Polar Lights 6605 - 43 Richard Petty 1974 Dodge Charger

Richard Petty's 1974 Dodge Charger : Fit For A King

When Richard Petty retired in 1992 to end thirty-five years of NASCAR racing, he had made 1,185 career starts with 200 Winston Cup (Formerly Grand national) Series wins and had won seven championships - 1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1979. Inducted into the International Motorsport hall Of Fame in Talladega, Alabama in 1997, Richard Lee Petty is the undisputed king of stock car racing.

When asked about a favorite car, Richard Petty will answer without hesitation that it's old number 43, the blue and red STP Dodge Charger which screamed down victory lane time and time again in 1974 as Petty scored his fifth title championship title. Starting the season off with a big block V-8 engine under the hood, Petty's brother Maurice, would have to overhaul the trusty Charger to accommodate new carburetor and maximum displacement regulations adopted by NASCAR earlier that same year. The Charger started the 1974 season as one of the few Mopars still competing with a big block engine, but before the running of the Winston 500, Number 43 would become a lean, mean racing machine with a new 340 cid small-block engine. The STP Charger, in spite of gasoline shortages and new regulations by NASCAR for both cars and drivers, would prove to be nearly unstoppable and certainly fit for a King.