Richard Petty through the years

Chip Wile (right), president of Daytona International Speedway, presents Richard Petty with an 80th birthday cake with the iconic No. 43 car on June 30, 2017.

The famous autograph goes onto a fan's hauler.

Richard Petty where it all began - in the reaper shed his father Lee built - during a visit in June 2017.

Richard Petty poses with a camper on a June 2017 visit to Victory Junction Gang Camp.

The No. 43 is first on the grid - over and over and over.

Richard Petty, center, poses with drivers Darrell Wallace Jr., left, and Ryan Blaney, right, at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017. Wallace was making his Cup Series debut with Richard Petty Motorsports.

Richard Petty, shown here at the 2015 Daytona 500, won seven Daytona 500s as a driver and helped to establish that race, which began in 1959.

Richard Petty, right, talks with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Dover International Speedway on June 3, 2017. Petty and Earnhardt's father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., each won seven NASCAR championships.

Richard Petty, front, on a snowmobiling trip in the Wyoming mountains. Petty owns a house, known as Winner’s Retreat, south of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

This memory garden near the Petty residence in Level Cross, N.C., was designed by a landscape architect and built in memory of Richard Petty's wife, Lynda, who died in 2014.

Richard Petty kisses his wife, Lynda, before the start of the final race of his career, the Hooters 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. The race was Petty's last in his 35-year career. Lynda died in March 2014 after a long battle with cancer. She was 72.

Richard Petty said his home in Alpine, Wyoming, became a haven where he and his wife Lynda could simply be a couple, not one on the world's most famous racers and his wife.

Richard Petty recorded his 200th, and final, NASCAR Cup Series win at the 1984 Firecracker 400.

Richard Petty speaks during his induction to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 2010. Petty won seven NASCAR Cup championships in a driving career that spanned 35 years (1958-1992).

Richard Petty holds one of the trophies he received for winning the Daytona 500 in 1964.

Richard Petty, right, talks with driver Jimmie Johnson on July 29, 2016. Later that year, Johnson would tie Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. with seven NASCAR Cup Series championships.

Richard Petty, center, hugs Tony Stewart as they talk to Greg Biffle, left, in the garage at Richmond International Raceway on April 22, 2016.

Richard Petty's car comes apart after going airborne and hitting the wall and fence off Turn 4 at Daytona International Speedway in 1988.

RIchard Petty, left, and grandson Adam, center, and son, Kyle, are all smiles after announcing that Adam will be taking his first major step in professional racing by driving the (45) Spree Prepaid Foncard car in the American Speed Association series in 1998.

Three generations of racing champions shared the joys of victory when 18-year-old Kyle Petty won the ARCA 200 race Feb. 11, 1979 at Daytona Speedway. Pictured left to right are grandfather Lee, Kyle, Kyle's wife Patti, and Kyle's parents, Richard and Lynda Petty.

Richard Petty poses with driver Marcos Ambrose after Ambrose won the pole at Sonoma Raceway in 2012 for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Richard Petty drives his 1968 Plymouth Road Runner around Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 8, 1968 at an average speed of 186.346 mph. At the time, it was the fastest lap ever clocked over the 2.5 mile oval track.

Richard Petty, with daughter Becky and wife Lynda, right, at his side, holds his trophy in the victory lane after he won the Firecracker 400 in 1977.

Kyle Petty, left, is comforted by his father, Richard, as the two arrive at the Sechrest Funeral Service on May 15, 2000 in High Point, N.C., before a memorial service for Adam Petty, Kyle's son. Adam had died in a crash on May 12 in Loudon, N.H.

Richard Petty receives the checkered flag to win the Daytona 500 in 1971.

Actor Kevin Costner, right, and NASCAR great Richard Petty get together during a concert given by Costner and his band 'Modern West' before the start of the Coke Zero 400 in 2008.

Junior Johnson leads Fireball Roberts and Richard Petty in the 1962 Daytona 500.

Lee Petty, center, and his sons Maurice, left, and Richard look into the empty engine well of a new race car in their garage in Level Cross, N.C. in 1964.

The famous last-lap crash between Richard Petty and David Pearson during the 1976 Daytona 500.

Richard Petty, left, escorts his brother to the 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Maurice Petty was in inducted in the class of 2014; Richard was in the Hall of Fame's first class in 2010.