Richard Petty

He was at Richmond from the time I was a little boy. He was one of the originals in PR, in working with the drivers and the newspapers. He was one of the first to realize you don’t just stick up a sign and say we’re going to have a race Sunday. He went out, dug up PR and really got the job done. Any time we ran at Richmond, the place was always full.

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

I think they called it ‘sucking up’ to begin with. They finally had to come up with another name.

A lot of them also looked a little further down the line in the future than we did. We always did everything out of Level Cross (N.C.) in the backyard and we were fairly successful with the thing. Then it started being a bigger and bigger business. It started going and bringing more people in, more money, more technology, that kind of stuff. We still sat there in the backyard. By the time we got ready to do something about it, we were so far behind on our money and our engineering and all that stuff it’s just taken us a little time to get going.

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

I closed my eyes, held my breath and then everything went black.

I have to work with IKEA… Yo, IKEA, let Kanye create! I want a bed that he makes! I want a chair that he makes! I want more products from Ye!

You feel quite distant by playing at huge stadiums year after year, where you only can see a great darkness in front of you

I wanted to be in a band that shared ideas and were in it together.

I don’t know what it feels like not to have a great family support system – I was lucky to have that.

I also went to art school and learned to play a piano there, but I play by ear.

When I was a kid I used to hide behind the curtains at home at Christmas and I used to try and be Elvis. There was a certain ambience between the curtains and the French windows, there was a certain sound there for a ten-year-old. That was all the ambience I got at ten years old…I think!

[On Joni Mitchell] If I didn’t talk to her for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t miss her for a minute.

It’s always great to make a film about people that don’t get along, because you inevitably wind up getting along so well.

The only way I could get comfortable around people was to make them laugh. I was an obedient girl, and humor was my one form of rebellion.

Love should be an inspiration, not an obligation.

The guys that don’t respect that history and tradition, I don’t think they’re going to be around all that long. And those guys who don’t know the history and tradition, I think it’s upon them to learn about it pretty quick if they want to be a success.

I was the original pop star, knocking off as many birds as you could get in one night. Pete’s got a bit of a chip, because I used to get all the girls.

There is no such thing as ugly. That’s a word that doesn’t really enter my vocabulary. If there’s any definition to being perfect, you’re perfect at being yourself.

[on British Red Cross album to assist and create awareness of Refugee Crisis] The position we are in, it’s paramount we all do our best one way or another to help.

The mall is my life.