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2001 Schedule and Results
Virginia 500 - Kyle Petty Notes
Kyle Petty Notes, Quotes: Virginia 500
Soda crackers, pre-schoolers and Martinsville
Heading to a track where Petty Enterprises has enjoyed recent and historical success, Kyle Petty and the Sprint Dodge team move to the .526-mile, slightly-banked Martinsville (Va.) Speedway this week for Sunday’s Virginia 500.
Petty, 41, will be making his 617th career start this weekend. He is 13th on the all-time list in NASCAR Winston Cup career starts. His eight career victories place him 45th on NASCAR’s all-time list in Winston Cup wins. One of the most recognizable names in international motorsports, as is his sponsor, Sprint, Petty’s driving career began with a five-race season in 1979. The native of Level Cross, N.C., has won nearly $14 million.
The thoughts of Sprint Dodge driver Kyle Petty heading into Martinsville:
"When it comes to Martinsville, an anger management seminar would probably be a good idea for a driver. The question is whether you would want to take it before or after the race.
"Let’s face it. You take 43 cars, set them down on a half-mile track and get them running as fast as they can go, there is going to be some beating and banging. And with that beating and banging there are going to be a lot of tempers flaring.
"Look at what happened at Bristol a couple of weeks ago. All of those guys, the Busch race and the Winston Cup race, were trying to do the same thing - win. It’s more than two cars trying to get to the same spot at the same time. It’s 43 cars trying to get to the same place - the checkered flag - before the rest of them do.
"Don’t get mad? That’s like putting a soda cracker in a room full of 43 pre-schoolers and sending them after it at the same time - but telling them beforehand, ‘Be nice to each other!’ First of all, there is no way on earth they are going to be nice to each other. They are going to be wrestling and kicking and gouging and doing whatever they can to get that soda cracker.
"Well, reminds me a lot of places like Bristol and Martinsville. We’re all trying to get that one soda cracker. I have my own idea of how I’m going to get it and I’m fine - unless somebody gets in my way. Even if I’m nice and polite about it, maybe tap him just a touch, he’s going to get mad, and he’s going to try to touch me back - just a lot harder.
"I saw this thing on TV not too long ago where they were talking about how wars start. It’s not quite that bad but watch two cars get together at Martinsville. The first time, it’s not too bad when one hits the other. But the guy who got hit gets mad, and he hits back - only a lot harder. Now the first guy is mad because he knows he hit the other guy but he didn’t mean to hit him. So he hits back, even harder. It escalates. It keeps growing. If those two cars keep running together on the track, sooner or later one is going to wreck the other
one.
"What you have to do as a driver is overcome a lot of that. I don’t know you want to overcome all of that. Just like in any sport, being a little bit mad can help you out. Being a lot mad is where you run into problems.
"If you can hold onto your car pieces - not just your car, but most of the pieces too - then you’re going to have a good day at Martinsville. It’s those guys walking around the pits at halfway wearing a driver’s uniform, looking dazed and holding a piece of quarter panel under their arms that you know didn’t win - and never had a chance at winning.
"You have to keep your temper in check but it’s ok to let some anger work for you. No matter what you hear, every driver out there remembers who hit them and who they hit. And they don’t forget after 20 laps. Instead, they calm down after 20 laps and let things work for them.
"One of the best places to be is right behind a guy who bumped you out of the way 100 laps earlier, especially late in the race. He’s got a mirror full of you and he is sitting there remembering what he did to you 100 laps ago. And he figures it’s payback time, so he is sitting there, waiting, wondering when it’s going to come. It’s kind of like the baseball pitcher who was so famous for his spit balls (former major leaguer Gaylord Perry) that he finally never had to throw them anymore - everybody just figured one was coming. That’s the guy in front of you in that situation. You don’t need to move him. He’s mirror-driving so hard he’ll end up moving himself.
"Listen in on people’s radios at Martinsville. One guy smacks another guy and you
hear him calling his spotter, ‘Hey, tell him I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.’ You want to get that apology in that other guy’s ear as fast as you can. You really want it there when it really was a mistake, but you’d better start asking forgiveness before that guy gathers his car up and comes looking for you.
"Now none of this means much of anything if you’re not running well. You have to get your car set up to get through the corners as good as you can. The length of the corners is about the length of the straightaways but you spend more time in the corners than the straightaways. The guys who can cut back on that corner time are the ones who get around the place the best. You need some engine but just about everybody is close to the same on the straightaways. The corners are everything. Get in hard and get out quick. It isn’t much of a secret.
"A good temper day and a good corner day, and it will be a good day all the way around for this Sprint Dodge team."
2001 Schedule and Results
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