The patriarch of the racing Petty family and the father of Richard Petty, the King of stock-car racing, Lee Petty got a late start in racing, but had a glorious career nonetheless.
Petty, who died in 2000 at age 86, never drove a race car until he was 35, but still collected 54 victories in 427 starts in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Among those victories is the very first Daytona 500 in 1959. Along the way, he won the NASCAR championship in 1954, 1958 and 1959.
His first race came in 1949 and his first victory came later that year at Heidelberg Raceway near Pittsburgh. His last victory was at Jacksonville, Fla., in 1961.
Petty has been inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
Featured here (clockwise from top left): Showing off his 1959 Daytona 500 trophy; Being congratulated after a victory; Ready for a trophy presentation; The 1958 champion; At Atlanta Int’l Raceway; Letting son Richard behind the wheel; Displaying the famous Petty smile; Thinking at Darlington Raceway in 1966; With Richard in 1980. — NSSN Archives