Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

King without throne: Petty loses power

Johnson is boss since buying in

- By Dan Gelston

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Richard Petty still reigns as NASCAR’S King, but with Jimmie Johnson wresting control of Petty’s old race team, he is definitive­ly not the boss.

The Hall of Famer has been stripped of power inside his former eponymous team that has rapidly rebranded and rebuilt since November. Johnson and Petty are the only living seven-time NASCAR champions — and that appears to be where the similariti­es end inside Legacy Motor Club’s front office.

The 85-year-old Petty, who is officially Legacy’s ambassador, said Saturday he has bruised feelings and little say in the direction of the race team since Johnson bought into the ownership group.

“It’s been strange to me,” Petty said. “Most of the time, I ran the majority of the show. Jimmie brought all his people in. His way of running things and my way of running things are probably a little bit different. We probably agree on about 50 percent of what it really comes down to.”

Ahead of the Daytona 500, an unfiltered Petty said he was irked by Johnson’s rise in power. “Yes, it does” bother him, he said.

But Petty conceded it was “probably time for a change” because through several incarnatio­ns of his race team — the latest Petty GMS — his cars had never risen above the middle of the pack. GMS founder Maury Gallagher, chairman of Allegiant Air, purchased Richard Petty Motorsport­s in 2021, and Petty, whose 200 Cup wins as a driver are a record, served as the front man.

Johnson told The Associated Press he was “disappoint­ed” that Petty publicly expressed his displeasur­e, adding: “Of course, we’ll have conversati­ons.”

“He’s not expressed them to me, for starters,” Johnson said. “Honestly, there are a lot of moving pieces to this. There are business decisions that are taking place between Mr. Gallagher and the Petty family before I ever arrived. Those are details that are just not my place to say.

“But a lot of what Richard is speaking to is based on business decisions that he and his family have made and they aren’t relative to my involvemen­t.”

One of Johnson’s first decisions: Strip the Petty name that dates in NASCAR to 1949.

“When Jimmie came in, it was going to be hard to be Johnson Petty GMS,” Petty said. “Jimmie’s thinking further ahead with his crew and came up with a new name.”

Petty remains NASCAR’S most recognizab­le personalit­y, wearing his feathered Charlie 1 Horse hats, dark glasses and cowboy boots. He’s never stopped signing autographs, making personal appearance­s or glad-handing sponsors, though even those responsibi­lities seem more uncertain under Johnson’s reign.

“They don’t take over the racing part, they take over the front office,” Petty said. “With sponsorshi­ps, appearance­s and all that stuff, Jimmie’s crowd is kind of controllin­g that. That’s something I never had to put up with, I guess.”

Petty tipped his hat to Johnson’s business acumen: Johnson’s connection­s with Gibson guitars and music industry relationsh­ips, including entertainm­ent giant Live Nation, were instrument­al in landing legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses on the hood of Erik Jones’ No. 43 Chevrolet.

“He’s basically going to wind up running the show in four or five years completely,” Petty said. “He’ll probably be the majority owner or the owner of our operation. They’re looking at things completely differentl­y.”

Even with their shared place in NASCAR history, Johnson and Petty weren’t close before they forged a business relationsh­ip. Johnson, though, said he’s always had respect for a driver so famous he inspired a character in “Cars.”

“He’s always been so kind and wonderful to me,” Johnson said. “He’s the last person I fist-pumped before I rolled off pit lane and won my seventh championsh­ip.”

Petty and Johnson are among nine drivers who won a NASCAR championsh­ip and Daytona 500 set to serve as grand marshals for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Legacy M.C. also fields cars for Erik Jones and Las Vegan Noah Gragson.

“Jimmie’s very observant. He takes on everything,” Petty said. “Jimmie controls everything, basically. You’re making postcards and stuff, he has to approve it. He approves everything. He’s a pretty busy man right now.”

That includes racing. The 47-year-old Johnson returned to NASCAR after a two-year stint in Indycar and proved he hadn’t lost anything in his first spins in NASCAR’S new car. He qualified on speed for the Daytona 500, flew with the Thunderbir­ds and topped the first speed chart at practice.

Johnson’s racing career, though, is winding down. He’s just getting started as team owner.

“He’s still young enough where’s going to be around a long, long time,” Petty said.

 ?? Matt Kelley The Associated Press ?? Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty admitted he has bruised feelings since Jimmie Johnson took control of Legacy.
Matt Kelley The Associated Press Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty admitted he has bruised feelings since Jimmie Johnson took control of Legacy.

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