Top Row Seat - Martinsville
Dateline: 04/19/99Sunday was truly a day for the legends. On the race track it was "The King" Richard Petty who guided his driver home for the win while a few hundred miles to the north "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky played his last game ever.
The two legends highlighted on Sunday share many of the same attributes. Richard Petty has 200 NASCAR Winston Cup victories, a record that will quite likely stand forever. Wayne Gretzky has 2856 points in his career including an unheard of 1000 points in his first 424 games. Both of these men are considered by many to be the best to ever play their respective sports, and there is no doubt that both left an indelible mark on their games.
Sport in general is a better place because these men played.
One difference between the two was the fitting tribute to a legend that "The Great One" received that "The King" did not. During pre-game festivities on Sunday NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman declared that "When you take off that sweater, your jersey, after today's game, you will be the last player in the NHL to ever wear 99."
That would have been a fitting tribute to Richard Petty. As a man who redefined NASCAR, the number 43 should have been retired from the sport after the 1992 season.
Agree? Disagree? Think Richard was just lucky? Take this chance to let me know on the bulletin boards.
