Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed
The King, is a former
NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the
NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He is most well known for winning the NASCAR Championship seven times (
Dale Earnhardt is the only other driver to accomplish this feat), winning a record 200 races during his career, winning the
Daytona 500 a record seven times, and winning a record 27 races (10 of them consecutively) in the 1967 season alone (a 1972 rule change eliminated races under in length, reducing the schedule to 30 [now 36] races). Statistically, he is the most accomplished driver in the history of the sport and is one of the most respected figures in motorsports as a whole. He also collected a record number of poles (127) and over 700 Top 10 finishes in his 1,184 starts, including 513 consecutive starts from 1971–1989. Petty was the only driver to ever win in his 500th race start, until
Matt Kenseth joined him in 2013. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the
NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010.