Pre Race Report for the Rock & Roll 400

The thoughts of Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge driver Kyle Petty heading into
Richmond

ATLANTA, GA. September 07, 2004 -- "When it comes to racing and tradition, sure,
you have your Darlingtons and Daytonas, and for some it's the Indys or
whatevers. But it's tough to find an area with more stock car racing tradition
than Richmond and the raceway.

"My grandfather (Lee) raced at Strawberry Hill. My dad (Richard) raced on the
old, thin, near-half mile track. I've done most of mine on the current track,
the three-quarters mile. At times, everybody thought that particular track was
one of the most exciting in racing.

"Frankly, I think we need more Richmonds in stock car racing. We need more
three-quarter miles like this one - good banking, nice sweeping turns, a little
'trick' thrown in like the hard left off the second corner - but we need more
Richmonds, as in the area, too. Man, that is a real hotbed for stock car racing.
Those people are serious about their sport.

"A lot of fans pay close attention and a lot of fans are dedicated. But Richmond
fans are absolutely, positively passionate about stock car racing. It's like the
old joke about the difference between involved and committed - it's like bacon
and eggs; the chicken is involved, the pig is committed.

"Not that they aren't nice people because they are. Really nice people. Whether
they are Kyle Petty fans or Jeff Green fans or Richard Petty fans or somebody
else's fans, they are super people who know a lot about what we do. As long as
you don't say anything bad about the race track or the Washington Redskins,
you'll never have a problem around Richmond International Raceway.

"These are the types of people who watch the race, and then make sure they buy
Brawny paper towels next week, and make sure they stock up on Coca-Cola and
Cheerios at the grocery store. They know Georgia-Pacific and General Mills and
Coca-Cola and all of the sponsors in the sport are important - and they see that
brand loyalty as their part of it. They love you not necessarily because of who
you are but because you are there. It's the only track where I've signed
autographs and then turned around to see the PR guy signing autographs too.

"The crowd pumps you up. Sure, racing under the lights and the fact it is a fun
place to race give you a great start, but you can really feel the electricity at
the start of the race. Driver introductions are fun . . . walking out to the
starting grid is fun . . . listening to the national anthem is fun . . .
everything just keeps adding up and building the excitement. And the drivers
feed off those fans.

"We have great fans everywhere we run but the folks at Richmond are just
special. You see that same feeling not just for Saturday night's race but for
the Busch guys on Friday night and the Truck guys on Thursday night. Rookies,
guys who've never run Richmond before, are cool to watch. They walk out to the
car before the start of the race and they are almost wide-eyed. They always say
something profound like, 'Man, this is so cool.' You have to laugh, especially
knowing you did the exact same thing at some point.

"We're pumped up. Everybody on this Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge team is pumped
up about Richmond. We're excited to be there. And I know we're going to be even
more excited when that crowd starts jumping."



kylepettyrocks@yahoogroups.com
brothersgibbforever@yahoogroups.com
Cheyanne and Travis are getting BIGGER!!!


























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