ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 2, 1997 TAG: 9703040009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
Four months after his defeat in a bid to become North Carolina's secretary of state, Richard Petty has shifted his sights to the booming business world of NASCAR, launching new enterprises on several fronts.
``Yeah, I changed gears and got back into racing full-time, and not just the car deal,'' Petty said Friday in an interview at Richmond International Raceway. ``We're looking at other spin-offs from the racing deal.
``As soon as the election was over, I refocused. The people of North Carolina were telling me that I needed to get in the racing business instead of politics.''
In a venture that is both his most ambitious and his least developed, the 59-year-old NASCAR legend has joined forces with several television heavyweights, including Rupert Murdoch's Fox network, to explore buying or building tracks.
``We've got like a limited partnership with a bunch of boys who made their money and made their names in cable television,'' Petty said. He would not name them, but confirmed ``we do some stuff with Fox.''
Petty said the Fox network would like to become involved in broadcasting NASCAR races, but ``they want to be one of the players. They want six or eight races. If they play, they want to be one of the big ones. That's not the way it's going to be for a while. But it would be good.''
Although Petty said his partnership is ``looking at maybe getting involved in a race track,'' he said nothing is solid yet.
``We had a couple of opportunities, but they didn't come down,'' he said. ``But we're working on some stuff.''
Petty confirmed his group is interested in purchasing Phoenix International Raceway, which seems to be up for grabs and has attracted interest from track magnate Bruton Smith and others. But Petty's group also has looked into building a facility.
``We looked at some land near San Jose, but [the cost] was just so high that by the time you built a track, it would just make the interest payments astronomical,'' he said. ``We looked at Nashville, but it's too close to other racing venues that are already there. We're just looking around at different places. I would think Memphis would be OK.''
Petty also has expanded his Richard Petty Driving Experience stock-car driving schools to include Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., as well as Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta.
``We run in Charlotte, and when we can't run in Charlotte we go to Atlanta,'' he said. ``Then, we've got one in Vegas that opened last November, and we opened one in February at Disney.''
Petty said the Walt Disney World school, unlike the other schools, focuses more on giving three-lap, high-speed rides than on teaching.
He also has expanded Petty Enterprises by taking over the operation of a bustling show-car business, becoming a part-owner in son Kyle's new Winston Cup team, creating a public relations arm and taking over the manufacturing of his souvenir T-shirts and embroidered items.
Petty said he doesn't sell as many T-shirts as he did when he was driving, ``but they still do pretty good.''
The show-car business is quite good, however.
``We've got a full-year deal with Goodyear stores and Ferguson stores to have show cars in their stores all the time,'' he said. ``And then we've got another car and truck, and we're booking them all the time. And Kyle's show vehicles go through our company, too.
``A lot of this stuff is just now starting to happen,'' he said. ``But up until '92, I never looked at anything besides a race car. But because of all the stuff that has happened in NASCAR, I was still in a position to be on the cutting edge of that part of it, too. That's what we're trying to do with these companies - to be there and be ready when something comes down so we can take advantage of it.''
Petty said he is not looking for a big strike.
``I want to make a little bit off each one of them,'' he said. ``I ain't interested in making a living off of any one of them. But if I can put something in there and I can get my 10 or 15 percent return on my money, why not?
``Because it's something I enjoy doing instead of going out and buying ATT stock or whatever, where you ain't got no control. You can get more enjoyment out of this because you're kind of helping it make it.''
Petty said he doubts he will run for political office again. ``I'm not in the political arena no more,'' he said. ``I'll probably campaign for different people from time to time, but I don't really think I'm going to spend as much effort in politics as I did before.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB