SIGNATURE PROFILES
© 1999-2002 Dwight Drum

KYLE PETTY

"Life is what you make it."

Photos © 2002 by Gary Larsen and Dwight Drum

DWIGHT CHATS WITH…KYLE PETTY

When you get close to a celebrity driver like Kyle Petty, a racing icon, most fans might have trouble with words. I'm a writer. I'm not supposed to have trouble with words. That's a misconception, but being up close to a celebrity often puts a gulp in any fan's throat. Reporters are human too, but we soon learn to swallow the gulp and go.

When we were privileged to be invited into the lounge area of the # 45 Petty Enterprises hauler I was elated with expectations. NASCAR drivers are besieged with interview requests so when given an opportunity reporters must be courteous and swift with pertinent questions.

When Petty came out to the back of his hauler and invited us in, a gulp grew in my throat. Inside, I discovered that Petty courtesy has sufficient energy to support any overwhelmed fan during an overwhelming moment. I soon forgot the gulp as I plunged into questions. Let's all leap into his great answers.

DOB: July 2, 1960
Birth Town: Randleman, N.C.
Home Town: High Point, N.C.

"When I meet people you might see a guy one way and I might see the guy another way. I would hope any quality or trait anybody took away from me or my personality would just be positive, not a negative trait."

"Family. Obviously, our family has gone through a lot together. It changes your perspective. We're in a sport where we get to ride around in circles and play all the time, but that's not the important thing."

"I have a lot of people I look up to, my father obviously. I think I look up to Adam in a lot of ways, because of what he was doing. I don't think there has ever been anybody to come to this garage area that worked on a car that I didn't have an immense respect for, because I know how much they give of their time and give of their lives and give what they have. Most of the guys out there whether they work on my team or someone else's team, it doesn't make any difference, they fall into the category of hero."

"Yeah. Life is what you make it. Everybody has different experiences and you can be bitter about things or you can look at the positive side and the blessed parts of it. That's the way I've always tried to address it."

"I don't know. I never look at it that way. I never look at what I have as if it is not enough. I think what I have is sufficient, no matter what it is. Bad days…I used to have bad days. I don't think I have bad days anymore. Running twenty-fifth or running first is not a big difference in the overall scheme of life or in the overall scheme of what I'm trying to do, so that's not a big issue. Everything is what you make of it, and I don't have bad days."

"All the time. When riding my Victory motorcycle, I always wear a helmet."

"Honesty and integrity. As long as you are straight-up. Just by being straight-up about things accomplishes a multitude of things in life."

"I don't know. I have no idea, because I've never been around anything except racing. This is all I know."

"I ride Victory motorcycles."

"This is going to kill ya. I ride a new 2002 Deluxe model Victory motorcycle and I have a 2002 4 cylinder Dodge Stratus."

"Nothing. I don't think there is a lot of difference. I'm a little bit more aware than the average driver about what goes on a round you, but other than that there's two different ways of driving. When you drive on a race track you drive offensively. You've got to make things happen. I think when you're on the highway you have to drive defensively, because you always have to worry about what the other guy is doing. I think that's the difference. You have to change the way you drive and drive defensively. "

"My mind."

"I haven't worked out in about six months. I still run. I run about every day, but I got lazy. I've been working out for the last three years, but I've been lazy for the last six months."

"It used to be my legs would hurt, but I've got the new carbon-fiber seat. It's an insert out of an Indy car or a Formula 1 car. They pour a mold that fits your body and I'm never sore any more after using the new seat."

"I don't know."

"Probably one, two, and three all at the same time."

"No. I sit in this lounge and watch TV. That's it."

"I don't know. In driving a race car I don't believe you're afraid or scared until after the fact. I've never been in a wreck or situation where during the situation I was afraid or scared. Mentally I've always tried to figure out how to get out of whatever situation I was in. You don't have time for fear or anxiety to override what you're trying to do mentally. After the fact you think…'I can't believe that happened.' During the fact I can't recall any scary moments."

"I have a healthy respect for a lot of things. I respect speed. I respect dangers that become inherent to the sport. I also respect the inherent dangers of flying from here to California. When I go to bed at night, I'm never afraid I'm not going to wake up. I'm not afraid to die. I have respect for things but I don't have a fear of a lot of things."

"I ride Victory motorcycles."

"Sometimes. Not often."

"At home. I find the most peace with my family or inside a race car. Inside a race car is a peaceful place even with all the stuff that's going on outside. It's a good place to be."

"I think after Adam's accident I worry about Kimberly and Austin. I worry about my family and my sisters. I worry what could happen to them."

"In a lot of ways for someone who has never driven a race car, it's about the same as riding a regular roller coaster, not a bizarre one. A lot of acceleration and the way you feel when it goes into a corner. I'm not talking about going upside down or any of that stuff. It's that basic roller coaster feeling and then it becomes old-hat and you don't feel any more. It just becomes…there."

"I think every mistake you make you should learn from. If I make a mistake on the race track I try to correct that mistake. Don't put yourself in that position again. How did you get from point A to point B? How did you get in that position? Any time something breaks on a race car, you look at it. We have a whole room full of nothing but broken parts. You don't care about the parts that make it through because that's the good stuff. You have to figure out if a piece broke, why did it break? Fix it. If it breaks again, shame on us. We try to learn as a company and as an individual from every mistake we're ever made. If you don't, you never make any progress."

"Hmm, good question. In the last century, if you tried to take the compassion from somebody like the Dalai Lama, the love that the Pope has for what he feels. I think you'd have to go back about 50 years and look for someone like Churchill for leadership qualities. If you could take all that, it would be a pretty good place to start."

"I've got plenty of horses, cows, goats, dogs, but I have no pets. I'm forced to feed them every once in a while, but they are not mine. They are my family's pets."

"Not really. I eat tons of tuna, fish and chicken."

"I would probably try to change the way it is perceived. We're perceived in a lot of ways as a Southern, southeastern sport. Our sport deserves the same recognition as stick and ball sports receive. It's preconceived; a conception that a lot of people have that is just not a reality. It's just perception."

"You have to ask somebody else to sum me up. I'm not too hard on myself, so I don't judge myself too hard."

"I ride Victory motorcycles."

On the way out of the # 45 hauler that gulp grew back in my throat again. "The King", Richard Petty was standing near the exit. I forced myself to stop and meet the legendary icon and "The King" was as gracious as his reputation. His firm had shake and engaging smile tells much about the enduring reverence for the Petty clan.

Our "Final Word" is a search for one word that describes the character of racers we interview. The first word that formed in my mind for Kyle Petty is character…solid character. Petty also has a charismatic personality, a cool presence, an articulate and intelligent style and many other attributes. I continued the search through numerous final words when a hyphenated word surfaced and nudged other words aside.

Petty loves to ride motorcycles as well as race cars. I didn't have to consult a dictionary for his final word and Gary Larsen quickly agreed. Kyle Petty could be described by many positive words but we believe his final word is...