This weekend, Tradin’ Paint [SPEED] welcomed [NASCAR Scene] reporter Bob Pockrass back to the program in Atlanta as the media guest. It was cold outside and Kyle Petty wore a Petty Enterprises jacket and a black baseball hat for his #45 car and its sponsors. Only this week, TV viewers saw that something was different. Petty had a black band firmly placed right through the numbers on the front of his baseball hat. It was clear for all to see that the #45 car that Kyle had clung-to in memory of his late son Adam was no longer his. The frustration emerged on a day when it was reported that Boston Ventures CEO David Zucker had said the company [Pettty Enterprises] would field two cars for 2009, but that Kyle Petty was not going to be involved with either effort. “Part-time if a sponsor could be found” was the phrase used to describe Petty’s future opportunities. Petty’s words on that topic came out during a Tradin’ Paint discussion about mergers. “I have not seen an acquisition help any team in the sport yet,” said Petty about the new wave of outside investors. “I have not seen Boston Ventures help Petty Enterprises be more competitive now than what they were at the beginning of the year. When you look at it and ask what do they get (in mergers), I don’t have a clue what they get,” continued Petty. “You are taking two organizations who are falling or stable and just putting them together. Sometimes, warm water and warm water (combined) just gets colder.”(Daly Planet)(10-26-2008) UPDATE: Kyle Petty is wearing a black band over the #45 on hats he is wearing to honor his son, Adam Petty, who died in 2000 during Busch Series practice at New Hampshire. Petty said it was his son Austin’s idea and should not be construed as a statement against new Petty Enterprises majority owner Boston Ventures. “When Adam was killed and Austin said lets put a black band across [the number],” Petty said Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “If you live in our neighborhood, you’ll see hundreds of these numbers [with black bands] on cars around our neighborhood. “¦ When I started driving the 45, I said I drive the 45 and that’s Adam’s car and I didn’t even put my name on that car. So since I’m not driving the 45 as much, Austin about a month ago said, “Why don’t you go back and wear that hat again.’ And I thought, “Good idea.’ All I did was switch back since I’m not driving the 45 full time. Austin’s opinion was, and I deferred to him, that it was Adam’s number and Adam’s car and now you’re not in it, let’s go back and close the personal door. It’s a personal thing. It’s not a statement. It’s not anything other than that.” Petty had said earlier in the weekend that Boston Ventures, which bought its stake in the organization in June, had not helped the competitive side yet of the teams. Petty said Sunday that he was trying to explain that none of the mergers have helped on the competitive side and Boston Ventures had only been with the organization for four months.(SceneDaily)(10-26-2008)
