Petty Announcment on Saturday UPDATE 2: With “Silly Season” in high gear – and the Petty Enterprises name part of the talk – Kyle Petty and the #45 Sprint Dodge team head to Richmond this week for Saturday night’ Cup race. Some of that talk may be cleared up Saturday at the speedway. Petty Enterprises will make a media announcement at 3:30pm/et, Saturday, September 7, in the Infield Media Center. The thoughts of Sprint Dodge driver Kyle Petty heading into Richmond: “Were going to make an announcement Saturday afternoon at Richmond. That’ a good example. Hearing what people think were going to announce or hearing what people think were doing, some of it is pretty funny. Some of it might be kind of close. Some of it is absolutely outrageous. There was one wild rumor a few weeks ago that we had some motorcycle company [Harley Davidson – posted here – DOH!] that was going to sponsor us. The rumor had everything all figured out – other than the fact that I ride a Victory and we have agreements with Victory, and the fact that if it isnt a Victory, Im not going to ride it. That would pretty much kill out any other company being involved. Once that filtered out, that particular rumor died out – for a while anyway. It’ coming up before, will come up again and wont be any more true then than it was before or it is now. When we put the word out this week about our press conference, there is going to be a bunch of talk. Kyle told me this or Kyle told me that and then someone will take all of that and start trying to add it up. The problem is it doesnt always add up the way it is supposed to. We feel we have a pretty significant thing or two to say Saturday, and that race fans – and the media and the rest of the garage – are going to want to know what we had to say. And it should make our plans clearer. Youre going to hear a lot of different ideas of what it might be and what we might say but, you know what? Nobody knows for sure until Saturday. Finally making the announcement ends it. That’ the only way to stop rumors. Well, most of the time anyway.”(Williams Company)(9-3-2002) UPDATE: Petty Enterprises is expected to announce Saturday that the Georgia-Pacific sponsorship will be switching from the #44 Dodge now driven by Jerry Nadeau to the #45 Dodge of Kyle Petty.(Atlanta Journal-Constitution) UPDATE 2: Richard Petty, seven-time Winston Cup champion, and Georgia-Pacific Chairman and CEO A. D. Pete Correll announced that Kyle Petty, NASCAR champion and CEO of Petty Enterprises, will be behind the wheel of the #45 Georgia-Pacific Petty Dodge for the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Sharing the podium at the Richmond International Raceway, the Pettys and Correll unveiled plans to shift Georgia-Pacific’ sponsorship to the #45 car, with Petty Enterprises lead driver, Kyle, at the wheel. Our partnership with Petty Enterprises is based on the common values our organizations share, including a strong commitment to family, community, hard work and performance, Correll said.. Weve been proud to have the Georgia-Pacific name on a Petty Enterprises race car for the past couple of years. Having Kyle Petty behind the wheel is the perfect next step in our partnership. We wanted to provide Georgia-Pacific with a competitive driver — one who knows his way to victory lane and has the ability to win, explained Richard Petty. We wanted a driver that has a strong following among the millions of NASCAR fans that make our sport so popular. We wanted a leader. We wanted a driver that gave time and service back to the community, and inspired others to do the same. The #45 Georgia-Pacific Petty Dodge, bearing a striking new design, will be unveiled Oct. 25 at Atlanta Motor Speedway during Georgia-Pacific Qualifying Day. Although the #45 car will be our primary focus, by linking the Georgia-Pacific name with the other Petty Enterprises teams, we will be able to further spotlight our household brands such as Brawny, Dixie, Angel Soft and Vanity Fair, among others, through our participation in NASCAR racing, Correll said. Georgia-Pacific joined the Winston Cup circuit two years ago as a primary sponsor of the #44 car with Petty Enterprises, after a few years of motorsports involvement, including a past sponsorship with Petty in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.(Williams Company) – no word on the fate or plans for the #44 or if John Andretti will be back in the #43, but Andretti will not be in the third Ganassi ride as the new driver was announced today.(9-7-2002)
