March 26, 1989: A dismal day for Petty Enterprises
Stock Car Racing History
Following the Richmond 400 in February 1988, a tired and sore King Richard climbed aboard an STP-emblazoned bulldozer for a celebratory tearing up of the old half-mile speedway. - Dave Fulton
It was the first visible step in converting the facility to the modern 3/4 track still raced today. Petty raced to a third place finish - just a week removed from a horrifying wreck during the Daytona 500. Though worn out from a tough race and a body bruised from the 500, he smiled after the race and took a seat in the dozer as the all time winner at Richmond.
A year later, the new facility was in place. The 2nd race on the new surface, the Pontiac Excitement 400, was again scheduled for late February. Mother Nature had different plans, however, and the race was snow-postponed to March 26th. - Donald Evans
The race was successfully run on its make-up date, and Rusty Wallace won comfortably over Alan Kulwicki and Dale Earnhardt. But the story of the race was who WASN'T racing. After starting 513 consecutive races dating back to 1971, the 43 failed to post a fast enough speed during qualifying to make the show. Petty wasn't able to take advantage of the available provisionals, and he chose not to buy a ride to continue the streak. So just like that, *poof* the streak was over. Yet the race went on without him on March 26th, and Rusty completed the 400 laps first to claim the win.
From Brian Hauck
Adding insult to injury was that Kyle Petty also failed to qualify for the 2nd time in 4 races with his newly formed team, SABCO Racing. He also DNQ for the Daytona 500 after getting wrecked during his qualifying trim.
I'm of the believe Petty Enterprises was all but finished as far back as 82 or 83. When Richard returned to PE in 1986, he nor the team could ever put the pieces back together to successfully recapture past glories. The sport had passed them by. Its a struggle PE and more recently RPM has been fighting ever since. But one could argue the team hit rock bottom when the King was unable to wring enough speed out of his Pontiac to qualify at a place that had been among his tracks (albeit on different configurations and surfaces).
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
