Richard Petty's Audio Scrapbook by Barney Hall

Fantastic. A must for Petty fans and fans of NASCAR history.

Published in 2009 by Audiobook Publishing, LLC.
4 CDs
Running time: approximately 4 hours

Richard Petty sits down with his cousin and long-time crew chief Dale Inman (the only crew chief to win 8 championships) for a retrospective on their legendary careers with Barney Hall, the famed radio voice of NASCAR for 40 years on MRN.

Barney begins the interview by having the two cousins tell about their early lives in rural North Carolina. They tell about how they got involved in Lee Petty's racing operation as part-time garage help after school and how, once Richard turned 21, they were able to start racing themselves. The give and take between these two cousins and, more importantly, long-time friends makes this a fun trip down memory lane.

Petty's Dodge Charger, a legendary ride

As the interview moves along following Richard's career bits of audio from races are included as well as interviews with Richard's wife, Linda, Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison and David Pearson. Pearson's comments are especially poignant as Petty and Pearson recount a some of their close finishes. Pearson and Petty were the toughest of rivals on the track but they always drove with a sense of respect for each other. Petty compliments Pearson by noting how absolutely he trusted him on the track and Pearson, not once, but twice says of Petty, "He's always been my hero."

Barney Hall does a great job of pulling the stories from Inman and Petty. Lots of laughs, a lot of history and a tough bit as Richard discusses the death of his grandson Adam during a testing accident at a race track. Richard's natural sense of humility comes through as he notes his successes with comments like, "We got lucky" and "we were fairly successful" and we were "pretty good."

The car Petty won with at my first NASCAR race in 1981.

200 career wins. Most wins ever in a season. Most Daytona 500 wins. Most wins in a row (10). 7 Championships.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

Thoroughly enjoyable. This lifelong fan of Richard Petty was pleased.

I rate this 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Richard Petty's Audio Scrapbook by Barney Hall.

Reviewed May 24, 2010.