The Demise of Petty Enterprises? (Pt 1)

Demise may not be appropriate because Petty Enterprises truly hasn't been competitive since John Andretti won way back in 2000 at Martinsville.

Sure, Bobby Labonte has had some good runs in the 43 car, but he's a former Cup champion, and there's no sign that he's lost anything behind the wheel.

So it comes as no surprise that General Mills left Petty for Richard Childress next season, and will most likely take Labonte with it. Of course, Robbie Loomis is putting on a brave face and saying that PE is optimistic that they can re-sign Labonte. But this is the same Robbie Loomis who said that the team was capable of winning each of the first five races this season. (heck, it might have been more.)

And all of this comes on the heels of Kyle Petty failing to make the show at Martinsville and then taking himself out of the 45 car in favor of Chad McCumbee at Texas. Kyle hasn't been competitive all season, and McCumbee did well last year (all things considered) when he subbed for Kyle. But does anyone think that Chad is really the future of Petty Enterprises?

Petty just recently moved out of their shop in Randleman, a mere 10-15 years later than everyone else had moved to their Garage Mahals. The place that they moved to? The old Yates Racing shop. But even as PE attempted to join the times, they were still behind. Yates moved to an even nicer shop, where they could co-op with Roush Fenway.

Now Petty has a new shop, but no flagship sponsor. And probably no flagship driver. And a second car that can't compete on a regular basis. In a lax economy, that spells disaster.

As a 22 year old fan, I really have no conscious memory of the greatness of the 43 car. Sure, I know all about Richard Petty and how great he was. But videos and stories aren't the same as memories.

So maybe I'm a bad person for not being saddened when I see the Petty banner do so poorly. Sure, I want to see them succeed, and I feel bad for them. But part of me can't help but think that somehow these events have been brought on by PE's history. There wasn't this parity and technological advances when Richard was winning races. It wasn't a big money sport. Richard could do what he wanted to do and dominate. But as the field has caught up to the Pettys, the Pettys kept doing what they thought was successful.