LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Bubba Wallace is committed to getting a “champ stamp ” of Richard Petty.
Wallace says he’ll get a tattoo somewhere on his body of an autograph of Petty’s signature after losing a bet this week. Petty, Wallace’s boss at Richard Petty Motorsports, surprised his driver in the car at a promotional event and scribbled his signature on the driver’s left arm.
Wallace, whose second-place finish in the 2018 Daytona 500 was the best finish ever for a black driver in that race, posted a photo of the autograph on Twitter and wrote, “43000 RTs and I’ll get it tattooed.” Petty made the No. 43 car famous in his Hall of Fame career and Wallace now drives the same number for the seven-time NASCAR champion.
Wallace never put a timetable on his stunt and got nearly 45,000 retweets in four days.
All he needs now is a tattoo artist and the perfect hiding spot for the permanent reminder of the King’s perfect penmanship — with that looping script in the R and P.
“King asked me on the plane yesterday, which cheek are you getting it on,” Wallace said Saturday at Pocono Raceway. “I don’t know where. But when? Maybe in a couple of weeks. I’m trying to plan it all out.”
The 25-year-old Wallace, who has yet to score a top-10 finish this season, said he should have made it clear he would get the ink only if he got 43,000 retweets in 24 hours. He didn’t quite hit that mark — Wallace said he got 38,000 in a day . Wallace doesn’t have any tattoos but wants to get one of his late grandmother to pair with Petty’s signature.
“I’m damn sure ain’t getting it on my arm like it was. I’m not that stupid,” Wallace said. “It’s a beautiful signature and all, but I’m not that heavily invested in having it take up my whole forearm. We’ll get it somewhere small.”
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