Richard Petty Partners With GEM
Richard Petty Moving To GEM
Richard Petty and George Gillett have reached an agreement to merge their two race teams.
Maybe George Gillett will understand that he has a highly talented NASCAR driver and car owner as his partner now. That’s a fact Gillett seems to have missed in his dealings with Ray Evernham.
George Gillett kicked Ray Evernham to the curb after investing in Evernham Motorsports. After Gillett purchased a majority stake in Evernham Motorsports major decisions were made about the competition side of the business without any input from Ray Evernham.
When Elliott Sadler was fired Evernham heard the news not from his business partner Gillett — but on the Sirius NASCAR radio channel
Now Petty the has sold out to Gillett just as Evernham did. Does Richard Petty think George Gillett will have any more respect for him then he had for Ray Evernham?
The new Petty-Gillett team plans to run three full-time cars in Sprint cup competition in 2009 and possibly a fourth car on a part-time basis.
No driver has been officially named for the number 43 Dodge, but Reed Sorensen is likely going to be behind the wheel.
Gillett seemed to put a lot of faith in Petty.
“Richard and I have gotten to know each other well over the last few years,” said George Gillett, “and both of us believe we have formed something that NASCAR fans will support. We plan to keep the Petty name in the forefront of NASCAR. We ask that all of The King’s fans join with us. Our goal is to get the cowboy hat and sunglasses back in victory lane.”
Richard Petty believed the partnership will work. “I want to get back to winning and together we will bring the resources, technology and infrastructure to do that,” said NASCAR’s winningest driver, Richard Petty. “Nothing is going to change for me. I’m going to be at the track every weekend and really involved with the teams and drivers back at the shop. We are very happy. George and I have a lot of work to do, but we have a plan and we’ll be ready for Daytona.”
Imagine the success George Gillett could have had by pairing Ray Evernham with Richard Petty.
Let’s just hope that Gillett recognizes the mistake he made by letting Evernham get away, and doesn’t repeat it with Richard Petty.
Petty Enterprises is the winningest team in NASCAR with 268 victories — 200 of those came with Richard Petty behind the wheel.
Richard Petty says he plans to be involved with driver development going forward — both on an off the track. “A lot has changed over the years in NASCAR but success still boils down to that cat holding the steering wheel and how he conducts himself both in and out of the car,” Petty said. “I really want to help these guys with their driving and their careers.”
I hope that Richard Petty can get back to victory lane with George Gillett.
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DOC CAREY on
RICHARD, YOU ARE MY MAN, NOW AND ALWAYS… IF ANYONE CAN STRAIGHTEN OUT GILLETT, IT IS YOU!
YOU MAY NOT REMEMBER THIS, BUT ALONG WITH BOB FLOCK & FONTY FLOCK, I HAD LUNCH WITH THE PETTY FAMILY ( SAT NEXT TO YOU THAT DAY ) THE DAY FOLLOWING THE RUNNING OF THE DARLINGTON RACE OF 1954! BEING A BOARDER OF BOB FLOCKS, I WAS PRIVIDLEGED TO SERVE AS A MEMBER OF HIS PIT CREW FOR THAT RACE, AND TWO or THREE MORE. IF YOU HAVE TIME, ‘e’ ME FOR MUCH MORE INFO OF MY ASSOCIATION WITH BILL FRANCE, RED VOIGHT, ETC.
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