You don't get to be called the king of your sport unless you've achieved everything there is to achieve in your discipline. That pretty much sums up the career of Richard Petty in one sentence. There isn't anything the man hasn't done in NASCAR cup racing, seven-time world champion, multiple-time Daytona 500 winner, and a career that spans two decades and more.
Today, the 83-year-old patriarch of the Petty family is worth an estimated $70 Million, how he amassed this vas fortune is a combination of NASCAR talent as well as his knack for team ownership. When you've won as many races as Petty has, you're more than likely to rack up a nice chunk of change in winnings.
"The King" Richard Petty can never be replaced, let's take a look into the life and career of a man who'd go on to be worth nearly 100 million dollars.
He Raced In NASCAR Stock Cars From 1958 To 1992
It takes a man with guts made of solid steel to compete in any sort of sanctioned racing event. To do it at the level Richard Petty did from the late 50s until the early 1990s is on a whole other level.
His two hundred racing wins in NASCAR sanctioned races is 95 more than the man in second place, David Pearson. Winnings for races back in the early 60s could net a driver a few thousand dollars at best. By the time he retired in 1992, racers were earning several times that figure to not even win the race. So winning 200 NASCAR races is bound to pad the numbers a fair bit and contribute a significant amount to Petty's staggering net worth in the high eight-figure range.
Richard Petty: Team Owner and Sponsor Magnet
In retirement, Petty oversaw the day-to-day operations of Petty Enterprises. Founded by his racing father Lee Petty, this team competed in NASCAR sanctioned races from 1949 until 2008 when the team folded due to lack of sponsorship. Sons Kyle and Adam both raced for the team.
The team placed first in ownership points for a season on four separate occasions and won the driver's championship ten times. With 250 wins under the team's belt, that's quite a lot of prize money.
Petty's also been sponsored by Liberty Medical, Cheerios, Nicorette Nicotine Gum, and Goody's Headache powder in his post-retirement years. All this plus his family racing empire ensures that Petty isn't just a world-famous racing driver, he's a wealthy one at that.
Sources: Biz Journals, Wealthypersons.com/richard-petty