From the moment Kyle Petty stepped into a race car at Daytona International Speedway in 1979, almost everyone wanted him to succeed.

The public did because he was the son of seven-time champion Richard Petty. The media did because he was a joy to interview, just as his dad was and is. And over the years, wanting Kyle Petty to do well hasn't changed - though the reasons may have.

Now, almost everyone wants him to win not only because he is Richard's son, but also because it might brighten the day of a man who lost his own son, Adam, to a racing accident. And, also, because it has turned out that Kyle Petty has one of the biggest hearts in motorsports. He dominates the charity scene with his good works for children's causes.

So, it is disappointing to see his teams - the No. 45 (his), No. 43 (John Andretti) and No. 44 (Buckshot Jones) - sitting 20th, 32nd and 41st, respectively, in the Winston Cup standings. But, surprisingly, it isn't disappointing to Petty, who celebrated his 42nd birthday last Sunday.

"We have a plan," Petty said the other day before heading to today's race at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. "We didn't have any expectations that we were going to come into this year and be a threat to win the championship by any stretch of the imagination.

"When we started with Dodge last year, it was a long-range plan to get back to where we were [a championship contender].

"We thought it might take four or five years. We're only in the second year of the program. We're pretty much on schedule."

The Petty team has three cars because Petty planned for his late son to be in the mix. When Adam was killed in a crash at New Hampshire International Speedway two years ago, Petty stuck with the plan, adding Jones. He says the three-car plan will stay in place through 2005 and 2006.

Petty's teams have moved from consistently finishing in the back of the field to finishing in the middle of the pack. His goal is to have all three teams finish in positions 15 through 25 every week this season.

The only thing that concerns him is that all three cars aren't qualifying close together.

"[At Dover], I qualified 11th and the 43 and 44 had to use provisionals to get in the race," he said. "That's not where we want to be. You can't leave one or two teams behind. Two teams can't be in the top 10 and one be 45th and say we're where we want to be."

He's working on that. He said he is searching for consistency. He wants all his teams to qualify within a 10th or 15-hundredth of a second of each other. Those are the little things he uses to measure progress.

One day, like the tortoise, the Petty organization will win a race. When it does, it will be well-deserved and everyone associated with it should thank Richard Petty's son for finding his place in a sport once dominated by his father and having the fortitude to stick with it.

Cheever wins fans

There is no busier time for an Indy car driver than the Indianapolis 500. If a man is both a team owner and a driver, time is even more precious.

Driver/owner Eddie Cheever would attest to that, but that doesn't mean he can't make time for happiness.

Before last month's Indy 500, Lexa Newman, who works at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, wrote Cheever a letter. It said that she and her fiance, David Fisher, who works for the State of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulations, were his ardent fans and were wondering if they could have their picture taken with his race car.

The answer. "Yes."

Newman and Fisher showed up at Cheever's garage at the appointed time. To their surprise, Eddie Cheever joined them.

"He is so terrific," said Newman, who was able to give him a Hopkins polo shirt and a book, It Happened at Hopkins, that she had planned to leave with his public relations people. "We couldn't believe he'd take time to do that. He spent 15 minutes with us, and he's everything you would dream he'd be."

Stuhler wants more

Driver Gary Stuhler is looking for his seventh Shorty Bowers/Bull Durham Memorial win on Saturday at Hagerstown Speedway. If he gets it, he would tie Rodney Franklin, who holds the race record.

It will be JLG Family Night at the Races for the 22nd running of the Memorial, a 35-lap feature for the late-models that honors Durham, a past promoter at the track, and Bowers, the 1966 late-model champion. The winner earns $2,000.

Joining the late-models in feature events will be the late-model sportsman in a 25-lap increased-purse main event and the pure stocks. Race time will be 7 p.m., with gates opening at 5 p.m. The late-models and late-model sportsman features will be double-point events.

Nuts and bolts

Winston Cup driver Matt Kenseth, fourth in the points standings, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch when the Orioles play the San Diego Padres on Wednesday in a 3:05 p.m. game at Camden Yards. He also will sign autographs on the main concourse near Gate C through the first inning. His DEWALT Ford will be on display at the autograph station.

Fans thinking of attending The SunTrust Indy Challenge IRL race at Richmond on Saturday, June 29, can buy a $99 package that includes a renewable, reserved ticket to the race and a garage pass. The package also includes a general admission ticket to Friday's Featherlite Modified Series race and other extras. For more information, call 804-345-7223.