NASCAR Hall of Fame Member Richard Petty was born in Level Cross, North Carolina and began his legendary automobile racing career on July 18, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in a race in which he finished 17th and won $115.00

Richard earned his first victory in a 100 mile convertible race on July 18, 1959 on the old Columbia, South Carolina dirt track; his first Winston Cup victory in a 100 mile race on February 18, 1960 at the old Charlotte, North Carolina Fairgrounds; and his first Superspeedway victory in the Daytona 500 on February 14, 1964. During his illustrious career, Richard was selected as the Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 1959 and Driver of the Year in 1971. He was selected as the "Most Popular Winston Cup Series Driver" in 1962, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 & 1978; was inducted into the North Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 1973; presented with NASCAR’s Award of Excellence in 1987; named as American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association ("AARWBA") most outstanding driver in 1992; received the Medal of Freedom (the highest United States civilian award) in 1972; was selected as AARWBA’s Man of the Year for his contribution both on and off of the track in 1995; and was inducted into the inaugural 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Richard’s career highlights include competition in 513 consecutive Winston Cup races (a NASCAR record) from the Capital City 500 in Richmond, Virginia on November 14, 1971 through the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 in Atlanta, Georgia on March 19, 1989; 200 victories of the 1,185 NASCAR Winston Cup races entered; 55 Superspeedway victories; forty one 500 mile victories (an all-time international racing record); 27 victories (10 in a row) in a season (of 48 races in 1967); $531,292 earned in a single season (1979); and $7,755,409 earned during his career.

Richard captured seven Winston Cup Series championships between 1964 and 1979 and his 200th on July 4, 1984 in the Pepsi Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway in the presence of then President of the United States Ronald Reagan and before a national television audience.

Richard completed his record setting career after 35 seasons by honoring the millions of stock car racing fans with his "Fan Appreciation Tour" in 1992 and provided his legions of followers with many exciting moments as he nearly won the pole for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, qualified fourth for the DieHard 500 at Talladega and started seventh for the Miller 500 at Pocono.

Richard is married to Lynda Owens and has four children including Kyle Petty, Sharon Petty-Fario, Lisa Petty-Luck and Rebecca Petty-Moffitt.