The King won 15 races at NASCAR stop, including five consecutive events from 1968 to 1971.
Through most of Richard Petty’s career, Martinsville Speedway was known as a “Richard Petty track.”
Of course, that tag could be applied to almost any track in the career of a driver who won a NASCAR-record 200 victories. But Martinsville, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, stood out for Petty and his team because it was a “home” track of sorts located about an hour’s drive north of the Petty Enterprises shop in Level Cross, North Carolina.
And, by the way, the King won 15 races at the half-mile paper-clip-shaped track. He was that productive at only one other speedway—North Wilkesboro, where he also won 15 times.
When Cup teams arrive at one of NASCAR’s original tracks for Saturday night’s Blue Emu 400, they’ll be covering ground on which Petty led 2,823 laps and scored 37 top-10 finishes in 67 races.
Much of that success, Petty said, could be traced to brakes, the most important piece on race cars at Martinsville, other than possibly the engine. The traditional 500 laps over Martinsville’s flat track stressed brakes, and 400 laps in Saturday’s race won’t be much easier.
Richard, left, and Kyle Petty at Martinsville Speedway in the late ’70s.
RacingOneGetty Images
“Probably half the races we won there was because we had better brakes,” Petty said. “Dale (crew chief Dale Inman) would work three to four days just on the brakes.”
Inman planned ahead for the tour’s two Martinsville visits.
“When things came into the shop and there was a good brake or shoe, I laid it aside for Martinsville,” Inman said. “I’m the one who had to cut the brakes because it was the dirtiest job in town, and nobody else wanted to learn it. We kept pretty good brakes under him at Martinsville, and he knew how to take care of them.”
Martinsville is all about rushing down the straightaways and crunching the brakes in the tight turns—hundreds of times.
“It was a tough track, and it was tough on cars,” Inman said. “But Richard knew the car so good. When he slowed the car by pumping the brakes one time in each corner, he knew he needed to be around the 200-lap mark. Then it took two pumps. If he’s pumping the brakes three times, it better be near the end of the race because he’s running out of brakes.”
Petty adjusted to Martinsville’s challenges quickly. He won there in his third race in 1960, outrunning the Wood Brothers Racing entry driven by Jimmy Massey. They were the only two drivers on the lead lap.
Petty swept both Martinsville races in 1967, 1969 and 1972 and won five consecutive events at the track from 1968 to 1971. Over the years, it became a favorite stop.
“We knew when we went there we had more than a 50-50 chance of winning, so that made going there more enjoyable,” Petty said.
Petty’s long run—he raced until he was 55—resulted in a string of 27 consecutive Martinsville races that he didn’t win over the closing portion of his career.
What happened?
“Age caught up to me,” he said. “Circumstances. The good Lord gave me 25 years of good luck, and I stretched it. And it didn’t work.”
From 1960 to 1979, however, it worked 15 times at Martinsville.
Keyword: The Secret to Richard Petty's NASCAR Domination at Martinsville