Racing from 1958 to 1992, "The King" Richard Petty is not just one of the most successful auto racers of all-time; he is easily amongst the most popular.
It is next to impossible to argue that the most successful NASCAR driver isn't Richard Petty. He won 200 races in NASCAR, nearly double his closest rival, and his seven wins at the Daytona 500 is also a record. Petty is a seven-time champion at the end of the year, winning the Grand National Series Championship twice, and when it changed over to the Winston Cup Series, capturing that five times.
Petty did not just drive like a star; he looked like one. With his signature cowboy and perpetual grim, you liked him before you knew what he even did for a living, and it turned out he was as great a guy as he seemed to be.
Petty went on to be a successful NASCAR owner with his team, Richard Petty Motorsports.
We are proud to nominate Richard Petty for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.