“We were poor as church rats; awful poor” - When Richard Petty’s father Lee’s "lost tapes" unearthed his NASCAR "survival" story

Lee Petty, the father of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty, and a three-time National Grand Series title winner, is the founding father of one of the sport's most successful teams, Petty Enterprises. However, Lee, the son of a farmer, wasn't financially well-off at the start of the organization that would go on to rake in 10 championships and 268 race wins.

But the underlying passion to experience the adrenaline of racing soon changed everything. Aged 35 and exhilarated by the lucrative $6000 prize purse, Lee Petty loaned a friend's Buick Roadmaster to register his debut NASCAR race, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Though the race was disappointing, it sowed the seed for his legendary career.

Earlier this, Petty Brothers Racing shared Lee Petty's audio from one of his lost tapes, unearthing his candid statements about his humble beginnings. In the video, Lee Petty spoke about his family, saying,

"I had five brothers and I had five sisters who were living in my family, and I remember we were poor as church rats, I don't know how poor that is but it's awful poor. My daddy, he was a farmer, the fellow did a little bit of odd jobs" (4:10).

The debut Cup race turned out to be disastrous. His ride rolled into turn three due to a broken part, as young Richard Petty looked on. Nonetheless, the thrill of NASCAR felt too lucrative to let go for Lee. He began sneaking into factory cars brought to service stations for racing and soon returned to NASCAR albeit with his outfit, Petty Enterprises.

Lee spoke about an incident when a run-in by his rival heavily damaged his ride and he wasn't prepared for another race. However, his brother persuaded him to race, and Lee ended up winning two consecutive races. Petty described that period, saying,

"We go run on the Friday night and then go run Winston Salem on Saturday night and I won both of them, so automatically I'm a racer. I've been racing ever since, that was the beginning of really running the Plymouth, you know, we had to win and make a buck so we could go to the next race, and that's what you called survival" (6:03).

Petty quickly blended in and became a tough challenger for his rivals, collecting three titles and finishing no worse than P5 in his first 11 seasons.

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"You win or you lose" - When Richard Petty remembered Lee's words ahead of father's NASCAR Hall of Fame induction

Richard Petty followed in his father's footsteps and etched his name among the legendary NASCAR drivers. Even though the seven-time Cup Series champion earned his 200th and final win at the 1984 Daytona race, the feat remains undisputed to date.

From an early age, Richard used to hit the racetracks with his father and honed the skills and grit required to outperform everyone. Lee gave countless lessons to his son, one of which he remembered before his father was announced as the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. Richard Petty recounted his father's words, saying (via motorsport.com),

"There ain’t no second place. You win or you lose. That’s the only two parts there are to racing."

Lee Petty won 54 Cup Series races in his career and is currently 12th on the all-time wins list. Richard Petty began his career for Petty Enterprises with his debut at the 1958 Jim Mideon 500. He raced until the end of the 1992 season, excepting three seasons.

The team survived until the end of the 2008 season when sponsors' departures led Richard Petty and other owners to liquidate the team.