European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                180 on hour it a safer than h to 1974 in january Hod to drop ii is the to few that still Rundag Well to i put Ibe ran that bos pal urn la Pottow opted he says we got to the Speed Pla we were using 427cublelnch can t bodies and we were running 200 an hour n youre running that fast its All you can do to rear on die i tries to regulate it so till be a Good i want it tote the kind Ota Deal where the cat Aster car will run off and leave s a better Nee at Iso Miles an hour than at 200 i the care Are More controllable and they can run More Crews can build a car that will go bin the stands cant Heutte difference in the from to Miles an hour at Talladega Hack 4 the races were a lot l brought the Speed Down by putting rigid re i on the Standard right now is a ast 1 engine  it will drop in the reason in leaning hat Way is the can Are gel tier and when can get smaller they get Tethal Wev got to have a smaller i placed Straw emphasis on hand i and u i the that by often a defeat faster ii to the Core of Phu Owmby which lit us ant the fattest sit this Way i eare always talking about fast howling i Alt Fiat kind of but it not How fast you i How what in laying is that youve got a magnum bum for darting him and no matter Bow fait you run Down that what counts is How Rait you get Back to that that not that u is this quickness that has enabled Petty to compete with faster he hat relied heavily Alto on a widely used Man Euver where one car runs behind another and is pulled along by drafting is the big thing in Lascar racing and it equalizes a lot of our can handle As Good As or Bette than the so if they can i can hang on to then is no Way they can i Hearty re away from they have the ability to outrun me but they cant alway get away from me because my car handles Well enough so 1 made up the difference in the Cor that one of the reasons weve always liked Chrys lers torsion bar with it weve been Able to set our cars up on most tracks where they handle a Good As or Tetter than the the Chassis still very on most race tracks i still feel like t have an advantage in the its the kind of a Deal where youre not going to be the Best handling car at All the race no matter theres always Gouig to be one or Tom that handle u Good As or belter you but Day in and Day i fed like weve got the Best handling my Cousin Dale Inman works on the Chassis and he it better than t we keep a record of what we run and what the setup for the car and when we come Home after a race while its still fresh in cur minds we say if went Hack what would we do to make the car a Little better we make notes and file them and when we get ready to race again we pull them out and look Petty began Wing la iks at age Loe gave urn a my of advice tool be hoi Alwi Ryt tried to follow Only drives ear eels at the same time he has partly patterned his style of driving alter that of Hia dad and the likes of Tim flock and Jim Alt Quick and efficient winning i was just a boy when watched them but it didst take a Genius to see who waa winning the some of the Drivers really put on a How raw dogging spinning out in the turns but the driven who were winning were the smooth ones that you might not have noticed All that much until the besides that you have to have the latent and the will to Petty and adds youve either got it or you u youve got you tune All Felt off the Seal of your britches is really what its All me feels that the passing Yean have not yet taken their toll when i first started i didst have the expert so i drove to the ragged limit on what my physical skills now f drive to the ragged limit on what my mental skills Are because at the experience Ive in other in not near As reckless or Tungho As when i was younger but i run a lot better a Tot fatter race just because of the i can do things today that 1 dont even think about where 10 years ago i might have thought maybe i can and maybe i cant but ill do u now i can do u because i1 be had the in the stands you might say look a that crazy but Ive done u to its not even taking a its that Way with All experienced in not any better than a lot of race car driven but the Deal Ive got the when you run Day in and Day out the experience is going to beat the Man who Doest have my reflexes today cant be As Good As they were 10 Yean but my anticipation of what is going to happen because of the experience by to much better that i cant Tell if Ive kit any of my As far As driving that race car end getting in close i on get in Doser now than i could then because i pm anticipate a lot and Romnot the Only All the driven of his record since when he won 13 he says couple Yean i Haven my Ibe my i cant toy that Ive gone 1 Ofel win Bat three and Ibex five lot year i mean u pm its to be Little at a time and Iti going to take More than one or two Yean before Youfu Besue tote he Calk Competition a relative thing Competition to you or anybody else is just according to How Good you in other if 1 do super it Doest make any difference about the there going to took bad by if in having a Lotof Trou be Tike the had in the last couple of Yean just things not working not getting he Breaks then it looks Tike my Competition in gaining on i think toe reason were not doing better to not be cause of what the Competition la doing but what were there not putting pressure on me and making me make or making the Crew make its like these football they go along for two or three years and they cant be then in he next two or three Yean they Haven changed the players or any thing but they cant do anything Petty has said Hes never known fear on the track and he Vowal Hal if he Ever hell but anger sure but youd better not let it last Long or you get in it used to really be bad when we run on the Short tracks but its gotten to be such a professional Deal now and theres u much Money you cant let your emotions Over your common he says he Doest have a favorite track but Hes won More than a dozen times at and be likes to go then an several be Doest he Calls Talladega a Freaky place and Hes not Overly fond of Bristol or Many things have happened at Talladega that dont happen anywhere one of the Boyi Mother got killed by a car in the infield one of the Crew chiefs 1978 his tags Cut i had a brother inlaw thai got Kite Dan the there have been two or three boys lulled on the track Here and there have been shootings in the it dont happen at other Bristol is a half mile track with a pm egret its like running around the Walls of this if anything happens in front of youre in a its physically inhuman even to run the thing because you can run As hard As you can for the first so then the rest of the urn Eyou re hanging Petty is often asked How he has managed to win so alien and he answers simply i dont then pause for he asks Why was Elvis Presley the Best linger was he or want he he was at Ibe right place at the right Lime with the right Talent and with the right people behind the Metor Petty Una game much though yet to when Feu Stop he likes i Petal not out Many of the up driven in us country Are about us age titter to their late m or Early and racing is still fun Tor him More so in recent in the last three or four Yean it has gotten to be More fun because i know that one of these Days to going to have to quit doing it there Arent As Many Yean in front of me As there Ore behind me so tin going to Keajey it while in doing the stars and stripes Poos 15