The Most Successful Father-Son Combos in Sports History | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Mia Horton We now move to NASCAR to honor the sport's two most prolific families: the Earnhardts and Petties.
We begin our tour of the track, then, with the oldest of the group, one Lee Petty. An American stock car driver in the 1950s and '60s, today Lee is considered a pioneer of the sport and one of its first true superstars.
Between 1954 and 1959, the oldest Petty won three Grand National Championships and then capped it all off with a 1959 win at the Daytona 500. For it all, Lee was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011.
His son, Richard Petty, began his NASCAR career all the way back in 1958 at just 21 years of age and, in a major way, improved upon his father's legacy, winning a record 200 races in a historic 35-year career.
Most notably, The King won seven NASCAR Championships and a record seven Daytona 500s before retiring in 1992 as, statistically, the sport's most accomplished driver ever. Not surprisingly, he was inducted into NASCAR's Hall of Fame in 2010.
Of course, Richard's son, Kyle Petty, wasn't able to match his father's unprecedented dominance, but he still put together a solid 31-year career. In 829 total races, the youngest Petty won eight times with another 173 top-10 finishes.
On the Earnhardt side of things, it all started in 1975, when Dale Sr. began his professional racing career. During his 27-year run, Senior cemented his status as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.
In addition to racing his way to 76 first-place finishes, The Intimidator also managed to tie the aforementioned Petty with a record seven Winston Cup Championships and, also like Petty, was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010.
In 1991, Dale Earnhardt Jr. decided to follow in his father's racing footsteps, and his first NASCAR appearance came roughly eight years later, in 1999. Since then, Junior has had a tremendous career, notching 23 wins in all, including two at the storied Daytona International Speedway.
And, with his father's shadow always close by, the younger Earnhardt has been named the sport's most popular driver for an astonishing twelve consecutive seasons (2003-14).
