Does anyone out there think as i do that Richard Petty was a little overrated?

May be...

I kinda agree with you. He was a great driver and is not overrated, but I think if he were racing today, he wouldn't do as good. Racing back then you had an advantage. Same with Jeff Gordon, he won 90 percent of his races in the 90s, (nothing against him) and he really hasn't done that good this century, except for his championship in 2001. Both are great drivers, but I do think the drivers in the past aren't as good as people say they are.

No. Richard Petty is a 7 time champion with 200 victories. And I'm not saying this to be cruel, but the fact is, the King is still alive.

"the lack of the rules we follow today made it easier to find loop holes and gain the edge" - Well, that was part of what made racing in that era great. NASCAR has ruled and regulated most of the competition and excitement out of racing.

My panties aren't in a bunch, but somebody here definitely has something up their rear that doesn't belong there. : )

you try driving one of the old cars before they came up with down force.....the King is still the King ......the kids now don't know what talent is

It depends on how you look at it, dear.

that must have been before your time if you dont understand
sounds like a personal problem to me
deal with it -you aint gonna change it

Not quite right. He wasn't the only one given Hemi's . He wasn't the only one driving Super Birds. You don't win seven championships over more years than that.
Plus, they used to run on DIRT as well as pavement. The majority of NASCAR drivers today would never be capable of that to drive a full size Olds or Pontiac, with lousy handling. Forget about the Late Model races at Stewarts' El Dora track, or Schrader's raceway in MO.
Besides, David Pearson and Buddy Baker to name two were no slouches. It's amazing why these questions keep coming up for all sports, not just auto racing. They were all different ERA'S, you can't compare them.

Now before anyone gets their panties in a bunch listen to what i'm saying. Back when he won most of his races he had a competitive edge. Driving for dodge he was given the highest horsepower cars there were and then they tweaked them. There was no Nascar rulebook to keep the cars as similar as they are today. He was a legend in his time but the lack of the rules we follow today made it easier to find loop holes and gain the edge. Racing in the old days was boring unless you were rooting for the winning driver. Not so many close finishes as today or even cars to finish the race

Hardly over rated. Given the equiptment he had and how he raced he and the guys that raced with him were "real" stock car drivers. Not a single one of the guys out there today could go the distance in one of those old real race cars. Sure they had big horsepower, they also had heavy steel less safety gear, no power steering or cool suits On infinitem with the list. Real men driving real american muscle at high speeds. Back in the day. Yes sad to say even my favorite driver could not compare to those guys like King Richard, the silver fox, coocoo marlin, don flock, ned jarrett, fireball roberts, the allisons and jr johnson, good ole cale yarborough.

I believe if you would have given them the equiptment then our stars have today, better yet, if you could somehow bring them forward in time and still have their youth but retain thier drive and talent the men of today would be trembling in the racing sneakers... LOL but if you reversed the scene most of todays drivers couldn't do 50 laps at speed in those older cars, heck some of them wouldn't even be able to reach the pedals and see over the dash at the same time....

Some of todays drivers never want to forget nor disrespect the history, ie. Dale Jr, Jell Gordon, and others. Some drivers couldn't even care less. The same could be said about the fans too....

does any one else find it comical the guy who asked this question is a dale jr fan and you dont know crap about talent. the cars were much heavier in richard pettys day which = much harder to turn. dont comment about stuff you dont know about.

No I disagree 110% You need to go look at race in the 70's and 80's and see these guys "seesawing" on the steering wheel the entire race at the same or faster speeds. In some cases much faster. Handling was almost non existent at that time. The guys today would crap their pants driving Dega or Daytona at 210 miles per hour with zero handling.

Here's "food for thought". Remember a few years back when Jr pulled out of a Pocono race because the handling was so bad without even wrecking? That car would have been a winner for Petty back in the day.

you make a good point there. Back then, dodge was unfair. Now, Toyota is unfair. Also, how long was richard petty in this deal?

I suppose so, but 200 wins, even back when the Mopars had a huge edge and won nearly everything, is impressive.

I have been saying it for years. Top three drivers ever imo.
Dale Sr.
David Pearson
Pains me to say it-Jeff Gordon

you just want someone to agree with you because deep down inside your insecure of your feelings and/or interpretation

I feel he wasnt overrated but crazier! imagine putting todays racers in yesteryear's environment. 95% of todays racers wouldnt even race in those unsafe conditions. Thinking Petty was overrated is like saying Dale Sr didnt have talent until he won a 500 at Indy or Daytona.

i agree, richard is the only driver i know of that had his own special building at his manufacturers engineering center. that should have been a big advantage. as for the cars being heavier, a 1968 road runner was less than 3400 lbs. off the assembly line, before it was gutted.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME???!!!!!

Why true I am a huge Petty fan.....I won't answer this question with emotion or diss you for your opinion. But I do want to defend my all time favorite driver. All Dodge drivers were given HEMI engines that NASCAR later banned because of their competitive edge BY THE SAME rulebook (to a degree) that is used today. But after the Hemi was taken away all the Dodge drivers EXCEPT Petty stopped winning. Petty had Dale Inman (the Chad Knauss of his time) and a great bunch of guys working on the #43 that made it THE car to beat week in and week out. Don't get me started on close finishes they were even closer back then......from 1959 to 1969 60% of the races where considered too close to call. Now I agree there was some snoozers Petty winning by 5-6 laps....but come on OVERRATED? I don't see it! I would love to see the kids today race the cars of yesterday. I disagree with you but will not bash you for your opinion.

Petty won the races period. Everyone played by the same rules as he did back then and you can't be mad at him for tweaking the cars to give them more HP, if anyone else wanted to do it they could. That's my opinion

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