Customer Reviews

Richard Petty: The Cars of the King

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If you ever wondered what kind of car Richard drove in which Season, this is the ultimate Book for you. Or if you are into building the Kings Cars in Scale Models, this is the only Book where you can get all the information you need, the rest (Model, Decals, etc.) is up to you

Interesting insight to NASCAR's King year by year. The sidebars and experiences in the Petty family's trek through racing are well documented in this book along with many photos not seen anywhere but here. Although first rate, more detail could have been devoted to some of the earlier years that are not as well known.

They didn't need to write another biography of Richard Petty. At least that's what Richard himself said. So Tim Bongard authored a look at Richard's racecars, and the result makes for a great look back through NASCAR's history.

The process of getting the book published, though, is a story in itself. It was originally to be published by a Pennsylvania firm in 1984. But the book was never published, and both Petty Enterprises and those who had ordered the book were left holding the bag. It wasn't until the 1997 season that the book finally came out, and it was worth the wait.

The book details all of Richard Petty's racecars. There was his 1957 Olds convertable, the first car he won a NASCAR race with in 1959. There was the hemispherical head engine that dominated 1964 and was banned in '65. There was the reskinned 1966 chassis on which Petty annihilated the 1967 NASCAR scene like no one before. There was the 1969 Ford, a change of brands that left thousands of Chrysler dealers around the country flying flags at half-staff. There was the Superbird, the car that brought Petty back to Chrysler and helped him begin to truly master the superspeedways.

Petty's best racecar was the Dodge Charger run from 1972 through 1977. Petty's first win with Dodge was at Texas World Speedway in 1972. His first title with Dodge came in 1974. Petty's '74 Charger was without doubt the best racecar in the sport, combining superior aerodynamics with plentiful downforce; other cars had excellent slickness, such as the 1975-77 Chevrolet Laguna S-3, the '77 Buick Regal, and the '77 Olds Cutlass 442, and others had great downforce, like the 1976 Mercury Cougar and Montego, and the notchback mid-70s Chevrolet Monte Carlos and Buicks, but none of these had the balance of the '74 Dodge.

Petty's switch to GM came with the frustrations of the 1978 Dodge Magnum. The car was unbalanced, did not cut through the air effectively, and could not be maintained with Chrysler parts not to be found. Petty's 1978-80 drives in Chevrolets and the '77 Olds, the cars his competition had been dominating with, showed once and for all the driving and team preparation that had earned him six titles and would earn him a seventh in 1979.

When Ford reentered stock car racing in 1982, Pontiac came with it, and Petty Enterprises began a relationship with Pontiac that has lasted longer than Petty's relationship with Chrysler. My favorite of Petty's Pontiacs was the monstrous looking 1986 Grand Prix 2+2. Petty was never fond of this car, primarily because of its lack of downforce, but it was a stopgap racer to begin with. Petty's 13 top fives - including seconds at Atlanta in 1986 and Bristol in 1987 - with the 2+2 showed it wasn't that bad a racecar. There were certainly a number of races - Pocono and Talladega 1986, Michigan 1987 to name three - where Petty had the stuff necessary to win with the 2+2.

Bongard is quite critical of the GM10 body Pontiac that debuted in 1988, and his criticisms are a bit off base. He claims that teams cringed upon seeing the car's shortish rear deck; they may have, but the car was far and away better than the 2+2 and didn't have any less downforce than what Chevy and Ford ran. The GM10 body Pontiac won eight races in 1988, and by the time the bodystyle, heavily changed over its life, was retired after 1995, it had won 36 Winston Cup races and bagged enough top fives to qualify as a great racecar.

Petty Enterprises never mastered the GM10 body, but they have made up for that with the W body Pontiac that debuted in 1996. The W body Pontiac has excellent downforce and good drag numbers - NASCAR wind tunnel tests reportedly showed it to beat Chevy and Ford in rear downforce and in low drag. The car's front downforce has been a problem, especially in traffic, but three years working with the car seems to have taken at least some of the push out, and the car has been victorious. It was this Pontiac that saw Petty Enterprises return to victory lane in 1996 with driver Bobby Hamilton.

The book basically ends with then 1996 season, though it does offer a quick preview of the 1997 saeason and the merging of Petty Enterprises with Kyle Petty's PE2 team. The combination has shown great promise, and one has reason to hope for more wins in the future. That can be the subject of a sequal.

Very interesting and entertaining

I bought this book, then waited the better part of a year for it to finally arrive due to publisher's problems. Despite the wait and the premium cost, I found the book to be an awesome overall look at the cars Richard Petty drove over his long career. Especially interesting are the older, seldom photographed cars.

This is a must have for any Petty fan, and for any stock car fan out there they would really like it as well.

This is the book Richard Petty fans have been waiting for. Covers his entire career, as well as, Lee and Kyle's. The photos are great and cover all of the cars, including the rarely photographed '80 Chevy Caprice. Nice history of NASCAR's development too. I reccommend this book to all Petty and NASCAR fans !!!!

Great writing detailing his path to greatness. The pictures bring back many memories. A must for any Petty fan.

I bought a couple dozen of these books in 2001 -- kept five to sell after holding for 10-20 years, kept one for myself, and sold the rest. I'll sell two of the five now and hold the last three for another 10-20 years. Do a google search on "Rare Richard Petty Autographed Leather Bound Cars of the King".

When I purchased this book in 1997 I was in the process of trying to build a replica model of each on Petty's race cars he had driven. Upon receiving the book I was amazed at the amount of information on each years cars along with hundreds of photos of the cars. The book is divided by years from 1949, to 1997. The first chapter chronicles Lee Petty's history and the follwoing chapters are dedicated the Richard Petty and his cars along with son Kyle Petty's years at Petty Enterprises. There is also a section in book on building model cars of the King's Rides.
Although this book is 14 years old, it is a book that no Richard Petty fan should be without.