Inquest into Petty's death rules out parts failure

On May 12th this year, the NASCAR world was plunged into a state of shock when 19 year old Adam Petty lost his life in a testing crash at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Petty was the first fourth generation driver to start a Winston Cup race when he qualified for the Texas Winston Cup race in April and already had shown race winning form in the Busch Grand National Series in 2000.

Petty was at the wheel of his Sprint PCS Chevrolet Monte Carlo when he hit the outside wall at turn three on the one mile course. Initial reports put the crash down to the throttle sticking open although the latest hearing has now ruled that possibility out as the cause of the crash. That leaves driver error as the most likely explanation for the tragic crash. Adam was out in practice and may have pushed too hard on a green track while his tyres were not quite up to optimum temperature.

The news comes just over a week before the Winston Cup circus makes its first visit of the year to the New England track. Adam's father, Kyle has already announced that he will not be competing in the race and his place in the WC field will be taken by Steve Grissom.

Adam and Kyle were due to be team-mates in the Winston Cup next year in the family's Petty Enterprises Dodge Intrepid project.