October 9, 1983: The unofficial end of Petty Enterprises

I originally blogged about Richard Petty's 198th win back in 2011 here:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/10/october-9-this-day-in-petty-history.html

But thought I'd recap it again here. For me, I think that fall day in Charlotte was essentially the end of Petty Enterprises as we'd grown to know it. Kyle struggled through 1984 as a single car operation, and Maurice fielded an un-sponsored #1 Ford for three races in 1985. From the time Richard returned to the team in 1986 through his retirement in 1992, PE simply wasn't the same. Times had passed them by.

We know the story of PE post-Richard's driving. Its not pretty. For a team that feasted on wins from the 1950s thru the early 1980s, the last 20 years have largely been filled with famine. While the writing was clearly on the wall in the early 80s that the King's better days were behind him, it was the embarrassment of Charlotte that sealed the team's fate in my opinion.

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October 9, 1983 - Richard Petty starts 20th but passes championship contender Darrell Waltrip with 23 laps to go and drives away to win the Miller High Life 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for career win #198. About 4 hours after the race ended, however, NASCAR announces the Petty team will be fined $35,000 and 104 Winston Cup points for having an over-sized engine and illegal tires. Whoops.

Finishing in second place was Darrell Waltrip in Junior Johnson's Chevrolet. Both were livid Petty's win was allowed to stand. What the two of them conveniently forget to remind the press and fans then - and now - is the #11 Pepsi Chevy was loaded on the hauler immediately after the race. As the post-inspection took place on the 43, Waltrip's car was high-tailing it back to Junior's shop in Ronda, NC. Consequently, NASCAR was unable to inspect Waltrip's car, and many to this day suspect the #11 maaaaay not have been within the rules that day either.

Once a NASCAR official spotted the wrong tires on the 43, Maurice Petty confessed to Dick Beaty, NASCAR's chief official, about the over-sized engine and how he got it through inspection.

Maurice said he placed wax in the engine, wedging open valves on the eight cylinders to foil an air-pump test of the cylinders' cubic inch displacement. When the race started, heat quickly melted the wax. The engine then produced increased speed and power from the over-sized cylinders. ~ Greg Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume IV , p. 400.

Ticket courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

A couple of victory lane photos ... several hours before NASCAR likely said to Richard "Umm, ya mind coming in here a sec?"

Photo courtesy of Ray Lamm

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Richard's tainted win was a 'no-turning-back' race. A week or so after the win, he announced his departure from the family Petty Enterprises team beginning with the 1984 season. He joined a new team financed by Mike Curb and won his final two career races in a non-Petty-owned car. Kyle Petty, who was still rough around the edges as a driver, remained with PE for 1984, but he did not have much success until he too left the team. Maurice Petty fielded an un-sponsored PE team in three races in 1985, but he too drifted out of the limelight shortly thereafter.

Tim Richmond was the pole winner for the Miller High Life 500. Awkwardly for Humpy Wheeler perhaps, he was sponsored by Old Milwaukee.

From Craig Bontrager collection.

I was in the press box at Charlotte after that 10/9/1983 race, right next to NASCAR control. Jane Hogan had thrown a small birthday party for me in our Wrangler suite after the race and then Joe Whitlock and I got word that something weird was going on. I watched Richard and Ralph Salvino come up to NASCAR control and sit with Bill France, Jr. I watched Bill, Jr. go to the garage. Seemed like this went on for hours. It had gotten very late when Bill, Jr. came to the CMS press box. He didn't delegate the announcement to any of his NASCAR minions, but made the announcement himself of what had happened and what the penalty was. For the life of me I can't remember if he took any questions and I can't remember if Richard came to the press box with him.

But, I certainly agree with your assessment. That evening marked the beginning of the end of the success we'd grown accustomed to from P.E.

It wasn't so much that they were cheating that did in Petty Enterprises, but the implication that they had to because they weren't good enough anymore. Everyone cheated in NASCAR, but they not only had to build a big engine, they needed to swap the tires too. Although it was mainly coincidence, leaving Chrysler in 1978 was the point where his decline began to pick up speed.

If Kyle had lived up to our hopes, I think the Petty team would have remained dominant into the 1990s, and Adam may have picked up the torch from there. But that's how it goes. Had Dale lived and Junior gone to DEI, I believe the same thing would have happened to them. Dynasties don't last forever. I'm thankful that I was a fan when the King reigned and the sport had not yet been ruined by big money. That's really the biggest stain on Petty Enterprises' reputation, they were the first to sell out to big sponsors.

And it was the BUSCH Pole Award! lol

I was at Charlotte that day and can tell you that DW parked that Jr. Johnson hog up high between 1 and 2 when Petty went by. Richard was big but I knew DW was to when the Jr. Johnson hauler blasted past me headed for the back gate.

Great points Andy.

Ha! Yeah, I've always heard Junior Johnson was essentially napping on the porch with a toothpick in his mouth in Wilkes County by the time NASCAR had finished going over the 43. "Who? Us? Nah. Gotta be them Petty boys. We'd never do that."

You think DW won 12 races in 81-82 on sheer talent? Yeah, right.

I remember I was in shock after the "cheating" was announced. Like everyone else around the sport, I was smart enough to know it went on. Even in the minor leagues where I had competed, it was often blatant and obvious, but the "cheaters" got away with it. I just didn't believe my hero would be involved in cheating and I know Richard said he just drove the car and didn't know about the engine and tires. I could accept that. That is basically the way I raced the last three years. I had no idea what was done to the car, I just got in it a drove.

I remember, very well, seeing Richard about two weeks later on Saturday afternoon at Rockingham before the 500 there. He and I had always, and I mean always, cut up with each other with smart remarks, but that day it was kind of like just asking how the car was running and such things as that. I know I didn't mention the Charlotte episode and as I sat there with Richard for about 45 minutes many of the press came by and most avoided the subject. It was sort of like an out of bounds topic. Guess there was so much respect for Richard that the less said, the better.

As for Junior Johnson, I have great respect for his contributions to the sport and all the great memories I have of my many encounters with him over the years. I do believe, however, that it is well documented that he and Smokey Yunick were the top ranked cheaters of all time in the sport.

As for D.W., he brags today, or how he cheated and got away with it repeatedly. No, he wasn't that smart, but he attracted the crew chiefs that fit right in with his cheating ways. It was not like Black Bart building race cars for Snow White, that's for sure. Black Bart builds race cars for someone like Waltrip.

Yes, Chase, that was the beginning of the end of Petty Enterprises as you and I had known it all those years from the days of "Petty Engineering". Adam Petty was the hope, but thanks to NASCAR's failure to avail themselves of technology that could have saved him, we lost Adam at that trash-track in New Hampshire.

Thanks for the trip back. And Dennis Andrews, thanks for reminding me of how quickly the Junior Johnson team loaded up that cheater car and headed out. I remember thinking, as it pulled out of the garage area after the race, that I had never seen a team load and leave so quickly. Sort of like the engine D.W. blew at the finish line in the All Star Race, or whatever it was called then. Is there anyone out there who believes D.W. didn't blow that engine intentionally? I tell you, if I was standing in a thunderstorm getting soaking wet and D.W. said it was raining, I would NOT believe him.

I do think Adam had talent. But I've never been one to project what might have been for him as a driver. Casey Atwood was heralded as the next big thing. And Bobby Hamilton Jr. And Bobby Hillin Jr. And Rob Moroso. And so on. Some had their chance and didn't deliver. Some like Adam and Moroso weren't around long enough to demonstrate it.

What I have projected to others since 2000 is I think Adam would have had to go elsewhere to have success. Even with genuine excitement from fans, the King and Kyle, Sprint and the media, that giddiness likely would not have been enough to resurrect PE to a winning program for Adam, Kyle and any other drivers that may have been added to the fold.

In the end, we'll never know though right?

You are correct, Chase, we will never know and I realize I am foolish to follow that line of thinking, but that's just something I believed in deeply. Sometimes I do get too deeply involved in what "might have been".