Richard Petty Quotations

No one wants to quit when he's losing and no one wants to quit when he's winning.

If guys don't respect themselves, they don't respect other people. That's times and personalities. And all of them are not that way. But it don't take but one or two to screw up the whole crowd.

Now they're getting so politically correct you can't even stick your tongue out at somebody.

Cats know, comin' out of four, they better be standin' on it, else they'll be standin' in it.

I don't know if it was much of an interview. We just shot the breeze.

Cotton Owens was leading and daddy was second. They came up on me and I moved over to let them pass. Cotton went on, but daddy bumped me in the rear and my car went right into the wall.

I'd rather be called King than other things I've been called.

If there are 10 people there, two or three are going to recognize you.

We ran a whole lot with him. I don't remember him ever causing any trouble, running over anybody or beating on anybody's head as far as Cup racing. I guess they'll remember him as a happy-go-lucky guy. That was my perspective of him.

So I've realized that this outfit is part of Richard Petty now. And the real Richard Petty is still hidden behind these glasses.

He was at Richmond from the time I was a little boy. He was one of the originals in PR, in working with the drivers and the newspapers. He was one of the first to realize you don't just stick up a sign and say we're going to have a race Sunday. He went out, dug up PR and really got the job done. Any time we ran at Richmond, the place was always full.

He was apologetic, and he really didn't have nothing to do with it. He tore up his car worse than he did ours.

He was going to make it. He had a passion for driving a car ... Adam was never interested in anything else.

I think they called it 'sucking up' to begin with. They finally had to come up with another name.

Kyle saw the things he didn't accomplish but he could help Adam accomplish.

You haven't been around here long, have you.

We are excited to partner with TEAM, RADD and NHTSA on this campaign, designed to raise awareness of two major safety issues -- impaired driving and seatbelt use. Richard Petty Driving Experience provides the perfect venue for the campaign's messages and incentives, particularly for reaching young men, who make up the highest risk group for motor vehicle crashes, ... The collaboration of our staff, NASCAR driver hosts and fans with the celebrities and dignitaries that represent the campaign at Richard Petty Driving Experience is exciting to see.

Two Sundays don't make a season. But if we keep it together, we are going to win a whole bunch of races this year.

What's your take on the Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch deals?

We won it a few times, but that was when we had more family members than anyone else, I guess. A lot has changed since then.

Every race is a chapter. Those are two important races. Who knows what Sunday will bring?

There's probably not a crew chief out there who hasn't tried something that seemed like a good idea.

I see two or three cars that are really good, but they're not dominant. There's usually somebody who's got one that's a little bit better than everybody.

These sprint boys weren't happy with how the sport was being promoted and where it was going, so they asked me if I'd still be interested in helping them, and I am,

Denver's pretty quick. They couldn't keep up with him in the open field.

They said, 'Well, it can be done, but we'll have to do it a different way (rather than purchasing the series).' So here we are.

A lot of them also looked a little further down the line in the future than we did. We always did everything out of Level Cross (N.C.) in the backyard and we were fairly successful with the thing. Then it started being a bigger and bigger business. It started going and bringing more people in, more money, more technology, that kind of stuff. We still sat there in the backyard. By the time we got ready to do something about it, we were so far behind on our money and our engineering and all that stuff it's just taken us a little time to get going.

At least when the race starts, he'll know where they're all at because they'll all be in front of him.

At least when the race starts he knows where they're all at, 'cause they're in front of him. Better to do it today than tomorrow.

This is just to get the kids ready to play. It's not about the score of the games. We want the boys to learn what they can from this. It helps the coaches see where we're at and what we need to be working on.

That's exactly what Dale Sr. was going to do. It was, 'When I quit, I've got somewhere to go. I've spent my money, made my name. This is where I want to be.' Junior is in the same suit.

A rivalry doesn't happen in one or two races or in one year. It happens over a period of time to really get a rivalry going. We race together three or four races and get to beating on each other, that's not a rivalry, that's just a happening. You do that four or fives years, that's a rivalry.

If Kyle had ever been dedicated to nothing but driving, he'd have been really, really good. But he wanted to do a lot of other things. He's always been that way. Still is.

I am very proud of the titles I have earned. However, the honorary title I have been given this year as chairman of the VA National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans program is one I accept with great humility and pride. I encourage all Americans to visit some true champions this Valentine's week and find out how you can serve those who have served us so well.

I don't particularly tell my guys to cheat. I just tell them not to get caught.

I don't now what situation they came from and I don't know what they were offered to go somewhere else. It's the times now, There's not a any loyalty for anyone or anything -- a whole lot. Wherever the money's at, that's where they're going, so I don't blame them. They've got just a few years to get it done and if they don't get it done then, then they aren't going to get it done.

The guys that don't respect that history and tradition, I don't think they're going to be around all that long. And those guys who don't know the history and tradition, I think it's upon them to learn about it pretty quick if they want to be a success.

All the boys did real good for their first time out. You couldn't ask for any better. We've got a few bugs to work out, but that's what this was for. We're going to keep practicing and get better.

I quit driving, I'm not retired.

Like everyone else, I don't want it to get too far away from the racing because as time progresses, we're trying to get new fans and still keep the old fans and we've still got to have the racing.

We drove for the sheer fun of driving because there wasn't that much money to be made.

I closed my eyes, held my breath and then everything went black.

Racing has become more show time; we've got to have something new to create interest in the sport.

You can work hard, do everything that you think is right, but one thing you'll never overcome in life is fate. You can't control fate.

When I first started racing, my father said, "Win the race as slow as you can.

If you ain't trying to cheat a little, you ain't likely to win much.

You can only live on the past for so long, and we kind of stretched our luck on that. We think we're on the way back, but it's just a matter of how quickly things come together. Common sense tells you it's not going to happen overnight because we're trying to catch up.

I didn't miss out on a family life because of racing. I had one because of it.

Never put a question mark where God puts a Period

If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'

There is no doubt about precisely when folks began racing each other in automobiles. It was the day they built the second automobile.

The good Lord doesn't tell you what His plan is, so all you can do is get up in the morning and see what happens next.