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Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007

Pettys had no choice but to leave home

Nostalgia is one of those funny things. Sure, it's nice to talk about how good things used to be, but what happened in the past does little to help when things may not be so good.

To get things back to how they used to be, a drastic move is needed sometimes - one that Petty Enterprises plans to do within the next two months, uprooting the team's headquarters in tiny Randleman, NC for the former Robert Yates Racing shop in Mooresville, close to where many of NASCAR's teams are based out of.

Now, it is pretty clear that, in a way, Petty Enterprises is doing away with some of its roots. Way back in 1949, Lee Petty raced out of the shop mere feet from where one of his sons, Richard, was born.

When the 2008 Sprint Cup Series begins, the team's haulers won't lumber south for Daytona on the tiny country roads some 70 miles from where NASCAR's top teams, like Hendrick and Joe Gibbs Racing, reside in the 30-mile radius near Mooresville.

But the change is needed for the Pettys. No Petty car has won a race since 1999. Kyle Petty's third-place finish earlier this year at Lowe's Motor Speedway was his best since rejoining the team in 1996. Both Petty cars, the No. 43 driven by Labonte and Kyle Petty's No. 45, have been respectable during the past two seasons, thanks to the hiring of Labonte as a driver and former Nextel Cup Series championship crew chief Robbie Loomis being brought on board with Loomis tapped to be the team's general manager.

But being respectable isn't good enough if you have a past of winning.

If a team strives to be respectable or nostalgic, it won't last very long in racing or any other sport.

Let's take Ron Zook, for example. Florida was a shade above average when he was Florida's head coach. But the Gators fans were used to championships, not playing in the Peach Bowl. As a result, Zook was run out of town and the Gators went after someone who could meet those expectations.

Like Florida, the Petty team must do more to stay level with NASCAR's top teams. I don't personally know anybody on the Petty team, but I'm pretty sure that Loomis didn't come on board to run 18th and that Labonte isn't in the No. 43 car to remind people of the times that they saw Richard Petty race it to some of his 200 victories.

Petty Enterprises has to get better and attract more crew members. That is why the team had to move to Mooresville. It really had no choice in the matter if it wanted to be taken seriously and give many old-time fans a jolt by letting them see a Petty in victory lane at least one more time.

Moving uptown is a big step toward making that happen again.

With Kyle nearing the end of his career, and his son, Adam Petty, having had his life cut short in 2000, there won't be a Petty on the racetrack too much longer.

But if the team's move toward Charlotte does what it is meant to do, followers of the team will have more to cheer for than just memories of many years ago.