"He set the standard": When Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked back on Richard Petty’s lasting impact on the sport's culture

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the son of seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, Dale Earnhardt, once shared how 'The King' Richard Petty taught him to interact with fellow drivers and fans. His example became the gold standard in the sport and many still look back at it when deciding how to behave.

In a 2013 interview with USA TODAY Sports, Earnhardt Jr. explained how Petty set the standard for how drivers should act on and off the track.

"He set the standard back when he was driving. Everyone would say, and you'd heard quite often how he was the example of how you were supposed to interact with the fans and how you carried yourself around the garage and interacted with the other drivers," Earnhardt Jr. said.

Petty has a reputation for giving his autograph to every fan who wanted it and according to the JR Motorsports owner, he molded the driver's behavior for good.

"The Richard Petty Way is the way you're supposed to do it when you walk through the garage, and you get people wanting autographs. ... If he didn't do it the way he did it, who knows, we might be doing things differently and not as good," Earnhardt Jr. added.

Apparently, Petty's unique autograph, with its distinctive swoops, came about after rigorous practice and a course in "Oriental Penmanship" at King's Business College in Greensboro, North Carolina.

In 2017, Petty's team estimated that he had signed more than 2 million items for fans since retiring from racing in 1992. The nine-time NASCAR's Most Popular Driver award winner gave autographs hundreds of times a week. even after retiring. Many of these sessions lasted for hours and fans brought photos, model cars or even a duck to be signed.

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"I'm very impressed" - Richard Petty on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s ambassadorship

During the same interview, Richard Petty also commented on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s popularity in the sport and lauded him for neatly stepping into his father, Dale Earnhardt's shoes. Earnhardt Jr. won the NASCAR Most Popular Driver award 15 consecutive times during his NASCAR career, before his retirement from full-time racing in 2017.

"I'm very impressed with it. ... His dad started it. He came along and picked up the mantle and was able to carry it like it should have been carried," Richard Petty said.

Meanwhile, Earnhardt Sr., who was undoubtedly the most popular NASCAR driver during his time, also beat fellow seven-time Cup champion Petty during Beyond the Flag's 2019 "GOAT" fan poll.

In a tiebreaker championship round of the NASCAR playoff style poll, 80 per cent of fans chose Earnhardt as the greatest NASCAR driver of all-time.