April 30 - This day in Petty history

[pettycash]

1966 - Richard wins from the pole at Darlington in the Rebel 400.



1967 - Richard wins the Richmond 250 at Virginia State Fairgrounds.

1970 - Richard wins at Columbia (SC) Speedway in a car owned by Don Robertson.

1972 - Richard wins the Virginia 500 at Martinsville.

Could someone, ANYONE tell me who Don Robertson was, how in the world the King ended up in his cars, and why he raced - and won - for Robertson vs. Petty Enterprises in selected races?

[pmossberg]

Don Robertson was an independent who owned a body shop in Roanoke VA (Roanoke's Star City Auto and Body Shop). Among the many cars he owned, Don bought a car from Petty enterprises. And Richard drove it for him twice, winning both times.

Found a couple references on old NASCAR./com pages. Both simply say Richard drove the car for Robertson. I think Richard may have rented the car back form Robertson. I believe the 1971 reference in this article www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/xp-25708 is incorrect. It should be 1970. But the article says Petty rented the car back from Jabe Thomas (co-owner with Don Robertson) after he wrecked his primary car. There is an entry on Wikipedia that also says Petty Enterprises rented the car back after they sold it to Robertson.

www.nascar.com/news/features/by.the.numbers.petty.enterprises/index.html

Sept. 30, 1970 NASCAR's final dirt-track race, held at North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh and won by Richard Petty. Petty, however, is driving his second race for owner Don Robertson, who purchased a car from Petty Enterprises. Petty went 2-for-2 driving for Robertson, also winning at Columbia Speedway.

www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/02/01/daytona.countdown.nc/index.html

Gone but not forgotten

North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh

Originally built as a mile, the track on the fairgrounds property was shortened to a half-mile in 1940 and hosted its first NASCAR race in 1955, when Junior Johnson beat Fonty Flock to win the $1,350 first-place check.

The track hosted two more events -- David Pearson's win in the 1969 North State 200 and Richard Petty's victory in the 1970 Home State 200. That race is memorable for two reasons: It remains the last dirt-track race in NASCAR's premier series and because the car was owned by Don Robertson, it was the last time Petty drove a No. 43 for anyone other than Petty Enterprises.

[djblue43]

Up until when he left Petty Enterprises to drive for Mike Curb, that is.