Long Race The King

   I've never heard a volcano erupt.

   However, I imagine the sound relatively is somewhat like that which thundered over Michigan International Speedway on June 15, 1986.

   Twenty years ago the track's spring 400-mile NASCAR race fell on Father's Day, just as it will this coming Sunday.

   Secrets seldom are kept very well in NASCAR.

   But the plan for starting the Miller 400 touchingly surprised all but a few people.

   The speedway's public relations official, Marti Rompf, had arranged for Richard Petty's daughters--Sharon, Lisa and Rebecca--to give the traditional command for the drivers to flip the ignition switches in their cars.  A nice touch, made even more appropriate since their father, the sport's winningest, most famous driver, was making his 1,000th start on NASCAR's major level that day.

   But when the sisters stepped to the microphone they didn't say "Gentlemen, start your engines."  At least not right away.   

   Instead, they said, "Daddy, start your engine!"

   Only the engine in Richard Petty's famed No. 43 began rumbling.  The motors remained silent in the other 40 cars lined up on pit road.

   It took a few seconds for the fans in the crowd estimated at 66,000 to sense the significance of what was happening.

   Then, they began to stand, applauding and cheering ever louder as only Petty's engine to continued to run.

   After a minute, the Petty sisters gave the order for the other drivers to start their engines.  The cheering was so loud the girls barely could be heard.

   I have covered NASCAR racing in some capacity since 1957.  The tribute to Richard Petty, his sport's acknowledged "King," at the Michigan speedway in the beautiful Irish Hills remains the most spontaneous, sincerest outpouring of affection that I have seen and heard in all those years.

   Recollection of it still raises goose bumps.

   King Richard retired as a driver at the end of the 1992 season with 1,184 starts, 200 victories and 126 poles, all records.  He won NASCAR's biggest race, the Daytona 500, seven times, still another record.

   He ran 307,836 laps and led 52,194 of them.  These, too, are records.

   Even among all these accomplishments, Petty rates that Father's Day in Michigan two decades ago high on his list of favorite memories.

   "I didn't do worth a flip in the race," he recalled recently.  "I ran pretty good early, and thought we had a chance to win and make it sort of a story-book deal.  Then I lost a lap because of an unscheduled pit stop and couldn't get back up there to contend."

   Petty finished 13th.

   Even so...

   "I look back on the day and remember it as a pretty emotional thing," he continued.  "After mine and Lynda's girls said 'Daddy, start your engine,' the crowd got swept into it and even with my helmet on and the motor rumbling I could hear the people cheering.

   "It'll always be special to me."