In new biography 'Swerve or Die,' NASCAR legend Kyle Petty recircles the track of his life

Massachusetts might have its Kennedys and Texas, its Bushes. But in North Carolina, the reigning dynasty is the Pettys from Level Cross, N.C.

Patriarch Lee Petty (1914-2000) won the first Daytona 500 by a legendary two-foot margin. His son, Richard Petty, "The King," won 200 NASCAR races in a 34-year career, including seven Winston Cup and NASCAR Cup titles.

Then there's Kyle Petty, now 62, son of King Richard. At 18, he became the youngest driver to win a NASCAR sanctioned auto race, a record Kyle's son Adam would later top. The Crown Prince didn't quite match the King's record, though he racked up a respectable win record while launching a brief career as a Nashville singer-songwriter and occasional actor. (He was one of the voices for Pixar's "Cars.") Soundgarden even wrote a single about him.

Kyle Petty now recounts his eventful life in "Swerve or Die: Life at My Speed in the First Family of NASCAR Racing," written with Newsday columnist and FOX News commentator Ellis Henican. It's a tale that should draw NASCAR fans in droves.

Kyle literally grew up in NASCAR. As a toddler, he was bundled in the family station wagon on race weekends, traveling across the country at a time, he notes, when most people in Level Cross never went anywhere. He visited the Petty garage almost every day growing up and worked there parttime from junior high onward. It was the ultimate ringside seat.

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One point Kyle Petty underlines is that NASCAR racing is a team sport. He credits his Uncle Maurice, Richard's younger brother, with much of the clan's success. After a brief racing stint, Maurice settled into the garage, where he became a crew chief and chief engine builder for Petty Enterprises, earning himself a seat in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

The younger Petty also notes that King Richard's winning streak really took off when he made Dale Inman ("all-knowing and never resting") his crew chief. Even Kyle Petty's grandma got into the act, rigging the first window netting in NASCAR after Richard suffered injuries in a smash-up.

Kyle Petty himself is self-deprecating about his record. Sure, he won that first race, but in the second he crashed on the second turn. ("Tougher than it looks, ain't it?" a veteran driver told him after that fiasco.) He learned gradually.

Now an NBC commentator, Kyle Petty is a solid brand representative, and he doesn't go around spreading dirt about the business. Still, he shares plenty of color around the track — how Marty Robbins, the country singer ("El Paso"), used to drive the occasional NASCAR race, and would occasionally hang trackside with a teenaged Kyle. Or how Kyle once had to dive into a dumpster to recover his lucky underwear.

BOOK REVIEW

'SWERVE OR DIE: Life at My Speed in the First Family of NASCAR Racing'

By Kyle Petty and Ellis Henican

St. Martin's, $29

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: NASCAR legend Kyle Petty writes his biography, 'Swerve or Die'