One of the first things Sam Hornish Jr. mentioned to Richard Petty when he met him was that they shared a birthday.
“I always thought that was exciting,” said Hornish, who turned 36 Thursday. “The first time I talked to the King, I told him, ‘Hey, you probably don’t know this, but I do: We were both born on July 2.’ “He was like, ‘That’s neat. What year?’ When I told him ‘79, he wasn’t so happy.”
On Friday, just before Hornish headed out to practice for Sunday’s Coke Zero 400, driver and team owner shared a day-after birthday cake near the No. 9 Ford’s hauler.
Petty, who still holds the record in NASCAR’s top series with 200 victories, wasn’t impressed with turning 78.
“I feel the same way as I did the day before, I guess,” Petty said. “No big deal, just looking forward to another year. Hopefully, the coming year has been as good to me as what the last year brought me.”
For the record, Petty won the Daytona 500 – the sixth of his seven wins in the race – in 1979, the year Hornish was born.
Source: NASCAR Wire Service
