{"id":3266,"date":"2013-04-15T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=3266"},"modified":"2013-04-15T01:04:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-15T05:04:41","slug":"a-conversation-with-nascar-broadcaster-andy-petree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2013\/04\/a-conversation-with-nascar-broadcaster-andy-petree.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with NASCAR broadcaster Andy Petree"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
ESPN broadcaster Andy Petree (Photo courtesy of ESPN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Andy Petree has experienced NASCAR at just about every level\u2014as a driver, crewmember, crew chief, car owner and most recently as an analyst for ESPN. Some might find it strange that he walked away from one of the greatest race teams in stockcar racing history, but as Petree explains in this Inspiring Athletes interview, it was one of the best decisions he\u2019s ever made:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: How did you first get involved in stockcar racing?<\/p>\n

Andy Petree: I started at the very bottom of the sport. When Dale Jarrett and I started racing together, I was still in high school. I didn\u2019t have any money. You wouldn\u2019t believe how broke we were back then. We were really poor. We had to beg and borrow everything just to do the first car, which wasn\u2019t much. It was just a little Lucas sportsman car. I got a few breaks, but it was a challenge just to get into the sport. I really wanted to get in the sport in a bad way and Ned really opened the door for me to get in. I\u2019ll forever be grateful to him for that. From then on, it was trying to make it and trying to move up. I was a crewmember for a few years and then I finally got the chance to be a crew chief. You talk about jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. That was even more of a challenge. But I had an appetite for success. I didn\u2019t just want to do it. I\u2019m a very competitive person. Once I became a crew chief, I really wanted to win as a crew chief.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You had the unique experience of winning two championships with Dale Earnhardt. What can you tell people about him that they might not have known?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Andy Petree (Photo courtesy of ESPN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Petree: I was really close friends with Dale even after I left. My wife and I spent some time with him and his wife Teresa on vacations. We spent some quality time away from everything. He was totally different. I got a kick out of seeing that other side of him. He was a great father. His daughter Taylor was young at the time. He\u2019d run out into the surf and pull her around on a little raft. He did these things you\u2019d never think the intimidator would ever do. He was such a great host. He always wanted to make sure we had everything we needed. He was a very caring person. A lot of people never saw that.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How long have you been a Christian?<\/p>\n

Petree: I\u2019ve been a Christian my whole life. I was raised in church. But you get in that garage area and you get so focused on these goals. It really pulls you away from church. We had MRO and it was a big part of our life and I thank God for them. But that lifestyle is so hard. When I was retired, those were the best two years of my life. I really turned my life around. It changed me. I got out of that pressure cooker and I didn\u2019t realize how bad of a guy I was. I was just at peace. I had been trying so hard to figure out how I was going to stay in the sport. Then I finally figured out it wasn\u2019t God\u2019s will for me to be doing it anymore. I was bucking up against that and finally I got it.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Was going back to NASCAR as an analyst for ESPN an easy or difficult decision?<\/p>\n

Petree: I did a lot of soul searching on that one. I didn\u2019t need a job. I had structured my life in a way that I could position myself to not have to work. But it\u2019s an opportunity that doesn\u2019t come around all the time and I still loved the sport. It was a way to get back in it and not get put back in the pressure cooker of the garage area. I didn\u2019t want to go back there.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What do you think about the outspoken nature of a young Christian driver like Trevor Bayne?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Andy Petree (Photo courtesy of ESPN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Petree: Trevor Bayne is such a good guy. I love him. And when he got up and did the invocation (at the October 15, 2011 race), that was awesome. He\u2019s such a role model for these other guys coming along.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Are you surprised that NASCAR has been able to resist political correctness and stayed firm on its support of public expressions of faith?<\/p>\n

Petree: I\u2019m not surprised at all. I\u2019ve never thought about it any other way. I know (NASCAR president) Mike (Helton) for a long time. I\u2019ve known the leadership. It\u2019s never surprised me. I think they\u2019re just stronger than that. They\u2019re not going to cave to any of that (political correctness). I think they\u2019re going to stand strong. I\u2019ve never doubted them.<\/p>\n

This conversation is one of over 50 interviews conducted for an upcoming Judson Press book called Faith in the Fast Lane set to release in January of 2014. This book chronicles NASCAR\u2019s rich faith story and include additional commentary from legendary drivers such as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, Darrell Waltrip and Phil Parsons, as well as current drivers including Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Sam Hornish Jr., Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, Casey Mears, David Ragan, Matt Kenseth, Michael McDowell, Morgan Shepherd, David Reutimann, Joe Nemechek and Justin Allgaier.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andy Petree has experienced NASCAR at just about every level\u2014as a driver, crewmember, crew chief, car owner and most recently as an analyst for ESPN. Some might find it strange that he walked away from one of the greatest race teams in stockcar racing history, but as Petree explains in this Inspiring Athletes interview, it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,382,388,5],"tags":[975,16,502,201,966,23,405,648,731,190,217,140,189,1317,203,10,971,1316,204,209,539,24,141],"class_list":["post-3266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-athletes","category-qa","category-racing","category-sports-features","tag-bobby-allison","tag-bobby-labonte","tag-casey-mears","tag-dale-earnhardt","tag-dale-jarrett","tag-darrell-waltrip","tag-david-ragan","tag-david-reutimann","tag-joe-nemechek","tag-justin-allgaier","tag-mark-martin","tag-matt-kenseth","tag-michael-mcdowell","tag-mike-helton","tag-morgan-shepherd","tag-nascar","tag-ned-jarrett","tag-phil-parons","tag-richard-petty","tag-ricky-stenhouse-jr","tag-sam-hornish-jr","tag-sprint-cup","tag-trevor-bayne"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with NASCAR broadcaster Andy Petree - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2013\/04\/a-conversation-with-nascar-broadcaster-andy-petree.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with NASCAR broadcaster Andy Petree - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Andy Petree has experienced NASCAR at just about every level\u2014as a driver, crewmember, crew chief, car owner and most recently as an analyst for ESPN. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3266"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3272,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}