Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 - Kyle Petty Notes

Kyle Petty Notes, Quotes: Atlanta 500
‘How fast is too fast?’

The #45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge team of driver Kyle Petty is preparing for a strong run and finish at the 1.54-mile, 24?degree banked Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. Though some refer to it as a “trioval’” and others to a “double dogleg,” this is the fastest non?restrictor plate race in the NASCAR Winston Cup series.

Petty, 42, will be making his 649th career start this weekend. He is 11th on the all-time list in NASCAR Winston Cup career starts, and fourth among active drivers. 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, Georgia-Pacific, Petty’s driving career began with a five-race season in 1979. The native of Level Cross, N.C., has won nearly $16 million.

The thoughts of Georgia-Pacific Dodge driver Kyle Petty heading into Atlanta:

“How fast is too fast is pretty much of a relative thing. The question comes up almost every time we go to Atlanta. This kind of the ‘speed question’ track now. It used to be Talladega, and then it was Daytona before that.

“I look at it this way. If I’m going 55 miles an hour down the Interstate on a nice day and a straight stretch of road without much traffic, that’s not fast enough. If I’m going 55 miles per hour and it’s a construction zone in the middle of a snowstorm and cars all around me in a neighborhood, yeah! I’m going way too fast.

“Same thing here. Go 120 miles per hour at Atlanta, and you are creeping along. Go 120 at Martinsville, and it’s going to be awfully tough to get back around to the start finish line.

“The question of speed is relative. Yeah, we do go fast at Atlanta. Yeah, these cars really move down the straightaways and, where it really gets your attention, in the turns.

“Probably the most impressive thing about Atlanta - the thing that really grabs you as a driver - is how fast everything happens there. The place is just fast. It’s not really a ‘scary fast’ or anything like that. It’s just fast. You don’t really get your breath taken away and you don’t drive in a semi-flinch the whole time. You just can feel how fast it is.

“It’s kind of like Talladega used to be before the plates as far as speed is concerned. Every time you blink, you’ve gone a football field. Sneeze and you’ve missed the backstretch. Everything just happens so fast there.

“Generally, that’s not a big deal as long as everything is going ok. If you have the car pointed in the right direction, speed - even at Atlanta - is not that big of a deal. It gets relative after awhile. . . kind of like when you’re on the Interstate and you are going 55 miles per hour but the next time you look at the speedometer, you’ve crept up to 70. Atlanta, Talladega, Daytona, any of the fast tracks, it gets like that. It just doesn’t seem you are going all that fast.

“But if something happens, that changes awfully quick. Not-so-fast turns into really fast in a heartbeat. Somebody cuts a tire and turns sideways or blows an engine and you have a lot of guys grabbing steering wheel and hoping for the best. Shoot, just somebody slowing to pit and forgetting to give a hand signal can lead to a pileup at Atlanta because you catch them so quick. The wall is a long way away until something happens. Then it jumps out at you pretty fast.

“Atlanta is new but it’s old too. Since they made the changes to the track configuration a few years ago, it sure drives different, and it drives a lot faster. But there is enough of the ‘old’ Atlanta in the place to make it a good track for veterans.

“Everything surrounding Atlanta ? the track, the sponsors, the fans, the drivers ? is tradition. All of the old school tracks like Daytona, Rockingham, Atlanta, mean tradition. They can change the configuration, they can add suites, they can build grandstands, they can do whatever they want - and Bruton (Smith, owner) and those guys down there have made a ton of changes - but it’s still Atlanta.

“Even from the business side of things, like sponsorship, they have their hands soaked in tradition down there. You see the people like Georgia-Pacific who have been around for a while, and then the people with like Coca-Cola who have been around a long while, and a bunch of sponsors that have been around that race and this sport for what seems like forever. If you have raced there a lot, it just makes you feel kind of comfortable.

“These Atlanta races are big ones to the Georgia-Pacific and Coca-Cola people, and they should be. Here we are, right in their back yards. A lot of their employees are in the grandstands and this can be a nice ‘bragging rights’ race. You want to run up front in front of your hometown people. And while every race is important, this Atlanta race offers us just a little bit extra - a chance to show our Atlanta-based sponsors what we can do, how we carry their colors, and hopefully, when it’s all said and done, give them a day they won’t forget.

“In a lot of ways, it’s a typical weekend in NASCAR racing. For this Georgia-Pacific Dodge team, this weekend means just a little bit more.”

©Copyright 2003 Race 2 Win