Thursday marks the 24th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11, 2001, and tributes have rang out throughout the greater sporting world — Donald Trump will even attend the New York Yankees game.
Coincidentally, popular NASCAR historian Brock Beard visited the Richard Petty Museum in North Carolina on Thursday and spotted an old diecast.
Petty, one of the greatest drivers of all time, collected a fair few interesting artifacts for his museum. Beard spotted an old diecast of an old car retrieved from the rubble of the Twin Towers on display in the museum.
“An unexpected and profound exhibit I saw at the Petty Museum earlier this year was this 2000 John Andretti 1:64 scale diecast recovered from Ground Zero after the 9/11 atrocity,” he wrote.
“The car’s remnants were delivered to Level Cross. Seeing the nearly complete damage to what was such a small and sturdy-built car (photo of mine for reference), I couldn’t help but wonder where it was that morning.
Petty raced a long time ago, winning a record (since tied) seven Cup Series titles between 1964 and 1979. He boats a series of records, including for the most ever Cup Series wins.
The 88-year-old is one of the most revered racing figures of all time, having been named the sport’s most popular driver on nine occasions. He earned a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and was elected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010.