`KING RICHARD' FINDS POLITICAL ROAD FULL OF POTHOLES.

Byline: Ira Berkow The New York Times

It turned out that even for King Richard of North Carolina, who campaigned in his familiar feather-dominated cowboy hat and snakeskin boots and with stump speeches of about five minutes in duration, political office was not a divine right.

Richard Petty, generally known by the monarchical label accorded him by his legion of stock-car-racing fans, had run in the November election as a Republican for secretary of state of North Carolina, and lost to Elaine Marshall by a hefty margin, gathering only about 45 percent of the vote.

``If I knew I was going to lose,'' Petty said afterward, ``I wouldn'ta run.''

From his remark, it seemed from afar that Petty might have been deluded by his fame and the adoration with which he is showered wherever he goes in his home state, and throughout much of the South, where stock-car racing is a passion.

It would not be an uncommon mistake that an athlete has believed the world - or at least his home state, surely - is his oyster, and that he could do and get about anything he pleased, and in fact was owed it.

Petty in person, however, does not carry himself in an imperial fashion, and maintains the common touch. ``Lotta people ask me to sign their autograph with `King Richard,' '' he said, in his distinctive drawl. ``But I won't. I ain't no King.'' He laughed. ``Elvis is the King.''

Thursday, Petty, now 59 and retired as a race driver for four years, was in town to receive an award for his record 200th - and last - NASCAR victory, which was chosen by a national poll of racing fans as Mastercard's Greatest Moment in NASCAR history. On July 4, 1984, at Daytona, in the Pepsi Firecracker 400, he nosed out, or bumpered out, Cale Yarborough, winning by about 2 feet.

With a pair of sun glasses perched atop his dark, curly hair, and wearing a sweater and lizard boots, he recalled that race with pleasure. ``President Reagan was there,'' said Petty. ``We met after the race. Cale and I had been runnin' side by side at about 200 miles an hour down the home stretch and bangin' against each other and the smoke was flyin' high, and the president had never seen nothin' like it in his life. He said it blowed his mind.''

Petty also remembered raising his voice somewhat to speak to the president, because both of them wore hearing aids in each ear. For Petty, 35 years of having engines roar in his ears have caused such damage that, unless he wears hearing aids, he is nearly stone deaf.

When asked about his injuries over the years, he said: ``Well, let's see. Let's start at the top. I broke my neck a couple times, broke my shoulders, my arms, my fingers, my ribs about 12 or 14 times, my legs, both feet.'' He paused. ``But that's not as bad as it sounds, because I done all that over a period of 35 years. But it was a job, and I had to do it, and I had a lot of fun at it.''

Petty retired in 1992 because, he said, ``an athlete has to stay focused. When I got married, I told Linda, racing is No. 1. And there ain't no No. 2. Well, family became No. 2. And my businesses - I got seven of 'em, from T-shirts to hats - and pretty soon racing was competin' for No. 1.'' He remains some 100 victories ahead of the second-best driver in NASCAR history.

As for life on the pedestal, Petty believes that the voters did not knock him off it. ``It's the opposite,'' he said. ``They kept me on it. The problem was, they didn't want me to come down from it and be involved in everyday problems. At least, that's what I've told myself. I guess you always try to find a reason for not winning a race - any race. And this makes me feel better.''

Of course, many surely believed he had few credentials for political office other than his 16 years on the Randolph County governing commission, and as a millionaire racing entrepreneur.

``I coulda thrown away my cowboy hat and put on a suit and said I'm now a full-bore politician and I'm not gonna be in racing no more,'' he said. ``But I didn't want to lie to the people. I still work with my son, Kyle - he drives my cars - and I still have my racing businesses.''

Would he ever run for office again, like governor, as some have proposed to him?

He smiled. ``Right now, no,'' he said. ``But then circumstances can change. And how I've reacted to circumstances have dictated my life, and my races.''