Brad Keselowski: Richard Petty is the ‘greatest race car driver that ever lived’

There have been so many great race car drivers in the last 150 years or so. Brad Keselowski says Richard Petty is the greatest of all. While you can point to the 200 wins, his NASCAR championships, or any number of stats, there is more to Keselowski’s argument.

Brad Keselowski and Richard Petty were part of the group of representatives who recently went to Washington, D.C. They met with congressmembers in the National Motorsports Coalition.

“I feel that Richard Petty is the greatest race car driver that ever lived,” Keselowski told Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “The reason why I feel that way is broader than just his persona, which is, I think, it’s pretty cool. It’s broader than his 200 wins. I think it connects back to something that makes racing very unique compared to other sports.

“It’s the aspect of he raced in an era where the contemporaries he had that at least could win or were top-level drivers would, candidly, not make it out every year, and he himself multiple times barely made it out of big crashes. He had the one in Darlington, the couple in Daytona and not only did he survive those, but he kept racing. And he didn’t just keep racing. He kept winning.”

Brad Keselowski isn’t wrong. Richard Petty had his fair share of terrifying wrecks. The one at Darlington comes to mind in 1970. It is a miracle he lived through that wreck and then continued to race, and as Keselowski pointed out, continued to win.

For Petty, it was always about winning. It was about being the greatest. He witnessed and lived through a time in stock car racing where death and severe injury were commonplace.

We often talk about longevity in athletes. Right now, we have two fantastic examples in major American sports in LeBron James in the NBA and Alex Ovechkin in the NHL. 1958 to 1992. 34 years of racing at the highest level in NASCAR. While his last win came in 1984, Petty’s presence in the sport never became a hindrance.

Longevity barely begins to describe Richard Petty’s career. While he wasn’t the versatile racer that Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt were, he was the best at what he did. Even today, his legacy lives on and fans flock to him at the race track. His impact is immeasurable on NASCAR and motorsports in general.

Brad Keselowski has every right to name Petty the greatest of all time. Sure, there are others who have a claim to the title. But if you come at the King, you better not miss.