Robert E. Petersen, an entrepreneur who single-handedly created the largest
special-interest publishing company in America, was instrumental in the
evolution of the hot-rodding culture, and who, with his wife Margie, realized
his dream of establishing an educational museum to pay tribute to the
automobile, died on Friday, March 23, at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica,
Calif. after a short but valiant battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He was
80.
“Mr. Petersen helped create and feed the American obsession with the
automobile, delivering gasoline-powered dreams to the mailboxes of millions,”
said Dick Messer, Director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. “He
understood the thrill that an average person could get from seeing and reading
about horsepower as an art form.”
A native of Southern California, Mr. Petersen’s mother passed away when he
was 10, leaving him with his Danish-immigrant father, who worked as a truck and
equipment mechanic. As a young man he picked up his father’s skills, learning to
weld, de-coke engines, and hone his fascination with cars.
Friday night's Funny Car qualifying was reduced to one lane and with good reason. 
