Adam Petty
Adam Petty | |||||||
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Born | Adam Kyler Petty July 10, 1980 Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||
Died | May 12, 2000 Loudon, New Hampshire, U.S. | (aged 19)||||||
Cause of death | Basilar skull fracture from crash in Turn 3 of practice for the 2000 Busch 200 | ||||||
NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
2000 position | 58th | ||||||
Best finish | 58th (2000) | ||||||
First race | 2000 DirecTV 500 (Texas) | ||||||
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NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
47 races run over 3 years | |||||||
Best finish | 20th (1999) | ||||||
First race | 1998 CarQuest Auto Parts 250 (Gateway) | ||||||
Last race | 2000 Hardee's 250 (Richmond) | ||||||
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
2 races run over 1 year | |||||||
First race | 1999 Virginia Is For Lovers 200 (Richmond) | ||||||
Last race | 1999 O'Reilly 300 (Texas) | ||||||
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Adam Kyler Petty (July 10, 1980 – May 12, 2000) was an American professional racing driver. He was the fourth generation from the Petty family to drive in races in the highest division of NASCAR racing. He is believed to be the first fourth-generation athlete in all of modern American professional sports.
Early life[]
Petty was raised in High Point, North Carolina into stock car racing "royalty." The son of Kyle Petty, he was widely expected to become the next great Petty, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather Richard, and great-grandfather Lee.
Racing career[]
Petty began his career in 1998, shortly after he turned 18, in the ARCA Re/Max Series. Like his father Kyle, he won his first ARCA race, driving the #45 Pontiac at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Petty moved to NASCAR Busch Series full-time in 1999, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet. Petty finished sixth in his first Busch Series race at Daytona and had a best finish of fourth place at Fontana, though he also failed to qualify for three of the Busch races. Petty finished the 1999 season 20th overall in points.
Petty Enterprises planned to have Petty run a second Busch season in 2000, while giving him seven starts in the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, in preparation for a full Winston Cup campaign in 2001. He struggled early in the Busch season, but managed to qualify in his first attempt at Winston Cup during the DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2. He qualified 33rd and ran in the middle of the pack most of the day before his engine expired, forcing him to finish 40th. Adam never got to race alongside his father. Kyle failed to qualify and eventually relieved an ill Elliott Sadler, but Adam was already out of the race. Lee Petty, Adam's great-grandfather, and 3-time NASCAR Champion, lived to see his Winston debut, but died just three days later.
Death[]
On May 12, 2000, in a practice session for the Busch 200 race[1] at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Petty's throttle stuck wide open going into turn three, causing the car to hit the outside wall virtually head on. Petty was killed instantly when he suffered a basilar skull fracture.[2] He was 19 years old.
Petty's death, along with 1998 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year Kenny Irwin Jr.'s in the same corner at the same track eight weeks later,[3] led NASCAR to mandate the use of a kill switch on the steering wheel and the adoption of the Whelen Modified Tour restrictor plate for the September Cup race; the plate was abandoned after the race, in which Jeff Burton led all laps to win the race. These two adjustments addressed the cause of the deadly accidents, but did not address the basilar skull fractures suffered by both drivers. At Texas Motor Speedway, Truck Series driver Tony Roper died on October 14, 2000 of a similar head injury. Mandatory use of the HANS or Hutchens device (designed to prevent the rapid-deceleration head-and-neck movements associated with the injuries associated with the Petty, Irwin, Jr., and Roper deaths) was mandated by NASCAR in October 2001,[4] following the later deaths of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt on the last lap of the Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001 and ARCA RE/MAX Series competitor Blaise Alexander during ARCA EasyCare 100 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 4, 2001, both of which died from same injuries. NASCAR also adopted SAFER barriers in 2002; drivers had requested installation of soft walls prior to the September New Hampshire Cup race.[5]
Adam's father Kyle Petty, who drove the No. 44 car at the time of his son's fatal crash, drove Adam's No. 45 car in the Busch Series for the remainder of 2000. He then used the No. 45 in the Cup Series throughout the rest of his driving career.[6] Kyle Petty would later admit that he struggled with depression during the 2001 Cup Series season about the loss of his son, which partly resulted in his poor finish in the 2001 Cup standings.
Legacy[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/George_W._Bush_at_Victory_Junction_Gang_Camp_-_Randleman%2C_N.C._with_NASCAR_drivers.jpg/220px-George_W._Bush_at_Victory_Junction_Gang_Camp_-_Randleman%2C_N.C._with_NASCAR_drivers.jpg)
In October 2000, five months after Petty's death, his family partnered with Paul Newman and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp to begin the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, North Carolina as a memorial to Petty. The camp has received support from many NASCAR drivers, teams, and sponsors, including Cup Series sponsor Sprint, which has placed a replica of Petty's 1998 car in the camp. The camp began operation in 2004 and is an official charity of NASCAR.
Petty also appears as a special guest driver in the video games NASCAR 2000, NASCAR Rumble, NASCAR 2001 and NASCAR Arcade. Both NASCAR 2001 and NASCAR Heat include tributes to both him and Irwin Jr.
In December 2013, his brother Austin named his newborn son after Adam in tribute.[7]
Motorsports career results[]
NASCAR[]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Winston Cup Series[]
NASCAR Winston Cup Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | NWCC | Pts | |||||
2000 | Petty Enterprises | 45 | Chevy | DAY | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX 40 |
MAR | TAL | CAL | RCH | CLT | DOV | MCH | POC | SON | DAY | NHA | POC | IND | GLN | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | NHA | DOV | MAR | CLT | TAL | CAR | PHO | HOM | ATL | 68th | 43 |
Busch Series[]
NASCAR Busch Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | NBSC | Pts | ||||
1998 | ST Motorsports | 22 | Chevy | DAY | CAR | LVS | NSV | DAR | BRI | TEX | HCY | TAL | NHA | NZH | CLT | DOV | RCH | PPR | GLN | MLW | MYB | CAL | SBO | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | CLT | GTY 27 |
CAR 38 |
ATL | HOM 27 |
73rd | 213 | |||||
1999 | Petty Enterprises | 45 | Chevy | DAY 6 |
CAR DNQ |
DAR 24 |
TEX 39 |
NSV 13 |
BRI 18 |
TAL 23 |
CAL 4 |
NHA 24 |
RCH 28 |
NZH 5 |
CLT 43 |
DOV 40 |
SBO 33 |
GLN 32 |
MLW 30 |
MYB DNQ |
PPR 29 |
GTY 34 |
IRP 27 |
MCH 35 |
BRI 22 |
DAR 15 |
RCH 40 |
DOV 30 |
CLT DNQ |
CAR 30 |
MEM 5 |
PHO 38 |
HOM 33 |
20th | 2471 | ||||||
Pontiac | LVS 29 |
ATL 34 |
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2000 | Chevy | DAY 37 |
CAR 27 |
LVS 17 |
ATL 25 |
DAR 16 |
BRI 40 |
TEX 39 |
NSV 34 |
TAL 12 |
CAL 27 |
RCH 16 |
NHA Wth |
CLT | DOV | SBO | MYB | GLN | MLW | NZH | PPR | GTY | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | CLT | CAR | MEM | PHO | HOM | 47th | 928 |
Craftsman Truck Series[]
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | NCTC | Pts | ||||||||||||||
1999 | Petty Enterprises | 34 | Dodge | HOM | PHO | EVG | MMR | MAR | MEM | BRI | TEX | GLN | MLW | NSV | NZH | MCH | NHA | IRP | GTY | HPT | RCH 10 |
LVS | LVL | TEX 16 |
CAL | 58th | 249 |
References[]
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2011-08-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "CNNSI.com - Motor Sports - Adam Petty killed in practice crash at NHIS - Friday July 07, 2000 02:33 PM". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. 2000-07-07. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
- ^ "ESPN.com - Auto Racing - Irwin killed in same turn as Adam Petty". espn.go.com. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
- ^ Bruce Martin (August 4, 2011). "Mandated 10 years ago, HANS device has ushered in era of safety". si.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ Hinton, Ed (September 3, 2000). "NASCAR DRIVERS HINT BOYCOTT". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 18, 2000. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ "Kyle Petty Career Statistics". Racing-Reference.info. 1960-06-02. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
- ^ Richter, Josh (2013-12-16). "Gen-5 Petty: "The King" meets his great-grandson Adam". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
External links[]
- Adam Petty driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- 1980 births
- 2000 deaths
- American Speed Association drivers
- ARCA Menards Series drivers
- NASCAR drivers
- Sportspeople from High Point, North Carolina
- Petty family
- Kyle Petty
- Richard Petty
- Racing drivers from North Carolina
- Racing drivers killed while racing
- Sports deaths in New Hampshire
- Sportspeople from Trenton, New Jersey