Whose better..Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt Sr.?

Question

Tell me who you think is better.

Answer 1

Both were pretty good...but I'm gonna say Earnhardt was the best despite only winning the Daytona 500 once.

And to the moron lower down on this page that says Jeff Gordon is better, you need your head examined. Gordon doesn't even come close to the success that Earnhardt and Petty have accomplished...combined.

Answer 2

Dale Sr. is the better racer!Richard Petty is called the King of Nascar because most of the races he won early on in his career he didn't have any real compeition except for the silver fox, allison and a select few others that is until Dale Sr. made his debut and gave him the competition that he needed. Once Earnhardt started racing if you look at history Richard Petty didn't win as many races, also the more cars that competed the fewer races he won so my answer would be dale although Richard Petty was good in his day when the competition really got competitive he started falling back in the win bracket

Answer 3

Dale Earnhardt Sr. was the 2nd best driver of all time in my book only David Pearson was better than him NOT Richard Petty. Petty would be 3rd or 4th on my list. You can't deny he won 200 races but everyone knows many of them were quetionable. He (Richard Petty) is thought to be one of the biggest cheaters in the history of NASCAR. It's not saying he didn't have ability (he's still in the top 5 for sure) but he also had a lot of "creative" things he did to his cars. Most of his wins were before NASCAR regulated and inspected the cars to a much higher degree. You will never see the kind of dominace that Earhardt, Pearson and Petty (or even Gordon in the '90s) enjoyed because of the points system and rules of the new NASCAR. Jimmie Johnson is the closest thing to being a dominant driver like they had in the "good old days."

Answer 4

Nice question.
Of the 2 there is both pre-modern and modern era.
Richard Petty was mainly a pre-modern era.This was the time that the ground work of NASCAR was formed.These were the days that the driver not just drive the car but helped build the car,do mechanical work,even drive the transporter.
The teams not only run on Sundays butwould run 1 or 2 nights a week.They could run a 1/4 mile track on Tuesday then Thursday a 1/2 mile dirt and the next week a speedway.
Dale Senior was of the modern era.
Though he knew his rides from the ground up the physical labor was not handled by the driver nor is any thing else other that driving the car and PR.
Petty and Earnhardt did over lap and the both were excellent drivers and both were tops for their eras,I would have to give the thumbs up to Richard Petty overall.

Answer 5

Richard Petty is the man Dale looked up to. He is the King and with out a doubt better than Dale Sr.

Answer 6

this question will remain up in the air until someone passes
the 7 championship mark. in the environment that they both have race they are equal, if a race was between the king and dale sr. alone, on a track, anywhere, they would fight it out till the last lap, and you would see some bumping and banging.
in this case numbers don't mean a thing, it's the men that drive these machines.the question who is better is up to the answerer, there may be a list.

Answer 7

Earnhardt had to use very similar equipment when he raced...petty's cars were usually a lot faster than the rest of the field...any time you win a race by laps not seconds something is wrong....so i would say Earnhardt was a better racer...but petty will always be the king

Answer 8

Tough call to make. I think Richard Petty was a smarter race driver, but Earnhardt had more natural talent. If Earnhardt wasn't such a rough driver, who knows how many more wins he might have gotten. At one point or another everyone who raced against Earnhardt wanted to punch him out. Richard Petty wasn't nearly as rough on his equipment and competitors. 200 wins says enough all by itself.

Answer 9

Petty ran in 1184 races over 35 years. He won 200, (although there are quite a few old-timers that say no way he won 200). He had 555 top 5's, 712 top 10's. He ran 307,836 laps of which he led 52,194. He had 123 poles. His average start position was 9.5 and his average finish was 11.3

Senior ran in 676 races and won 76 over 27 years with the 27th year, sadly, being only a 1 race year for him.

He had 281 top 5's and 428 top tens with 22 poles. He ran 202,888 laps and led 25,707.

His average starting position was 12.9 with an average of 11.1 finish.

When he got a full time ride, a bad year found him no worse than 12th in the final standings, which only happened twice, not counting 2001. His next worse final standing was 8th, 3 times followed by 7th, 3 times. Every other year he was no worse than 5th place overall with 7 Titles and 3 near misses.

Petty had 5 runner-up finishes in the final standings.


If I had a time machine, I would stage a series of 3 car races between Earnhardt, R. Petty and David Pearson all in identical cars and sets and all in their prime. It would be fun, but, as big an Earnhardt fan as I was, I would have to give the edge to Pearson followed by Earnhardt with Petty bringing up the rear. Now, if Earnhardt could get to Pearson's bumper, he would nudge him out of the way, NO DOUBT!

Earnhardt was taught by the best at the bump and run.

In the few races in which Ralph and a very young Dale did compete, Ralph would get on his bumper and push him hard, to teach him how to drive when someone gets aggressive.

Many years ago, Ralph was unloading his dirt car and damaged it when something got caught on the ramp. Everyone thought, as Ralph loaded up his car and left the old Metrolina Speedway, that finally someone else was going to win the feature.

Ralph hauled the damaged car back to Kannapolis and picked up his 1967 Chevelle pavement car and hauled it to Metrolina. He had to wait until a very late caution in the final heat of another class and was allowed to cross the track into the infield. He had 10 minutes to ready his car and all he did was mount dirt tires.

He started in the back and won the feature in his pavement car. He was the king of dirt tracks, afterall.

Answer 10

What about David Pearson, He won 102 races in less than 600 starts. Won three Championships on a limited schedule.
Also beat King Richard 33-26 in 1-2 finishes during their careers.

Answer 11

well, richard petty has obviously won more races than Sr., but he won them all with a huge wing on his car and with an advantage over them. It was also really early in the NASCAR sport so they didnt have as much established yet.
Where Dale Earnhardt won his 74 races not that long ago with more competition.
You really cant compare those two.