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CUP: Kyle Petty Living The Dream - For Real
Kyle Petty played the Ryman Auditorium Friday night...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 09, 2010   Nashville, TN
Former NASCAR Driver Kyle Petty traded his racing helmet for a microphone. (Photo: Getty Images)

While Kyle Petty certainly had a respectable career as a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and is held in high regard for his well-known philanthropic efforts, on Friday night, he finally got to live out his real dream.

On what would have been Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday, Petty sang and played guitar at the historic Ryman Auditorium at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the Mecca for country music artists. It was all part of the two-day Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by Suntrust event, where Petty was one of several musicians to perform at the Ryman, joining Hank Williams Jr., Vince Gill, Jason Michael Carroll and others.

Photos: 2010 Sprint Sound and Speed in Nashville

And Petty was understandably thrilled afterwards, although he said it was much different than driving a race car.


“OK, here’s the deal,” Petty said Saturday afternoon. “When you stand on the stage of anywhere and you make a mistake, unlike driving a car, they don’t haul you off in an ambulance. You make a mistake in a race car, you’re going to get a ride in an ambulance somewhere, so that’s a huge difference.”

And that’s just the start.

“When you’re in a race car and you make a mistake, you got that helmet on. And you’re hiding. Nobody sees your face,” said Petty. “When you’re in front of a crowd like that and you mess up, everybody sees your face. So that’s a big difference.”

Petty said the emotion was different, too.

“To stand in front of a crowd like that, being a singer you absolutely open up yourself,” said Petty. “It’s like you guys being a writer: You have to leave a part of yourself up there. In a race car, you don’t leave a part of you.”

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale: Jan 19th-24th


 Tom Jensen is the Editor-In-Chief for SPEED.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing.
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