Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Driven by a dream: Richard Petty Experience’s Rick Fedrizzi talks legends and living on the edge

Kobalt Tools 400

John Katsilometes

Fans are introduced to the car used in the Richard Petty Driving Experience at LVMS.

“When other kids were into baseball and football and all of that, I was following Richard Petty and racing,” Rick Fedrizzi says.

His childhood in upstate New York involved following his uncles — both drivers — around the shop and getting into his own groove with dirt-modified racers, competing through his teens and into his 20s. He watched Petty every chance he could get. And then one day, Fedrizzi was offered a chance to work with NASCAR’s “King.”

“When I heard it was with Richard Petty, I was like, ‘I gotta do this.’ That’s my hero, so I moved to North Carolina,” Fedrizzi said. “His passion is incredible.”

Twenty-four years later Fedrizzi is president and COO of the Richard Petty Driving Experience, which offers the average person a NASCAR fantasy at tracks across the country, including the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At a patron’s disposal is a fleet of stock and muscle cars capable of going 165 miles per hour, and which drivers as young as 16 can maneuver through up to 50 laps around the 1.5-mile track.

Dangerous? No doubt. But Fedrizzi said drivers can have peace in knowing they can travel at their own speeds, for a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“It’s really a bucket-list activity that they can check off,” Fedrizzi said.

In a series of interviews, the veteran racer spoke about his roots and the company’s, as well as staying safe on the racetrack.

Where did your passion for racing come from?

As a little kid, my parents would take us to the races. As I got older, my uncles would let me come into the garage, sweep the garage, put air into the tires. All of that just started to foster my passion.

What led up to your job with Richard Petty?

I was involved in the sport from the time I was 11 years old. ... We were out racing full-time from the time I got out of college. For about five years in my 20s, that’s all I did. I worked to race cars and went racing from about 1985 to 1990. That’s when I had to get a full-time job as a transportation manager for a school district in upstate New York outside of Syracuse. ... Racing kind of took a backseat to the family; then I got a call in ’92 to do this deal.

What was it like the first time you met Petty?

I was in awe because he was there, larger than life, as he is. When you see people on TV and you get to meet them in person, sometimes it’s like two different people. But when you met Richard, he was genuine. The way he is is the way he is, so cordial and helpful. That was reinforced over the years as I spent more and more time with him. He meets so many people and he can’t remember anybody’s name, so he calls everybody “Buddy.” It was probably a good four or five months before he would remember my name, but when he called you by your name, you knew you made an impression.

Did you follow any other drivers?

Bobby Allison and David Pearson at the time. Dale Earnhardt came along. Then there was Ricky Rudd, Harry Gant. Everyone had their racers back in the day they cheered for, and the ones they didn’t like. It was a fun time in racing.

One of NASCAR’s most famous deaths was that of Petty’s grandson, Adam, who crashed during a race in 2000 at age 19.

Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. It’s one of those events that really rocked the Petty family organization. He was in New Hampshire when that happened and Kyle (Richard Petty’s son) was on a trip overseas in England. That was one of the darkest days in our history.

It was a setback for the race team, a setback for the family and obviously a tragic event. Kyle struggled with it. He changed his number 44 to his son’s number 45, and everybody on the team was committed to remembering him for the amazing young man that he was. I got to know Adam. As a preteen, he would hang out in the race shop; he would come down to the Driving Experience, and there are stories about how he was the motivation behind the camp.

When he and my son first met, my son at the time was 4 or 5 years old. Adam was 15 or 16; he was racing bandoleros. One day in the shop, they were just goofing around. A few days later, a package arrived from Level Cross and Adam had sent my son a Hot Wheels set, because Kyle was sponsored by Hot Wheels. For a 16-year-old kid to do that, it just kind of struck me and it made my son’s year. It showed how Adam was cut from the same cloth as Richard in the way they cared about people.

What kind of guy is Richard Petty now? He’s pushing 80, right?

Yeah, he’ll be 80 this coming July. He’s still going strong. The passion he has for the sport is still there. He has been through a lot lately with his wife’s passing (in 2014). But when you talk to him, he still wants to be at the racetrack.

Where did this idea to let people unleash their inner race-car driver come from?

It happened in Queensland, Australia, with a gentleman named Barry Graham. He and Richard met in the late ’90s, while Richard was still driving. Graham had the idea; he had the concept and started talking to Richard about the license, but Richard was still racing at the time, so he made an investment over the course of a couple years. Richard didn’t want to just license his name, he wanted to own it, too.

Who’s your target audience?

The NASCAR fan base is our target audience, most of all. Anyone that’s 20 to 55 years of age is really our peak audience. We grew on the backs of NASCAR fans, and that’s who we cater to. We also created a program called American Muscle Car, featuring the (Ford) Mustang GT350 and (Dodge) Challenger Hellcat as a way to attract non-NASCAR fans. It’s a draw because they get to drive some pretty cool production cars, and some cars have up to 700 horsepower.

We have a package deal if you want to drive all five cars.

What about the danger?

We’ve built the program on the fundamental idea where the car is more capable than the driver, because you’re putting inexperienced people in a situation they haven’t been in. We’re very good at making sure we have all the operational procedures to make the drive successful and fun. ... There are people who go out there and go 100 miles per hour instead of 135 to 160, and they have a great time. We tell people, if you’re not comfortable, you’re not having fun.

What else should people know before coming out?

I think the biggest thing is that anybody can do it.

This story has been modified to remove a vague reference to safety statistics.

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