Richard Petty

I didn’t miss out on a family life because of racing. I had one because of it.

I don’t now what situation they came from and I don’t know what they were offered to go somewhere else. It’s the times now, There’s not a any loyalty for anyone or anything – a whole lot. Wherever the money’s at, that’s where they’re going, so I don’t blame them. They’ve got just a few years to get it done and if they don’t get it done then, then they aren’t going to get it done.

Cats know, comin’ out of four, they better be standin’ on it, else they’ll be standin’ in it.

We are excited to partner with TEAM, RADD and NHTSA on this campaign, designed to raise awareness of two major safety issues – impaired driving and seatbelt use. Richard Petty Driving Experience provides the perfect venue for the campaign’s messages and incentives, particularly for reaching young men, who make up the highest risk group for motor vehicle crashes. The collaboration of our staff, NASCAR driver hosts and fans with the celebrities and dignitaries that represent the campaign at Richard Petty Driving Experience is exciting to see.

They said, ‘Well, it can be done, but we’ll have to do it a different way (rather than purchasing the series).’ So here we are.

No one wants to quit when he’s losing and no one wants to quit when he’s winning.

Never have doubted it, even when the plane crash happened. I wasn’t mad at God. I just knew that there was a reason that I didn’t know about why it happened.

I have to say, I’m really not that attractive. Until I met my husband, I could not get a date.

[On encountering the music of Umm Kulthum] I was intrigued by the scales, initially, and obviously the vocal work. The way she sang, the way she could hold a note, you could feel the tension, you could tell that everybody, the whole orchestra, would hold a note until she wanted to change.

They (Barnes Theatre Club) were a very good group, and for some reason when I finished the backstage thing, I just decided to that I should try to act. So I auditioned for Guys and Dolls and got a little tiny part as some Cuban dancer or something and then in the next play I got the lead part, and then I got my agent. So I owe everything to that little club.

You have to let people see what you wrote. It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring.

I feel like I represent normalcy in some way.

I feel like I’m always having to justify why I haven’t kept in touch with anyone from the old days in Stoke-on-Trent, but I’m like that with anybody. I don’t let anybody in. I just rely on myself.

[On asserting herself] They want people they can push around. I was the girl who was always asking, “Why? Yeah, I know you want me to do that – but why?” I always thought people wanted to hear my opinions. (Grins) But I gave them anyway. It’s just blind self-confidence. I get like a little terrier about things. My mother says I should have been an attorney.

Lipgloss is my calling!

Fame for fame’s sake is a completely empty experience. Fame should be a by-product (and not necessarily a good one) of achieving something extraordinary.

2016… falls well below my standards of quality!

Music is passionate. It’s love for me.

It’s impossible to get along with David Geffen — his mind just moves so quickly. He’s always brighter than everybody else. I kept saying to him, ‘Sweetheart, you have a sweet side to you, a vulnerable side, but then you can be so mean and awful to people. Yeah, people are terrified of David — his temper, his intelligence. He’s not afraid of anybody.

I realized what Led Zeppelin was about around the end of our first U.S. tour. We started off not even on the bill in Denver, and by the time we got to New York we were second to Iron Butterfly, and they didn’t want to go on!

You can tell how smart people are by what they laugh at.