Hey everyone,

My name is Adam Petty, driver of the No. 45 Sprint Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Let me begin with the obvious question, what is it like to be a Petty? If you are a follower of any of the NASCAR series you may have heard my last name but maybe not my first. Just for a little background let me begin by telling you about my family. Honestly we have been involved in racing about as long as NASCAR has been in existence. Petty Enterprises is currently entering into their second 50 years. My great granddad, Lee, was the first winner of the Daytona 500 and won over 50 races in his career. My granddad, Richard or as many people know and call him "The King," won 200 races while he was driving and seven championships. My dad, Kyle, has been racing in the Winston Cup series for over 20 years and is one of my biggest supporters and the driver that I admire the most.

So to say the least, I definitely have some big footsteps to follow as I am just beginning my career. The next question that I am usually asked is do I feel any pressure because my family has been so successful or does my family put any pressure on me to do well? The answer to both of these questions is no. I'm really honored to be a Petty. My family really puts no pressure on me at all. I just do the best I can do and learn everything I can to improve when I run my next race.

Growing up, racing was never something that I felt like I had to do because my family always has. I always wanted to do it though because I was a typical kid who wanted to be just like my dad. When I was little it would always make me mad that I couldn't go with my dad to the track because even at a young age I thought I was good enough to be on his pit crew. I've also always loved to go very fast. I've never really had any fear about going almost 200 mph, so that's probably good when you're involved in my line of work.

Like many other drivers in the sport, I started racing go-karts when I was young and raced them until I was 12 years old. What I really wanted to race was stock cars, though. So for my fourteenth birthday my dad bought me a Winston Racing Series Late Model chassis. I never will forget that day. He gave it to me and told me if I wanted to race it I had to put together the sponsorship, get the parts and then build the thing myself. I worked on it for about a month and then quit. It just sat there untouched for a couple months and then I decided to put it together and go racing. It took me two years to get the car together but it was really worth it when I finished. I really admire my dad for making me work hard to get where I am today, it makes you appreciate success much more if you have to work for it.

In 1997, I ran about 25 races in a Late Model Stock car and I got a lot of experience on tracks such as Caraway Speedway, Myrtle Beach, and Nashville. In 1998, I ran in three different series including the American Speed Association (ASA) series, the ARCA Series, and the NASCAR Busch Series. I won in my tenth start in the ASA Series in Odessa, MO and won in my first start in the ARCA series at Charlotte Motor Speedway. These two wins are some of my proudest accomplishments in racing.

In 1999, I entered into the NASCAR Busch Series full-time. The first race of the season was at Daytona and I had never raced at that track before. Man, I was really nervous but I ended up finishing the race in the sixth position. The rest of the season didn't go quite as smoothly as Daytona did but overall it was a good rookie year with three top five finishes to our team's credit.

As I enter my second full season of Busch Series competition, my goal is to be consistent week in and week out. The more experience I get at a track, the easier it gets to run when we go back there. That's something I am really working on this season. I pay attention to how the car feels on the track and what effect our changes have on how it handles. This year I have a great team and we work really well together. I have a new crew chief, Chris Hussey, and we communicate really well with one another and have many of the same ideas on how we can be better and more competitive every week.

I will not only be running in the Busch Series this year but I am also attempting to qualify for five Winston Cup races over the season, with the first one being at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2. Sprint is going to be the sponsor on my Winston Cup car as well and it feels really good to know that they are behind me in this effort one hundred percent. Sprint has taken me from ASA to the Busch Series and I'm extremely happy that they are taking the step to Winston Cup with me as well.

My attempting to run in a Winston Cup race is a very special moment for my family and myself because it marks the first time that I will have a chance to race against my dad. Something that I have always imagined growing up is what it would be like to race him side by side and hopefully in Texas I will have that chance. Qualifying for the race will be a challenge, but I plan to give it my best. I know from watching my dad and granddad that the Winston Cup series is the toughest competition there is, but I believe my team and I are ready to take that step.

But before I can focus on Texas we have a couple more Busch Series races to run, starting this weekend in Atlanta. Atlanta is definitely one of the fastest tracks we race on. We ran well there last year before being involved in an accident so I'm looking for a repeat performance, this time without the accident part. So far this season, we have made a lot of strides. We finished 37th in Daytona, 27th in Rockingham and 17th in Las Vegas. If we continue to pick up ten positions each week, pretty soon we'll have a good finish that I know that this team is capable of.

As you can tell, the 2000 season is going to be a pretty big year for me and I am looking forward to sharing it with all of you through this column. So until I talk to you next time, be sure to read what Lyndon, Jason, and Hank have to say. I can promise I'll be reading to check up on the competition and see if they're telling any of their racing secrets to you.

God bless,

Adam Petty