LOOKING FOR REBIRTH OF NO. 43 PETTY ENTERPRISES HOPING TO END VICTORY DROUGHT OF RENOWNED ENTRY.Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer FONTANA - There are some numbers that belong to a sport. No. 42 belongs to Jackie Robinson Noun 1. Jackie Robinson - United States baseball player; first Black to play in the major leagues (1919-1972) Jack Roosevelt Robinson, Robinson and baseball. No. 99 belongs to Wayne Gretzky Noun 1. Wayne Gretzky - high-scoring Canadian ice-hockey player (born in 1961) Gretzky and hockey. No. 23 belongs to Michael Jordan This article is about the former basketball player. For other uses, see Michael Jordan (disambiguation). Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player. and basketball. And No. 43 belongs to Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937) is a former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver. "The King," as he is nicknamed, is most well-known for winning the NASCAR Championship seven times (Dale Earnhardt is the only other driver to accomplish this feat),winning a record 200 races and NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. . Petty won a record 200 races and earned the title, King of Racing. To this day, he wears a big, gold belt buckle with King Richard King Richard was the name of three monarchs in English history:
tr.v. en·graved, en·grav·ing, en·graves 1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy. 2. around a royal blue No. 43. But hard times have fallen on the Petty Kingdom A petty kingdom is an independent realm recognizing no suzerain and controlling only a portion of the territory held by a particular ethnic group or nation. Petty kingdoms were prominent before the formation of many of today's nation-states. . Petty won his last race Oct. 9, 1983. John Andretti brought Petty Enterprises and the No. 43 a victory at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on April 18, 1999. That was the last time the checkered flag fell on Petty's beloved car, which wasn't even a Dodge, but a Pontiac. Jeff Green, a NASCAR Busch Series champion, but winless in 134 Nextel Cup races, is the latest heir to Petty Enterprises as driver of the No. 43 Dodge. It's been a long journey since he took over the coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. seat at Dover International Speedway Dover International Speedway (nickname: The Monster Mile) is a NASCAR race track located in Dover, Delaware, owned by, and serving as the corporate headquarters of, Dover Motorsports. It is unusual in several respects. in September. Green finished an unimpressive 16th in his first race for Petty Enterprises, but by the end of the season, he earned the full-time job. ``We went through 2001 and had a really terrible year on the racetrack and a really good year off the track,'' said Kyle Petty, chief executive officer of Petty Enterprises and driver of the No. 45 Dodge for the team. ``We started 2002 and things started coming together for both teams. About two-thirds through that year, we seemed to lose our plan. It transferred all the way to 2003. It's up to management to lead, and I think we lost focus in that direction. We wasted a year, all of 2003, and when you look back maybe parts of 2002. We lost that part of our plan. The last part of 2003, we got back on track so we could start this year somewhere close to where we needed to be.'' Green starts today's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Auto Club 500 from the third spot and has steadily moved the No. 43 back to where it belongs, racing with the leaders. ``It's definitely improved from last year,'' said Richard Petty, team owner of Petty Enterprises. ``Some of our finishes might not have been any better than they were last year, but the cars are definitely making the fields a little bit better, they're getting a little bit better as the race goes on. The combination is just not going to come together all at one time.'' The No. 43 had three drivers in 2003. Andretti started the season, and finished eighth at the California Speedway race, but was booted after a 23rd-place finish in the Pocono 500. Christian Fittipaldi took over, but failed to qualify for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a superspeedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is a 2.5 mile (4 km) tri-oval race track facility with a seating capacity of 168,000 spectators. and was out after the New Hampshire International Speedway New Hampshire International Speedway is a 1.058 mile (1703 m) oval track which has hosted NASCAR racing since the 1990s. It is commonly referred to by its location, Loudon. race, where he started last and finished 31st. Green has his second top-10 start of the season. Now all he has to do is finish in the top 10 and sooner or later the No. 43 will start winning races again. But Richard Petty doesn't get too excited about seeing the No. 43 starting up front. He has higher expectations for his team and good qualifying runs do little to impress the seven-time Cup champion. ``To me, that's the way it's supposed to be,'' Richard Petty said. ``You hire these people to do a job, the drivers, the crews, spend the money. If they don't do it, that's the bad part. I expect that to happen. I'm not really good with people when it comes to that. I expect what I pay for and the team does, too.'' Green is in position to make a run at the checkered flag today. But he knows the No. 43 car is far from challenging race to race. ``Our main concern is to just get competitive,'' Green said. ``If we have a bad day, we're 15th, not 30th. Right now we're trying to get in the top 20. So I think our main focus is to make sure we can run in the top 10 all day and put ourselves in position. ``I guess everything can go your way one day and you can win a race, but my focus is just to be there, be in the top five, top 10, and knocking on the door. We're looking forward to that day and it will be a great day when that happens.'' Tim Haddock, (818) 713-3715 timothy.haddock(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Richard Petty, right, is also known as the King of Racing but his No. 43 car has not won a race since 1999. Paul Connors/Associated Press (2) Jeff Green No. 43 driver |
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