Adam Kyler Petty was an American professional racing driver. He was the fourth generation from the Petty family to drive in races in the highest division of NASCAR racing. He is believed to be the first fourth-generation athlete in all of modern American professional sports.
Petty began his career in 1998, shortly after he turned 18, in the ARCA Re/Max Series. Like his father Kyle, he won his first ARCA race, driving the #45 Pontiac at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Petty moved to NASCAR Busch Series full-time in 1999, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet. Petty finished sixth in his first Busch Series race at Daytona and had a best finish of fourth place at Fontana, though he also failed to qualify for three of the Busch races. Petty finished the 1999 season 20th overall in points. Petty Enterprises planned to have Petty run a second Busch season in 2000, while giving him seven starts in the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, in preparation for a full Winston Cup campaign in 2001. He struggled early in the Busch season, but managed to qualify in his first attempt at Winston Cup during the DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2. He qualified 33rd and ran in the middle of the pack most of the day before his engine expired, forcing him to finish 40th. Adam never got to race alongside his father. Kyle failed to qualify and eventually relieved an ill Elliott Sadler, but Adam was already out of the race. Lee Petty, Adam's great-grandfather, and 3-time NASCAR Champion, lived to see his Winston debut, but died just three days later.
Death
On May 12, 2000, in a practice session for the Busch 200 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Petty's throttle stuck wide open going into turn three, causing the car to hit the outside wall virtually head on. Petty was killed instantly when he suffered a basilar skull fracture. He was 19 years old. Petty's death, along with 1998 Winston Cup Rookie of the YearKenny Irwin Jr.'s in the same corner at the same track eight weeks later, led NASCAR to mandate the use of a kill switch on the steering wheel and the adoption of the Whelen Modified Tourrestrictor plate for the September Cup race; the plate was abandoned after that race. These two adjustments addressed the cause of the deadly accidents, but did not address the basilar skull fractures suffered by both drivers. At Texas Motor Speedway, Truck Series driver Tony Roper died on October 14, 2000 of a similar head injury. Mandatory use of the HANS or Hutchens device was mandated by NASCAR in October 2001, months after seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt died of the same injury on the last lap of the Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001. Adam's father Kyle Petty, who drove the No. 44 car at the time of his son's fatal crash, drove Adam's No. 45 car in the Busch Series for the remainder of 2000. He then used the No. 45 in the Cup Series throughout the rest of his driving career.
Legacy
In October 2000, five months after Petty's death, his family partnered with Paul Newman and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp to begin the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, North Carolina as a memorial to Petty. The camp has received support from many NASCAR drivers, teams, and sponsors, including Cup Series sponsor Sprint, which has placed a replica of Petty's 1998 car in the camp. The camp began operation in 2004 and is an official charity of NASCAR. Petty also appears as a special guest driver in the video gamesNASCAR 2000, NASCAR Rumble, NASCAR 2001 and NASCAR Arcade. In December 2013, his brother Austin named his newborn son after Adam in tribute.
