European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Petty smiles All the Way to finish line if i were a rival race Driver i think the thing that would unnerve me most about Richard Petty is that smile. Richard always looks As if he has just heard or seen the funniest joke of modern times and you re it. Richard smiles on his Way to the race car he smiles when he s getting in it he smiles when he s racing it. He even smiles when he s crashing it. The racing world thought Richard had finally exited smiling at Daytona this year when he found a new Way to come Down the main straight som or faulting like an olympic gymnast. Any judges in the world would have Given Richard four 10s and a 9.9 for the Way he put his car through a series of Back flips barrel Rolls and head stands. Nadia Comanici s floor exercises were never More spectacular. People always said Richard Petty could make a car do everything but sing Carmen but this was Ridic Ulous. The car bounced thudded crumpled Slid and disintegrated. If it had gone Over a Cliff it could t have been More mangled. It looked like a tank that had just taken a direct hit two tons of twisted smok ing burning Metal. The Man they called the King had finally crawled into one race car too Many the crowd was sure. There was so Little left of the car How could there be anything left of the Driver when they got to Richard Petty he was smiling. Don t try to talk they warned him. Why he asked. What s there to talk about and he gave them the full 32-tooth trademark Grin he s famous for. He had t even lost one did t even scratch his Gums. He stayed in the car for the moment because parts of it including the tires were still raining Down. Richard did not even have a nosebleed. My ankle Hurt he admits. So did his Pride. If there s one thing Richard Petty does t do it s total a car. Around the South they say Richard Petty could drive a race car through the Johnstown flood without getting it wet or a Forest fire without getting it singed. You Don t win 200 Stock car races if you re hard on machinery. When you talk of great streaks in sports you usually begin with Joe Dimaggio s 56-game hitting Streak or Lou Gehrig s 2,130-game consecutive game playing Streak or Byron Nelson s 19 Tournai Richard Petty has driven in 493 straight races. Ment wins in a year or 11 in a Row. Richard Petty once won 10 Stock car races in a Row and 27 in a season. Recently he drove in his 493rd consecutive race the Budweiser 400, at Riverside Calif. It was the 1,055th of his 30-year career. Given the time spans Dimaggio s hitting Streak lasted from May 15 to july 17, 1941, or eight weeks Gehrig s consecutive game Streak lasted from 1925 to 1939 Petty s streaks 10 weeks of wins and 17 years of showing up Are so to speak in the Ballpark. Since Nelson like Petty competed in a once a week is. Once a Day event the great golfer s year 1945, is More directly comparable to the great Driver s. And a standoff any Way you look at it. Nelson won More in a Row but Petty won More in a year. It seems Safe to say no one will break the streaks of any of them. When Richard Petty began knocking around in a Stock car his father Lee was already a Champion in the sport. Which meant his Fame spread of Clear up to Durham. The Only modification in the stocks in those Days was that you took the Moonshine out of the trunk. Your Crew was a wrench and you drove from race to race in the car you raced. On your Good nights you made from $85 to $100. You did t have to buy your own Gas but you bought your own tires. Only about five Guys did it for a living recalls Petty. The rest of them pumped Gas or changed tires or repaired wrecks during the week. It was during this period of not trying to bring the car Home in a bag that Richard evolved his driving style. Petty has the same style in a car As Nelson had Over a putt or dimag under a Fly Ball. Since he competed against a whole Bunch of Guys named fireball Speedball or Smoky or even crash you could see where they were spotting him two a Side or letting him Deal without cutting the cards to begin with. You ask Richard Petty what the racer s Edge is and he smiles and tells you common  other Drivers talk of the boost the stagger the wings the set up. Petty tunes in the mind. Even his wingless streaks Are larger than life 118 at the moment. But Richard can be patient. Any Guy who can come Down the main straight on his nose and live to smile about it cannot complain about Luck. At 50, Richard still has All his Teeth and hair and skills and if i were a Driver and i looked in the rear View Mirror and saw this big wide smile in it i d stand on it. Because that would either be a very Large Crocodile or Richard Petty. You won t want to wait around for either one to catch up. The los Angeles times Neumann remains in Lead after 3rd round of open swedish Rookie Liselotte Neumann. 2-shot Lead going into final round by Bob Green Baltimore a Patty Sheehan said it won t be easy to make up two shots on front running record setting swedish Rookie Liselotte Neumann in sunday s final round of the 43rd . Women s open Golf championship. And though she blushed As she said it Neumann agreed after shooting a bogey free 69 saturday for a three round total of 5-under 208, Matching the open scoring record for 54 holes. It marked the third consecutive Day the 22-year-old swede had led or shared the Lead and the third consecutive Day in which she d set or tied a tournament scoring record. She s a Strong player. She s a Good player. I Don t think Shell fade Sheehan said after a 68 put her in second place at 210. I be been playing great Golf and i Don t see Why i should t do it tomorrow Neumann said when asked if she senses a Victory. I think i can go ahead and do  Neumann set the women s open first round record with a 67, tied the 36-Hole record with a 139 and dropped an 8-foot Par putt on the final Hole saturday to match the three round record set by Amy Alcott in 1980. In addition to Neumann and Sheehan Tammie Green and Colleen Walker at 212, were the Only others under Par after three rounds. Green matched Par 71 and Walker shot 68 in the hazy sometimes Cloudy weather that included a Brief Shower shortly before the leaders finished on the Hilly five farms course at the Baltimore country club. Amy Benz matched Par and was five strokes Back at 213.juli Inkster one of three players tied for the second round Lead had a share of the top spot until her drive on the 12th trickled into a Pond. It was the Start of a slide that saw her lose six shots to Par Over the last seven holes. She finished with a 75 that put her in a tie at 214 with Michele Berteotti and Beth Daniel. Berteotti had a 68 and Daniel closed up with the Best round of the tournament a 66. Dottie Pepper Mochrie tied with Neumann and Inkster for the second round Lead bogeyed five holes in a Row on the front nine shot a 76 and drifted Back to 215. Nancy Lopez scored an Eagle-3 in a round of 71 that left her at 217, nine shots Back. Veteran Joanne Carner had a 76 and was at 218. Defending Champion Laura Davies of England was out of it at 75, 220. While she s listed As a Rookie on the american Lyga tour Neumann is a Veteran of european play. She won the women s German open earlier this year has four other victories in Europe Vas second leading Money Winner on the european tour in a so and also won in Singapore that year. Tied for the Lead at the Start of the  $ p in she went in front alone with a Sand Vuke sho1. ".=. Zainc within two inches of an Eagle 2 on the to ?. Rev Inkster tied her again with a  ugh that set up a 3-foot Birdie putt on the. Lit but Inkster hit into the water on the 12th and Namsun was in control the rest of the Way. She retained the Lead with a 15-foot Par saving putt after hitting into a Bunker on the 12th, dropped an 8 foot Birdie putt on the 13th, then saved a share of the record with the testing second putt on the final Hole