"Bu**sh*t"- Richard Petty astounds Dale Earnhardt Jr. with "193 mph" no helmet no seat belt Daytona revelation

Aneesh
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism - Practice
NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty (R) talks with Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway on June 3, 2017 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty recently shocked Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he reminisced upon his racing days, revealing a high-speed incident at the Daytona International Speedway with his son Kyle Petty.

Richard Petty is tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson for the most Cup Series championships, with seven wins each. He ventured into the realm of NASCAR in 1958, fielding the high-octane car for his father's company, Petty Enterprises. From then, until his last race at the 1992 Hooters 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Petty raked in 200 Cup Series victories.

Petty's son Kyle followed in his father's footsteps, entering the sport in 1979 at the Talladega Superspeedway. During their careers, the father and son duo often hit the tracks and during one of their stints at Daytona, "The King" took his son for a spin in a rather unprecedented fashion.

Being a stock car, there's only a single seat in the vehicle, in which Richard Petty was seated. This means Kyle was inside the car but without a seat, seatbelt, or even a helmet. While remembering their high-speed run at the 2.5-mile speedway, Richard Petty told Dale Earnhardt Jr. how he took his son for a ride in the stock car, saying (via Dirty Mo Media on X):

"I went out and run it, you know to make sure everything was working good, put him [Kyle Petty] in the car and said, 'Okay, this is where you're supposed to be.'"

Hearing this, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed his intrigue, asking:

"You drove around the racetrack with him [Kyle] riding in it? How fast?

The 49-year-old's question was answered by Kyle Petty, who said:

"193 mph...we run 193 mph with him [Richard] driving."

Kyle's reply caught Dale Earnhardt Jr. off guard as he exclaimed:

"Bu**sh*t!"

Richard Petty unravels his first encounter with Dale Earnhardt Jr.s "Intimidator" dad

More than two decades before Dale Earnhardt's rookie season began in 1979, Petty entered the sport and reigned supreme during the former's early racing days in the high-octane motorsport. With six NASCAR championships already under his belt ahead of his first run with Earnhardt at the 1979 Virginia 500 at the Martinsville Speedway, "The King" was brimming with confidence in front of the rookie.

However, as the race progressed, Dale Earnhardt's aggressive driving style surfaced and caused trouble to several drivers, including Richard Petty. Moreover, while paving the way for himself, "The Intimidator" wrecked into the #43 Chevrolet, collecting many drivers that followed.

The highly-aggressive maneuver by the rookie enraged Petty and he approached the former to school him. Shedding light on his harsh encounter with Earnhardt, the 86-year-old said (via Dirty Mo Media on X):

"We go down I’m on the inside. I think somebody’s on the outside of me...he just turned left and went across the grass, he jumped the curb and jumped right in the middle of the whole crowd. That was my introduction to Dale Earnhardt.” (0.22)

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Edited by Shubham Banerjee
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