ADAM KYLER PETTY - 07/10/1980 - 05/12/2000
was a professional racing driver. He was the first fourth-generation driver in NASCAR history. Petty was raised in High Point, North Carolina into stock car racing "royalty". The son of Kyle Petty, he was widely expected to become the next great Petty, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather Richard, and great-grandfather Lee. He was the first known fourth-generation athlete in all of modern American motor sports to participate in the chosen profession of his generations. Petty began his career in 1998, shortly after he turned 18. Like his father Kyle, he won his first ARCA RE/MAX Series race, in the #45 Sprint/Spree Pontiac at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Petty drove a #45 Sprint Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series full-time in 1999 after a successful season in the Midwestern short track American Speed Association season in the #45 Spree Pontiac. He also finished sixth in his first Xfinity Series race at Daytona and had a best finish of fourth place that year. However, he failed to qualify for three races, and finished 20th overall in points. Petty Enterprises planned to give Adam a Winston Cup ride in 2001 and to give him seven starts in Cup in 2000, along with a full Xfinity campaign in a car sponsored by Sprint. He struggled early in the Xfinity season, but managed to qualify in his first attempt at Winston Cup during the DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2. He qualified 33rd and ran in the middle of the pack most of the day before his engine expired, forcing him to finish 40th. Lee Petty, Adam's great-grandfather, and three time NASCAR Champion, lived to see his debut, but died just three days later. Kyle and his father never got to run in the same Cup
event. Kyle failed to qualify for the lone Cup race Adam raced in. Kyle DID fill in as a relief driver and race in the event, but it was after Adam had already fallen out with a blown motor. On May 12, 2000 Petty was practicing for the Nationwide 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. While entering turn three, his car lost traction and broke loose. He over corrected and went head-on into the wall. Petty was killed instantly due to a basilar skull fracture. Adam's death, along with 1998 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year Kenny Irwin, Jr.'s at the same track (in that same year on July 7, 2000) led NASCAR to mandate the use of a kill switch on the steering wheel and the adoption of the Whelen Modified Tour restrictor plate for
the September Cup race; the plate was abandoned after that race. It was not until after the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr., under similar circumstances, that NASCAR mandated head-and-neck restraints. Kyle Petty, Adam's father, who drove the #44 car at the time of the crash, drove Adam's #45 car in the Xfinity Series for the remainder of 2000. He then used the #45 in the NASCAR Cup Series throughout the rest of his driving career. For two years, Kyle did NOT race at Loudon. He returned in 2002, only to leave again until 2005. His final race at Loudon was in 2007. In October 2000 five months after Adam's death, his family partnered with Paul Newman and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp to begin the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, North Carolina, as a memorial to Adam. The camp has received support from
many NASCAR drivers, teams, and sponsors, including Cup Series sponsor Sprint, which has placed a replica of Adam's 1998 car in the camp. The Victory Junction Gang camp began operation in 2004, and is an official charity of NASCAR. Here is a Video Tribute to Adam Petty. My own group of NASCAR Fantasy Race Game players make an annual donation to Victory Junction each year. If you would like to donate; please click on the Banner below to open a link at their site. Feel free to also check out the link if you have a child or know someone with a child who would like to attend.
fatal crash a Loudon NH 2000
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