Inside the Halls of Petty: Home away from home

I know there are a lot of Petty fans out there that are saddened by our announcement to relocate Petty Enterprises from Level Cross, N.C., to Mooresville, N.C. Many see it as another step away from stock-car racing's roots. But let me say this, we are making this move to return Petty Enterprises to the top of the NASCAR heap. This is a move we have been contemplating for quite some time. The time has now come.

Times of change

Petty Enterprises will move its race shop closer to the hub of NASCAR by year's end.

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At the same time, folks, this is history in the making. The original floor of what was then known as Petty Engineering is still part of the current shop at Petty Enterprises. Walking through those doors is equivalent to hopping in a DeLorean, juicing up the flux capacitor, setting the dial for 1949 and hitting 88 mph. NASCAR and Petty Enterprises have grown together. They have both benefited by the success of one another.

We are all witness to the current dominance of Hendrick Motorsports. They definitely have it going on right now. Kids are now dreaming of being as successful as Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. Well, my generation grew up wanting to be Richard Petty. Kenny Wallace told the television viewers this weekend that when he was growing up, he knew exactly where Level Cross was located. It was the center of the stock-car racing universe. Petty Enterprises was the dominant, glamour team. We were the original dominant team of the Modern Era of NASCAR.

But as times have changed it has become more difficult to operate outside of the Charlotte-Concord-Mooresville area. We've seen the Wood Brothers move down from Stuart, Va. Junie Donlavey had to close his Richmond, Va., shop.

The reason for this is fairly simple. It's a two-part answer. First, NASCAR is a national sport now, as far as the makeup of our garage area. The personnel headquarters for NASCAR is Mooresville. The NASCAR Technical Institute is just down the road from our future shop. So when someone wants to break into our sport, they move to Mooresville. It is hard to get that person to make a long drive after he or she has already relocated from across the country. But we are not moving because we feel like we need get better people. Our teams are strong right now. We want to continue to strengthen the people we have now.

The second reason it is easier to operate in Mooresville-Charlotte is that the NASCAR governing body has increased its footprint on the area. The NASCAR Research and Development Center, in Concord, is where you get each COT chassis approved. NASCAR is also building an office tower next to the Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte. It just makes it easier to work with NASCAR if you are in the area. Daytona has been the headquarters of NASCAR forever, but Charlotte is becoming more of a hub than ever before.

We still have aspirations to build a future shop in Salisbury, N.C. Salisbury will be the next city to see a motorsports boom. There is a planned road course and wind tunnel in the works already. It has easy access to Charlotte via Interstate 85 and it is just down the road from Mooresville. More importantly for us, it is also next door to Level Cross.

The move to Mooresville will give us the chance to test the waters and make sure we absolutely need to be in the area. But make no mistake, Level Cross will always be the home of the championships and trophies that put Petty Enterprises on the map. This will be no different than the North Carolina Tar Heels moving out of Carmichael Auditorium and into the Dean Dome or the Washington Redskins leaving RFK for FedEx Field. Both teams vowed to continue the legacy that was built in their old homes. We will do the same.

NASCAR can trace its rise in popularity to the men and machines that came out of the hallowed grounds in Level Cross, N.C. We are going to continue to build on that Petty legacy.

See you in Victory Lane,
Robbie Loomis