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NASCAR: 'The King' Pays a Flying Visit to UK SuperSpeedway

20 July 1999

NASCAR racing legend Richard Petty yesterday broke off from a family 
holiday in Europe to 'stop by' Rockingham Motor Speedway and review the 
construction of Britain's first-ever Superspeedway track, which is 
scheduled to open in the late summer of year 2000.

The 200-times NASCAR championship race winner was obviously impressed with 
what he saw on his visit with Rockingham Motor Speedway Managing Director 
Peter Davies. And Petty was confident that British spectators will rapidly 
become 'hooked' on high-speed banked oval racing.

"It's looking real good here. Its an easier construction job than some of 
the tracks I've seen in the States. There's no rock to be moved here and 
you don't need to move any mountains !" said the 62 year-old from Level 
Cross, North Carolina.

"We're bringing over the Richard Petty Driving Experience - we'll bring it 
over as quick as they get the track done and that's the forerunner of Wi  
nston Cup racing, because the cars are real Winston Cup cars. We've got too 
many Championship tracks to handle in the USA, but we've had exhibition 
races in Japan, so maybe we can do the same here in a few years time.

"I know there are a lot of people here who are watching NASCAR on TV and a 
lot of people from England who come back home, especially for the Indy 
races or the Daytona races.

"The Richard Petty Driving Experience is our first step - as soon as we get 
the racetrack. We haven't got any dirt track cars so I'm relying on Peter 
Davies to lay some blacktop soon !  Then we'll have some real fun !

"You can't beat oval racing for entertainment. Competition's going on all 
the time. It's not just who's got the ball, when you watch a race maybe 
even if the first two or three may not be racing one another, you can be 
sure that maybe the sixth place or the tenth place men will be running 
side-by-side for maybe ten laps.

"There's something going on all the time there. No time-outs, no nothing, 
you got to see it.  And once you see a race, you get addicted to it - real 
quick  !"

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