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Petty Cash Wasn't Enough To Compete

The Associated Press

Richard Petty, right, poses with Boston Ventures managing director Andy Davis, left, after a news conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 9, 2008

Seeing the tobacco sponsors disappear was one thing.

Seeing Toyotas on the Daytona high banks was another.

But this is gasket blower.

The Pettys, racing's royal family, have taken on a partner.

There's a new chief executive officer for Petty Enterprises.

And his name is: David Zucker.

It's not a Petty.

What a pity.

The King is dead?

Not An Easy Decision

OK, just relax. King Richard Petty says he's still hands on, and Petty racing might just be headed back in the right direction, seeing as it has been out of gas for more than two decades.

Still, it hits home.

David Zucker?

"It ain't a pure Southern name, is it?" Richard Petty said with a chuckle.

The King sat outside the Petty racing hauler at Daytona International Speedway, talking about taking on a partner in the name of finance, namely Boston Ventures, a private equity firm that is heavily involved in media and entertainment interests, including Motown Records, The National Enquirer and Six Flags Entertainment.

"The deal was we were afraid we were going to lose everything if we didn't do that," Petty said.

It was an emotional family decision. It was 60 years ago that Lee Petty, the patriarch, opened his racing shop. His son Richard was 11.

Now someone named Barry Baker, managing director of Boston Ventures, is Petty's new chairman, while Zucker, a proven talent at ESPN and Disney, is CEO.

The Pettys have been in charge of their racing forever, but they've been hurting for a long time. Petty Enterprises hasn't won a race since John Andretti in 1999. Petty racing has won 208 times, but the King won 200 of those.

"It's the change in our sport," Petty said. "Our sport has gone from a Southern sport to a national sport. For us to be involved in a national sport, we can't be Petty Enterprises of 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. ... We just stayed at the bottom of the hill too long."

They couldn't keep up. The King couldn't, and his son Kyle certainly couldn't, and it wasn't a done deal that Kyle's son Adam, who died in a 2000 crash at age 19, could have saved the family-owned ideal. If anything, Adam's talent might have pushed the family move more quickly toward reality.

"To get Adam to go forward, we couldn't have done it the old way," Richard said.

The Pettys now get help, as Boston Ventures announced, "with growth capital and management support." Some of the growth capital has already gone into signing Petty driver Bobby Labonte to a four-year contract extension.

Other teams have turned to outside partners. Jack Roush joined with Red Sox owner John Henry (Roush Fenway Racing) and Ray Evernham turned to rich guy George Gillett.

But this is Petty Enterprises.

"We were some of the Last of the Mohicans," King Richard said.

Needed The Help

The days of the family shop are over.

"It's like leaving Rockingham or North Wilkesboro," Petty said.

The King and his company are now the little guys, and NASCAR's little guys need help. NASCAR CEO Brian France said that the Pettys and other smaller teams still mean something, a lot, in fact:

"This idea about what value does a team owner who has paid his dues and been in NASCAR for a long time really have ... is kind of being answered by the various firms, private equity firms, who think they have a lot of value," France said.

Still, something has been lost. We all came to racetracks knowing Petty racers weren't going to win, but it was their thing, know what we mean?

David Zucker might well become the greatest racing CEO in racing CEO history.

The King assured his fans.

"I'm sort of the godfather of the deal, OK? As long as that Petty name is on there, I'm going to be involved in some part of this operation. ... I will as long as my toes are pointed straight out instead of up."

It's one of them life goes on deals.

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