Richard Petty tackled a tough topic Saturday as the legendary racer lamented his limited new role in NASCAR.
A Petty-owned team has competed in NASCAR’s top series since the sport’s first season in 1949. Petty owned the team most of that time, winning seven NASCAR Cup championships as a driver.
Petty retained an ownership stake in the sport until last season, although success has dipped recently. Then, Petty GMS Motorsports brought on seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson as a minority owner and rebranded the team as Legacy Motor Club.
Now Petty, 85, has no ownership stake. He said he has no say in any major decisions. Petty met with reporters Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, and when asked if his new role bothered him, he answered frankly.
“Yes, it does,” Petty said (via NBC Sports). “Because I’ve done things my way, which hasn’t been too good lately, but as time progresses, things change in the world. Then it probably was time for a change.”
Legacy Motor Club fields the No. 42 Chevrolet for Noah Gragson and No. 43 for Erik Jones, with Johnson driving select events. Petty now occupies the role of “chief ambassador” for the new team and says the role has “been strange to me.” After so many decades of having the final say in a race team’s operation, he now watches others make the key decisions.
“Most of the time, I run the majority of the show,” Petty said. “Jimmie brought all his people in, and his way of running things (and) my way of running things, are probably a little bit different, OK?”
Petty indicated Johnson is very involved in day-to-day decisions.
“Jimmie’s very observant,” Petty said. “Jimmie controls everything, basically. You’re making postcards and stuff, he has to approve it. He approves everything. He’s a pretty busy man right now.”
After news of Petty’s disappointment with his new role spread, Johnson told the AP Saturday afternoon that he was, “disappointed to hear and read through the press that his feelings were bruised because he’s not expressed them to me, for starters. … But a lot of what Richard is speaking to is based on business decisions that he and his family have made, and they aren’t relative to my involvement.”
