Pennsylvania 500 - Kyle Petty Notes

Kyle Petty Notes, Quotes: Pennsylvania 500
‘Now those are some race fans!’

One of a few active NASCAR Winston Cup drivers to know the feeling of winning at the tricky, triangular-shaped 2.5-mile Pocono (Pa.) International Raceway, Kyle Petty and the #45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge team head to that speedway this week for Sunday’s 500-mile NASCAR Winston Cup race.

Petty, 43, will be making his 664th 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 over $16 million.

The thoughts of Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge driver Kyle Petty heading into Pocono:

“The way the schedule falls sometimes, it’s just sort of weird. Nobody’s fault. It’s just weird. You run all of these races and, once you get to the track, you tend to lose track of where you were last week and where you are going next week.

“So we get to Pocono this week and a lot of people will be like, ‘Weren’t we just here?’ This time, though, the answer is, ‘Yeah! We were just here a few weeks ago.’

“That tells you something about the fans around that area. We run a 500-mile race there in the middle of June and they pack the place. We come back, what, five or six weeks later, and they pack it all over again. I bet if we ran a third one in another five weeks, they’d pack that one too.

“I guess Doc and Rose (Mattioli) had a pretty good read on the fans in this area when they and some friends built the place back 20-something years ago. They have always said there is a hunger up here for good racing, and that shows in the grandstands. These fans are intense. From what I’ve seen, all of our fans are pretty intense, but the ones around Pocono seem to give it that little something extra.

“If they are cheering for you, they don’t just applaud politely. Man, they are up on their feet, stomping and screaming and yelling your name. If they are booing you, they don’t just give you a dirty look - they get on their feet, and stomp and scream and yell your name. Yeah, I know. You just have to be there to tell the difference.

“You have to ride through the infield to get to the garage, and it gives you a chance to see them up close. They are ready. They love this stuff. These are what the real supporters of racing are like. These are the people that don’t just buy our sponsors’ products, they go out of their way to buy them. I’d bet you a Coca-Cola a roll that you could go into that infield and find nothing but Brawny paper towels. No self-respecting Pocono race fan would dare come into that infield with anything else. Then again, why would anybody buy anything else? It’s the best out there.

“But it goes to show you what kind of people they are. They know the sport. They know the players. They know what is involved. They get to the track early in the week and early each day, and they stay until the last engine cuts off. They don’t want to miss anything.

“Hopefully you won’t be able to do it this weekend but watch sometime when it rains. Half of them go under the grandstands to stay dry, the other half stay up there under ponchos and umbrellas just to make sure they don’t miss anything. They’ll cheer the jet dryer when it goes by.

“Racing is fun. It’s fun to do. It’s always more fun when you are winning but it’s still fun. Everybody in it is here because they have a passion for it, and most have wanted to be part of it their entire lives. The ones that aren’t that way, well, they usually don’t hang around long.

“But fans like the ones at Pocono, and everywhere we go, they add to it. I hope we’re giving them something they are really enjoying and appreciating, but they need to know they mean a lot to us too. As far as this Georgia-Pacific Dodge team is concerned, they are one of our biggest motivators.”

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