 It will make a great addition to any racing collector After battling with Benny Parsons for sixth and seventh position, Harry broke away just about that second draft of position three on Staff Chameleon Change Award, boss. He improved his position. Car victories. He's tied for third with Bobby Allison on the all-time list. That's not surprising, Barney, the way that Petty qualified. As Ned Jarrett told us, the top of the broadcast, Petty qualified in the first three rows and winning Petty. I'm doing so, then I'll probably still be doing it, but, you know, how long it is, the number of races I win and stuff like that has nothing to do with it. It has a keen interest in sports, so on behalf of the people on Motor Racing Network, the Daytime International Speedway President Reagan, we welcome you. Well, Ned, I'm pleased to be here. This is a real kick for me at the same time, however, having been a sports announcer myself. I'm kind of glad that I didn't have to broadcast this because I'm having so much trouble trying to sort out who's on first. Well, about the time the Air Force One was landing, just behind the Speedway here, we had a seven-car draft for the lead that just made pit stops what should be their last pit stops. That sometimes tends to break them up a little bit, but Richard Petty, who is trying to win his 200th NASCAR Winston Cup victory here today, which would set an all-time record is out front now in car number 43, and I believe you have some special ties to the owner of that car. Yes, and he's sitting right up here, Mike Curb, who is out there and shouldn't mention this on a holiday like this, a partisanship, but we were kind of tied up in politics in California. I won't mention which party. Okay, we'll let that go by the wayside. I'm sure that you're amazed by the speeds that you're seeing these cars run here today and the control the drivers have over them. Yes, I am, and I've noticed one thing already. I've been here only a short time, but I've noticed that if you're trying to look at the number on the car, you better look when they're down the track aways. You're not going to see it when they go by here. They're running about 200 miles an hour when they go by our position right here. This is one of the fastest points on the racetrack. You know, there was a moment out there when the Air Force One was coming in when I thought that we were over the track, and it just was one of the expressways in normal holiday traffic. Sometimes it looks that way, and I think that we should emphasize, even though these cars are going upwards of 200 miles an hour, they are specially built race cars. They're running, of course, on a specially built racetrack, and we, the folks who are listening in by radio in their cars, we wouldn't want them out there trying this on the highway. No. I hope not. Oh, no. Excuse me. I was just going to say, out there, let them stay bumper to bumper. Well, they do run very closely. Of course, drafting you perhaps have heard that term, and that is very normal, and wins many races here on this racetrack. One car running, bursting the wind open, the other car can run faster than you could normally run by himself by running directly behind the other car. That's why we see them running so close together. Another thing that we have been pleased with, President Reagan, in this sport, and back when I was driving a race car, it made me feel good to know that I was providing the American public with something besides what I felt was tough, not entertainment, because it serves as a good proving ground for the automotive and aftermarket manufacturers to improve their products, which makes better and safer cars for a highway driving question. Well, I know that that's always been one of the factors behind these great classic races, is what we learn about further improvements in automobiles, but you've just proven something else about the sport here. This is the first time you've mentioned that about racing yourself, but here you are, hailing, hardy, and healthy. Well, thank God for that. Well, I'll tell you, this car has done a good job over the years, and the rules that go into the building of these race cars, sometimes it gets in some pretty serious crashes, but because of the rules and the safety equipment that's built into the cars, the drivers most of the time are able to walk away, and thank God for that. Now, I just noticed one car that came into the pits, and I know that everyone was supposed to have had their regular pit stop. He looks as though he's got some problem. There isn't any rushing around as there normally is. That is true, and that is Kyle Petty. He's the son of Richard Petty, who is currently leading the race, because Kyle has been racing on this circuit for about four years, and you are right. Something is wrong with the car, because it's longer than normal pit stop. Now they're pushing him down pit road, so maybe he'll get back out and run, but certainly it's costing him any chance he might have a winning this race. But now you have a son of a car out here, don't you? Yes, I do. He's running his first Super Speedway event in NASCAR Whiskey Cup competition, and as we talk, Mr. President, it looks like Kyle Petty's car is being pushed off pit road and behind the wall, so that will be all for him today. Oh, wow. And it's a shame to run this near the end of the race with about 25 laps to go. He was running very well in the event here today, so we'll go back and see if we can see his dad win his 200th race here today. Would you, let's pick up the winner. You are an old sportscaster, and see if we can, Richard Petty, of course, driving the car number 43. He has, here he comes now, off a turn for the blue and red car. Why don't you pick him up and call him down through the front straightaway? Oh, wait a minute here. Well, somebody just went past somebody right out here in front of us. I don't think that's informed anyone who's listening on radio very much about the race, but I thought they changed positions just as they went by. They certainly did, and Kale Yarber, who is running the car number 28, is gaining on Richard Petty right now, who is running out front. And you notice how high Petty runs through the wall, or through the turn up next to the wall and turns one or two, but that's his style. I'll drive it. You do see a lot of passing in this area right directly in front of us. Yes, I hadn't noticed that before. Just when they get past the finish line here, they have to make their move going into that upper turn. Well, this is one of the fastest points on the racetrack, and the drafting takes such an effect right in this area of the racetrack, and that's one reason that they're able to make the moves and move around the cars in front of it. One car is sticking to the pavement a little bit better than another one. That helps him in this area where the trial is. As we see, going into turn one, Kale Yarber continues to gain on Richard Petty, so it looks like we'll have a shootout down near the end of this race. Between those two drivers, they pulled away from the balance of the field. Currently running in third place is Terry Labotti. Harry Gant is in fourth place, and Bobby Allison in fifth place. And a fellow who has put on more good races with Richard Petty, David Pearson, is pulling into the pits now. The hood goes up on that car. And there's trouble on the racetrack, Mr. President. We need to give it to our turn announcer. Ken Reagan, that's straight to the wall. He spells his name R-A-G-A-M, but he does have a sign on the back of that car. Reagan's for Reagan. So I know that you appreciate that. I didn't know I had a relative out here. Of course, I found out at the Klan when I was in Ireland, and the Klan Reagan over there, every family just sort of picked out the way they'd spell the name. Well, yours has certainly become a popular one. And if you look directly across from us, Bobby Allison's pits, the car number 22, where he's pitting there, and he has a special sign for you there on the wall. It's on the pit wall. As you see the yellow stripe that goes across there, it says we love Ron. Well, I appreciate that very much. Well, I know that a lot of these fellas are so pleased to have you here today and taking part in this big Independence Day celebration. I'm just marveling at you and your ability as they come off that upper turnway over there to pick out who they are and what position at all. Well, see, I haven't. That's having lived down among them. That's right. I have an advantage on you. I've been around this business for about 30 years and know the fellas and know the colors. And really, when they get on the back stretch, the color isn't about the only way that you can pick out the car. We'll watch Richard Panty now as he comes off of turn four. And you can see K.O. Yarber and the orange car is gradually picking up on him. They have some cars that they're coming up to put a lap on. Of course, they're running faster than those cars. That will help both of them as they pick up the draft of each of those cars as they come in front of them. In other words, Petty is in number one now. Petty is in first place in the car number 43 and Yarber in car number 28. Now, they are two of the biggest winners here. Yarber has won 14 events on this Speedway. Petty has won 10. He's won two of these Firecracker races. He's won seven of the Daytona 500. The events that will be interesting to see is they come up on those two cars that they're lapping down the back stretch. Petty is able to move right up on the outside of them very carefully and get ahead of Yarber going into that turn. You know, if I were faced with the responsibility of broadcasting this net and with Petty out in front, I would just keep watching Mike Kerb down here to find out whether he was in front yet. His reaction tells us that. Yes, it certainly does. Everyone here, I think Petty has such a tremendous following that they've been waiting for him to win 200. The closest driver to him is David Pearson, who was in the pit there a moment ago. Pearson has 105 victories, but Petty has had such an illustrious career and has been so good for the sport, but he has his hands full now as Yarber continues to what we call in the sport really men, because he's gaining on it. They're reversed right now as to their previous position when we first saw them out here in that 1-2 spot. Yes, Yarber. But holding it about the same distance, but with the one who was second now first. Yes, Yarber made a little longer pit stop than Petty, and that gave him an advantage. But his car seems to be running a little bit faster right now, and he's close enough now that he can pick up the draft. We'll keep it here for just a moment, and we'll let you call that pass if he does pass it. The next time around, he should be right on his bumper as he go into turn one. He moves right in on the back bumper of Richard Petty. He's definitely in the draft as he go into that turn. So we'll see if Yarber can make the move. See how high they go off the turn. Yes. And Yarber will be trying to get a good running start down the back stretch. He might be a little too far behind this time to make the pass. He has crept up though. He's only about half the distance he was on that last lap. He's moved right in on his back bumper now. Yes. Now that's not the place to pass. If it comes off of that fourth turn, it'll either be down here or going down the back stretch. Here he is, the stark finish line. It looks like it's going to be. No. Petty was still out front, but Yarber couldn't make the pass there. Let's see as he comes off a turn two, what he can do with him there. He dips down to the low side. Petty will go high in the turn. Now Yarber drifts up right behind him, but he is definitely in the full force of the draft now. With Petty opening up quite a space of wind in front of him, that lets Yarber, his car, run a little bit freer, but he still can't make the pass as he go into turn three. So we're going to throw it back upstairs again, Mr. President. It's been a real pleasure having you here with us today for this Pepsi Firecracker 400. Well, it's a wonderful fourth of July for me, and I wish everybody a very happy fourth. We know that you look forward to greeting the winner. All right. Standing by with his crew chief on pit road is Jerry Punch. Well, we're in the middle of a celebration, Barty. You would not believe the STP crew down here. Buddy, congratulations on a super. Buddy Perry, I'm talking to the crew chief, Richard Petty. Buddy, congratulations on a super win today. Thank you very much. I just want to say one thing. We couldn't have done this. We couldn't have won 200 races without the help from STP, and the STP products were used in the car today, and we're just super happy. Mike Curb, maybe the president will run you for vice president. Well, the celebration, as you can hear in the background, Ralph Salvino, the folks from STP are here. They give the high five as the STP crew goes in the air and smacks those fists together. They will be headed to Victory Lane. Well, we'll be checking in with Bill Bowser and some of the Petty crew in Victory Lane. Richard Petty, he'll be on his way up to meet the president, receive those accolades. Anybody else? Some more people know me. I guess what the deal is. By coincidence, Richard is chairman of the Reagan-Busch Racing Committee as well, which is an exciting thing, I think, also to point out. Well, I think it is, too. That's Mike Curb making that statement. Richard, let me ask you one racing question. President Reagan asked you about that pass on the last lap. Of course, you knew that Kale was going to make that pass going into turn three. Then you had to plan accordingly. Well, see, we ran into the same thing experience. OK, I ran into the same thing in 1976. David Pearson done me the same thing, and I got back by him when he went in and went in too hard and went, I got back by him. The only thing was, David and myself crashed, and David wound up winning the race. But this time, I was a little more cautious of what's going on, even though we hit each other two or three times. The deal was, I never got by him as far as what I got by David. So the deal was, I knew that if he went in there wide open, his car wasn't going to work for me to be in exactly the right place to be able to make the turn without having to let off the gas. And I was able to do that. Then the slow car helped me, too. Because what happened, it didn't give him any room to manipulate. All he had was the wall and, you know, so from that standpoint, we just got lucky. Getting that 200 under these circumstances has to be one of the greatest things that's happened to you. Yeah, you know, it's just super, you know, with the president being here is going to be, you know, way that much better PR for me. But you've got to figure now, I'm out campaigning for him, too. So maybe I can help him and Ben. I'm running 200. Then it might help his career a little bit, too. I'll be looking over my shoulder for you long about November. I'm going to be helping you bet on that. Could I get a question in here? Did I understand you to say that you bumped each other a few times? Well, a couple of times, there's a little different color sheet metal on my blue and red car than what started the race. And there's a little bit of blue and red on his orange and white car. And you imagine that at 200 miles an hour? No, I can't imagine that. The deal is we were dead side by side when we did this. And it's not as bad as when you, you know, you behind somebody or you come up and clip them. But side by side, even though you're running 200 mile an hour, the only impact is the difference between the speed of the car. If there was two mile an hour difference in the speed of the car, it'd be two mile an hour a month. But we hit each other pretty hard. I just got no answer to that. The sponsor of the car, S.T.P. Ralph Selby. I know you, Mr. President. It's a pleasure, believe me. You must be very pleased and proud and with every right to be. I've been 25 years trying to win 200 races. So you can bet we're all pleased. We're pleased you're here. And we're pleased we won the race because you're here. So we hope it helps you and us also. Thank you. Hey, of course, that's the goings on here and the president's sweet. Began his stock car career July 12th, 1958. He finished sixth in 100 mile NASCAR convertible race at Columbia, South Carolina. His first victory came in that division July 18th, 1950. Ooh, what's weird. I can tell you by itself that it can be confusing. And it was a bit of a confusing finish. I wonder, Richard, when you noticed that Hevron had left the track, the caution flag was going to come out and you had, in effect, a one lap race to the flag for the victory. Right, just to the one across the start finish line. When you're going in one direction, then when you turn it to the start finish line, you look down into the first and second corners just as far as you can see. You don't see the car sitting on the end field. And my idea is that I just fit it to the floor in this way that we get up and make it move. And when he did, he just went in the corner a little bit too far up there and started to sit. I was able to cut right beside it and then we kind of touched a couple of times by the end of the run. You weren't worried when he went past you. What? You weren't worried when he went past you there on the backstrap? Yeah, I was worried. That was the way he was going to do it. That's what he was going to do when he was going to do it. But I didn't know how it was going to come. But what happened when... States, this is the first one that's ever showed up at the racetrack. So everybody's happy. Congratulations, guys. I want to thank you guys for coming. Welcome to two grand national races. Richard, congratulations to you on this terrific occasion. Mr. President, thanks for being here. Well, we used to be here. And it's been a very exciting day. I join in congratulations. I even have a conflict of interest here because he's doing some Yolen service in a political sense. Thank you very much.