Respect Your Elders: Even Richard Petty stung by Chrysler's bankruptcy?
Richard Petty – quite possibly the best NASCAR racer of all time and the man in charge of Richard Petty Motorsports – says that Chrysler stopped paying his team after filing for bankruptcy last month. No surprise there. The lack of funds prompted RPM to lay off nine workers, although Petty is now saying there is hope that the automaker will soon work out some sort of deal to begin making payments once again now that it's clear of court proceedings.
It isn't clear at this moment if Petty's team, which is in the final year of its current contract with Chrysler, will soldier on using Dodge
[Source: ESPN via MLive.com | Image: Jason Smith/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jsams4131 8:33AM (7/08/2009)
He didn't get the memo?
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AZZO45b 11:54AM (7/08/2009)
Autoblog didn't get the memo either... this story is at least 3 weeks old!!!
DiRF 8:41AM (7/08/2009)
Actually, the Challengers are only for the 2nd-tier series, and I'm not even sure they'll be running the ponycar based cars in that series as early as 2010... the top-tier Sprint Cup series will still be running Chargers, Fusions, Camrys, and Impalas for the forseeable future.
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The Other Bob 8:44AM (7/08/2009)
Why are people so surprised when bankrupt companies fail to pay their bills?
What part of bankruptcy do people not understand?
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Assass1n 9:10AM (7/08/2009)
"Quite possibly the best NASCAR racer of all time..."
No that honor would go to Dale Earnhardt who won as many championships as "The King" and did it at a time when competition was a hell of a lot higher than when petty raced. Petty also raced in the time when it wasn't considered cheating to stuff an enormous motor in your car- back when "if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin" was the norm.
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Holden Miecranc 9:33AM (7/08/2009)
Actually it was considered cheating, which is why folks like Smokey Yunik had to be pretty darn sharp to get around the rule book. Earnhardt won 7 championships, just like Petty, but Richard is the only one with 200 wins.
Comparing Petty and Earnhardt is like comparing Joe Louis and Mike Tyson. Same sport, but different eras.
Assass1n 9:40AM (7/08/2009)
@ holden
I see your point, however I would wager that if Earnhardt raced back when there were 50+ races in a single season, and raced as long as Petty had, he would have had more than 200 wins and more than seven titles. Heck, he probably would have won his eighth in 2001 were it not for the wreck that took his life. I'm not saying Petty is bad, just not the best. Earnhardt did things in race cars that were thought to be impossible- the "pass in the grass", or when he came from 20th to first in 5 laps to win the Winston in 2000.
DiRF 9:59AM (7/08/2009)
Petty and Earnhardt are arguably the most consistent drivers of their respective eras, but an argument could be made that Pearson and Waltrip were the more successful drivers of those same respective eras... as Pearson ran part-time most of his career, yet still racked up tons of wins... and Waltrip holds the record for most victories in the "modern era"
Farmboy 9:33AM (7/08/2009)
Okay. This is old news. And honestly, big corporations like Chrysler or GM, they don't care who's who, just who will play for them and be their puppet. Yeah, it might have hurt a little, but with how Chrysler is viewed anymore, it was barely a prick of the finger.
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Parlay84 9:54AM (7/08/2009)
...rumors the team has been in talks with *gasp* Toyota.
Duh, if he said he was willing to talk with ALL manufacturers.
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LX builder 10:57AM (7/08/2009)
Assass1n: Your boy doesn't even make this list, judging talent from diffrent eras just doesn't work in any sports. There is no difinative answer to the question, who is the greatest?
We all have vaid opinions... nothing more. I'm a life long Petty fan and I would still pick Pearson myself.
And of course Jeff Gordon is the greatest driver of the modern era, its just all the hillbillies that can only see #3, (#8) #88 don't want to see that.
Overall all-time winnning percentage: [drivers with over 100 starts]:
1. Herb Thomas -- 21.05% (48 wins, 228 starts)
2. Tim Flock -- 20.86% (38/187)
3. David Pearson -- 18.26% (105/574)
4. Richard Petty -- 16.89% (200/1184)
5. Fred Lorenzen -- 16.46% (26/158)
6. Fireball Roberts -- 16.02% (33/206)
7. Junior Johnson -- 15.97% (50/313)
8. Jimmie Johnson -- 15.59% (42/272)
9. Cale Yarborough -- 14.75% (83/560)
10. Jeff Gordon -- 14.44% (82/562)
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UltimoDragon 2:59PM (7/08/2009)
Hey, Dodge's loss! Petty could always go back to Ponti--
...oh, right.
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spencerdepp 9:24PM (7/08/2009)
+1
I see what you did there
TigerMil 6:36PM (7/08/2009)
BFD. Put a sow's ear on a NASCAR 'newcar' frame and call it a Palin.
She needs the viz.
Could probably get the GOP national party to pay/sponsor it!
ROFLMAO!
Obviously, the point is that these cars are no more stock cars than an F1 barge...they can put any skin on them and just because Chrysler chooses to break a contract shouldn't be any skin (pun intended) off of the King's car!
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len simpson 1:46AM (7/09/2009)
Wouldn,t it be nice if the Nat'l assn of STOCK car racers went back to racing the real thing? The last race I ever attended had real cars.
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