Lee Arnold Petty was born on the 14th March 1914 in the small town of Randleman, North Carolina. His parents worked the family farm to raise their two sons but even though they worked hard the family were very poor. Prospects didn’t improve as Lee grew up and during the Great Depression of the 1930s and Lee was forced to take any job that he could get to support his wife Elizabeth and two young sons, Richard and Maurice. Life was made more difficult when in 1943 a freak fire burned down their house forcing Lee and his family to convert a trailer into a new house.

A photograph of the late Lee Petty; a retired NASCAR Cup Series driver (Wiki Commons)

His obsession with cars, driving them and working on them, led him to start his own trucking company. Illegal stock car racing took place on the back roads of the county and the prize money was only what others were prepared to bet but by the end of World War Two the races were legalised but still on an informal basis.

In 1948, when Lee was thirty five years old he decided to enter his first race, going on to win the race at Danville, Virginia. He was driving a 197 Plymouth that he and his brother had rebuilt. His second race in Roanoke, Virginia saw him come in at second place; this was to become his mark and nickname "Mr Consistency" as throughout his career of sixteen years he was placed as finishing in the top five in more than half of his races.

This year was also the start of what is known today as Petty Enterprises and paving the way for NASCAR racing Winston Cup’s first four generation family of race car drivers. His ability on the track and his grim determination to win proved to be his success. In the old days a lot of the drivers were out for a good time, partying before and after the race but Lee took the racing much more seriously and he knew that only the winners would be able to pay the expenses of racing that often ran into several thousand dollars.

His son, Richard, recalled his father telling him,"There ain’t no second place, you win or you lose. That’s the only two arts there are to racing". His NASCAR career began in 1949 when he drove in his first Strictly Stock race on the 19th June. He began with an eight race schedule and he won at the Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Lee went on to have fifty five career wins and this places him at seventh place as drivers with the most wins. His son, Richard ranks first with 200 wins. He won the Grand National Championship three times, in 1954, 1958 and 1959. He won the inaugural Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in a spectacular way, Lee, Johnny Beauchamp and Joe Weatherly were battling during the final laps of the race and all three drove side by side across the winning line in the final lap, making it a photo finish. Johnny Beauchamp was declared the unofficial winner but Lee protested, saying "I had Beauchamp by a good two feet. In my own mind, I know I won." It took NASCAR three days to decide, using the national newsreel, who was the winner and Lee was declared officially the winner.

His awards include: - Inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, Inductee into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996, Inductee into the North Carolina Hall of fame in 1996, Named as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and will be Inductee into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011. Lee retired from racing in 1964 after racing his final race at Watkins Glen, New York. During his retirement Lee continued as head of Petty Enterprises until he decided to leave the running of NASCAR’s most successful racing team to his sons, Richard and Maurice, instead taking up golf, playing sometimes as often as four times a week.

In February 2000 he underwent surgery for a stomach aneurysm. He never recovered. On April 5, 2000 he passed away at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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