Hall of Fame of America in 1989. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President George Bush in 1992, the first motorsports athlete ever to be honored with this award. Politics In 1978, Petty was elected to the Randolph County Commission as a Republican. In 1980 he endorsed John Connally for the Republican nomination for President. According to Petty, it was a "tossup" between Connally and Ronald Reagan, but he chose Connally "basically on personality. And Connally's been there in Washington a lot of times doing a lot of things. He knows the system better." He was reelected to the county commission in 1982, 1986, and 1990. During his 1992 retirement tour, Petty took a parade lap before every race with the exception of the Southern 500, where Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton served as grand marshal. In 1993, Petty formed a political action committee to support Republican candidates In 1996, he was the Republican nominee for North Carolina Secretary of State, but was defeated by State Senator Elaine Marshall in the general election. Petty was mistakenly seen as a shoo-in and his campaigning was sporadic. Following his loss, Petty stated "If I had known I wasn't going to win, I wouldn't have run." In June 2016 he made an appearance on stage with Donald Trump. Life after racing Petty is currently a spokesman for Liberty Medical, Cheerios and GlaxoSmithKline products Nicorette and Goody's Headache Powder. He had also been featured on Brawny paper towels during a limited time when the company replaced their image with several "real Brawny men". Petty and his son Kyle have lent their talent to host "Lifting It Right", an automotive lift safety training DVD produced and distributed by the Automotive Lift Institute (ALI); it is used in high school vocational programs and community colleges. He has recorded public service announcements for Civitan International, a nonprofit organization of which he is a former member. He is usually seen wearing his trademark sunglasses and a Charlie 1 Horse cowboy hat, with a large snakeskin hat band and a plume of rooster feathers at the front. Petty has established a summer camp known as "Victory Junction", which is intended to give seriously ill children the outdoors experience and experience of summer camp, and is staffed by round the clock medical staff to be on hand in case of emergencies. A cereal "43's" was created with Petty