Richard Petty to run car at Indy 500

[Dare]

Petty makes owner leap into Indy 500Comment Email Print Share ESPN.com news services

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Richard Petty will make his first foray into the Indianapolis 500 as an owner when he fields a car for John Andretti in next month's race. Petty will be joining fellow NASCAR team owners Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi at Indy.

A news conference is scheduled Monday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, multiple news outlets are reporting.

Andretti drove for the now-defunct family-owned Petty Enterprises team in NASCAR from 1998 through the middle of the 2003 season. He has driven in nine Indy 500s, including the last two -- finishing 16th last year driving for Marty Roth -- and 10 NASCAR races at the famed Brickyard.

His best finish in the 500 was fifth in 1991, while his top performance in the Cup event was seventh in his first year driving for Petty.

The 46-year-old racer, the nephew of longtime open-wheel star and Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti, has also driven sports cars and dragsters.

In 1994, he became the first driver to run both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR event in Charlotte on the same day, finishing 10th at Indianapolis and crashing and finishing 36th at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon have both since done the double, but the grueling feat is no longer possible since Indianpolis changed its starting time several years ago.

Petty is a partner in NASCAR with George Gillett in Richard Petty Motorsports, the team formerly known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports. Gillett is not expected to be part of the Indy deal.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which runs the full IndyCar Series, will work with Petty at Indy, providing equipment and personnel.

The IndyCar Series is in St. Petersburg this week for the season-opening Honda Grand Prix.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[cosworth151]

I've been following this, too. The Indianapolis Star is reporting that the entry will be Richard Petty Motorsports, with Petty listed as the owner. Other sources say that RPM won't be involved.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904040453

The announcement is supposed to be today in the Pagoda Plaza, but might get moved into one of the Pagoda Chalets due to the weather.

[cosworth151]

It's Official!

The car will be Petty Blue and Red, and carry Richard's iconic #43.

[cosworth151]

The official word from Indy:

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=13520

[lkjohnson1950]

I think this is essentially Petty in name only. Window World, a company from the area near Petty's home in NC is the money source. The Petty and Andretti names will draw associate sponsors (like Perry Ellis, see car pic). The actual heavy lifting will be done by Dreyer and Reinbold, who will also supply the equipment. I expect John to run mid pack.

Lonny

[cosworth151]

The NASCAR team Richard Petty Racing is also Petty in name only. It's just a new name for Gillette Evernham Racing. About the only things that came over from Level Cross are Richard Petty's name and his and Kyle's old numbers. (43 & 44)

Still, the Petty name will bring more fan attention to the IRL. With NASCAR's TV ratings tumbling, this could be a boon to open wheel.

[lkjohnson1950]

Agreed. Odd that the Indy 500 should need help from a NASCAR star to help draw entries and fans, isn't it? It just shows how far Tony George has dragged Indy down. Good on ya TG.

Lonny

[cosworth151]

Actually, TV ratings had been steadily dropping prior to the split, while NASCAR was on the way up. For the past several years, IRL's ratings have been steadily climbing, while NASCAR drops. The same holds true over all for race attendance in both series.

Thanks, Tony

[lkjohnson1950]

If you're trying to say that Indy now is better because of Tony, I must disagree strongly. He has taken a race that was one of the 2 or 3 most important in the world and squarely positioned it as number 2 or 3 in Indianapolis. Indy now cannot compare to Indy before Tony and it's just because Tony couldn't bear to share the power with the car owners. Gee, sounds familiar doesn't it?

Lonny

[cosworth151]

Not at all. CART was headed downhill fast. Penske and the CART cabal really couldn't have cared less. Their only concern was seeing to it that all the power (and most of the wins) stayed concentrated in a handful of big teams. TV ratings, and fan interest in general, were cratering. The 500 had long since lost its standing. Somebody had to do something. It's been a long, long time since the Indy 500 was a truly great race, but at least it's still here. And, it's making a strong comeback.

In short, Tony didn't hurt open wheel racing in the US, he saved it!

Besides, Tony also brought F1 back to the US. No other promoter in the country wants anything to do with Bernie.  He may also be the only person in the world who can topple The Evil Troll. Remember, everyone said he'd never beat Penske, either.

[Scott]

In short, Tony didn't hurt open wheel racing in the US, he saved it!

Besides, Tony also brought F1 back to the US. No other promoter in the country wants anything to do with Bernie.  He may also be the only person in the world who can topple The Evil Troll. Remember, everyone said he'd never beat Penske, either.

He killed it in Canada.  What the point was of saving the Edmonton race over the Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal venues, I have no idea (to be fair, Toronto is back, but only because it was hugely profitable and the Andretti's wanted it).  Canada has no superspeedways, so as the IRL is a primarily oval league, it left us with only crumbs.  CART was at least giving a proportional amount of races to Canada with respect to the Canadians involved in CART.  The IRL left plenty of good teams and fantastic employees behind.  Besides, what did Tony pay the Andretti's and Penske's to walk away from CART basically dooming it?  A ton, that's what.

[lkjohnson1950]

The Indy 500 was still a great race when the Split occurred. The split was engineered by TG because he wanted more ovals and more American drivers in the series. When the owners said we like our road courses and our Kanaans, Castroneves, etc, Tony formed the IRL and told the CART guys they were not welcome at the 500. Only 10 drivers who were not IRL regulars would be allowed to start. This doomed open wheel racing. CART had the names, but Tony had the 500. Tony hedged his bets by inviting NASCAR to run at INDY and he brought in F1 purely because he thought he could make a profit. When the Troll raised the fees to the point where TG could no longer make a profit, F1 disappeared. But, with the new races at the Speedway providing income, all Tony had to do was wait for CART to go belly up, which is exactly what he did. Penske and Andretti returned when their sponsors told them INDY was more important than a CART championship. Tony is now sweeping up the pieces but the 500 will never be so important that drivers like Jackie Stewart feel they have to race there to prove themselves. It was that important before. TG is as bad in his own way as Bernie or Max.

Lonny

[cosworth151]

The fans wanted more ovals and American drivers. Ovals are what they grew up with, what they're used to. For example, there are 5 oval tracks withing a half-hour's drive of my home. There are only 2 road courses in the entire state, and 1 of them has been on the verge of bankruptcy for years. 90% of the fan base here just flat doesn't like them. That's why NASCAR was flying high and CART was nosediving. The 2 NASCAR races with the lowest TV ratings each year are the 2 road courses.

As I recall, the 10 other car rule was only put into effect after the Penske cabal announced that they would "crush the Indy 500" with their ill-fated American 500 right up the road in Michigan.

The reason the sponsors wanted their teams at Indy was because most Americans didn't even know what CART was, much less who won it.

Long before the split, drivers like JYS had stopped coming to Indy. The good young drivers, like Jacques Villeneuve, left CART for F1. F1 retirees, like Emerson Fittipaldi and Nigel Mansell, came to Indy only after their F1 careers hit the rocks.

[lkjohnson1950]

I do not recall a great outpouring of desire from the fans for more ovals. The split was about money and power. Penske (the ultimate turncoat) and his owner buddies wanted more of both, Tony thought that because he had THE race he should be the big noise. The fans wanted to see the drivers whose names they recognised racing at Indy, the only race most of them were familiar with. Penske and George managed to screw that up through pure greed and ego. And if ovals are what the fans want, why doesn't the IRL go oval now? There are plenty of ovals that don't have an IRL date who would be happy to sign on. And, why is Long Beach one of the biggest event on the calendar?

Lonny

[Dare]

Maybe I'm wrong but I think the winner the first
year of the split was Buddy Lazier,a driver who
before was never in contention at Indy.

CART  had some good years before the split,the Little Al
and Emmo rivary.Mansell was a big news item when
he tried CART.Look at IRL now it's mostly international
drivers in the series and I think it is better for that.