and by the time we got the money, I bought a diamond and told everybody we were married.

On dividing family duties and raising children as a couple with Richard away from home:

Establishing his family and bringing his first child into the world came about the same time Richards career took off. With two victories to his credit when Kyle was born, Richard says he and Lynda clearly defined their individual responsibilities within the family.

We sort of sat down and said, This is how its going to be, Richard related. Im going to go out and Im going to be gone but Im going to make the living. You bring the kid. Make sure hes fed. You do your part and you pay the bills. Ill bring the money in and throw it on the table. You take care of everything. Thats the way it worked. She had her responsibilities and I had mine.

Fighting for his familys financial survival sometimes turned lifes proudest moments into a luxury Richard couldnt afford. Racing forced him to miss Kyles birth.

My mom will tell you that all she remembers about waking up was that when she woke up from having delivered me was she had a baby boy and a black eye that was swollen because the doctor had punched her in the face because she had screamed so loud, Kyle related. She never says anything about the King being there.

As Pettys stock car kingdom was growing, Lynda ruled at home, and disciplining their four children rested solely on her shoulders.

I was the one, and you can ask them youd ask Kyle, Did your daddy ever whip you? and hed say, No, but my mother wailed the daylights out of me., Lynda said in a 2009 interview. I disciplined and I never even bothered Richard with it. I didnt want to put the fear of God in him that he was going to beat his children to death for doing something, so I took care of them and they loved him to death and still do.

On being tough and racing when injured:

Richard drove during the golden age of racing a time when injuries came with the territory. However, when paychecks are earned on the track, lengthy recoveries werent an option. The King says he raced countless times with broken bones and probably competed with a concussion every other weekend.

He was in the hospital because he had a bleeding ulcer and they came in one night and said, Mr. Petty, were probably going to let you go home in the morning, Farlow recalled. So he thought, The morning? So he put his clothes on, went down the fire escape, got home, beat on the door. Mama didnt heard it because their bedroom was on the end of the house, so he goes to her bedroom, started beating on the window, scares her to death, checks the window, and there was Daddy. Shed just left him at the hospital. He just is not a good patient.

No matter how bad you hurt, your mind is what tells you, you hurt, Richard explained. So, what you tried to do was control your mind so that you didnt hurt. For some reason I was fortunate to have a threshold that pain doesnt bother me like it does some people.

On tragedies the Petty family endured:

The Petty familys life wasnt all one big Victory Lane celebration. Lee Petty nearly lost his life on the track, and the family suffered the tragic loss of Richards 19-year-old grandson, Adam, in a race car. The Petty triumphs always have been tempered by tragedy.

Our life isnt a lot different than a lot of other peoples lives, Richard pointed out. Were just in a different arena. Were in racing where people pay attention and they think youre on a pedestal. Youre not. Youre just a regular guy doing a different job. My job was racing. Kyles job was racing. Adams job was racing. And once something like that happens, then we look around and say, Why me? But its happening all around the world and to other people, too. Theres more attention thrown to us than what our neighbors would be. Theyre going through the same situation just with a smaller crowd of people.

We had looked at Adam as being the next Petty taking it to the fourth generation, Richard continued. Whatever it took, we was going to give him what we thought was the best so he could go forward, and the good Lord didnt see it fit like that. He said, This is the end of that dynasty.

On Lyndas current health:

In 2010, Lynda was diagnosed with a brain tumor and cancer of the central nervous system. She is cancer-free now but the treatments didnt come without side effects, which Richard says include numerous mini-strokes and a less physically-active state.

Theyve always had an ability to communicate, Luck said. It makes me sad He still calls her twice a day if he travels and even though she cant really remember that hes called, she always lights up when she hears his voice on the phone. He always says, I love you, and she always says, I love you too. Even though there isnt a lot they can communicate about these days, they always tell each other they love each other.

On his longevity in the sport:

Ive been here 60 years at the race track, Richard stated. I went to the very first race and Ive been to 99-percent of them since then. Its my home. Its my life. I think when people see me and talk to me, they realize how much I really loved what I did and I love what I do now. Theres very few people who can say that Im just going to sort of hang onto whats going on and enjoy the rest of my life.

Hes been there to all those races from the first to the last one that was run, and he still remembers so much of that, Kyle said. Its so deeply embedded in his hopes and dreams and his psyche that Richard Petty without racing wouldnt be Richard Petty. He would just wander around up there in that house Racing is his connection to life and he has to go have it every Sunday to get that influx of excitement and that influx of people in the sport, the smell of gasoline and rubber, and being around people who love the same thing he does. Thats where he gets his life force or his energy from.