Richard Petty accepts challenge to race Danica Patrick (Video)

Richard Petty hasn’t been behind the wheel of a racecar for a few decades, but he is willing to return in the latest twist in the Petty-Danica Patrick spat.

The pair have been trading shots in the media for a few weeks now, ever since Petty publicly questioned whether the female driver should be in NASCAR at all.

And after NASCAR driver, and Patrick’s teammate, Tony Stewart came out recently to criticise Petty for his less than complementary comments, challenging the veteran to put race against Patrick to decide the issue once and for all, Petty has responded.

“I’m 76 years old, OK?” Petty said, grinning, during a live spot from Daytona International Speedway. “It’s been 25 years since I’ve been in a race car. But I’ll take that challenge.”

When pressed, he reaffirmed, “Oh, yeah. When is this going to happen?”

Stewart had previously told Performance Racing Network that Patrick should challenge NASCAR’s all-time leader in wins (200) and co-holder of the championships record (seven) to a match race in equally prepared cars.

“I think that (a race) would pretty much settle it once and for all, maybe get him to shut up a little bit, too,” Stewart said. “I will supply the cars. If he wants to race her, I’ll make sure they have exactly the same setup in the car and give him the chance. He can drive one of my 14 cars. I don’t care.”

And if Patrick were to win the race, Stewart said, “If I were her, I’d take (the checkered flag) over there and cram it up his (butt).”

Petty made his original comments about Patrick during a recent appearance at the Canadian Motorsports Expo, stating that, “If she’d have been a male, nobody would ever know if she’d showed up at a racetrack.”

Agencies/Canadajournal