Last month, Richard Petty graced the inauguration of the newly elected U.S. President, Donald Trump, arriving in style with his iconic blue 1970 Plymouth Superbird. Trump, a known NASCAR enthusiast who has frequented racing events, specifically requested the presence of the racing legend, Petty, for the occasion.
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However, the initiative to bring the Plymouth Superbird was spearheaded by Petty’s daughter, Rebecca. In an interview with WFMY, Rebecca recounted, “I got a call maybe a couple of days before Christmas, and I mean, of course, I was excited about it, but I said I’ll have to ask my daddy. So I asked my daddy, and he said, ‘Shoot yeah, let’s send the Superbird.”
She continued, “My dad’s getting older, and we’re just trying to keep him relevant and the brand alive. We just finished celebrating our seventy-fifth year, so it’s nice to get the car back out there. We don’t pull it out very often. It’s always got to be a special event.”
The Superbird, a model exclusive to a single year, boasted a rear-deck wing and an aero-nosecone, conceptualized by Gary Romberg, a former NASA rocket scientist who later transitioned into the NASCAR sphere.
Romberg passed away in February 2020. The Superbird was strategically designed to entice Petty back to Plymouth after he had switched allegiance to Ford in 1968. With this car, Petty won eight races in the 1970 NASCAR season.
Over his 35 years of NASCAR career, which stretched from 1958 to 1992, Petty secured 200 wins, establishing himself as the winningest driver in the sport’s history.
Petty on the significance of participating in Donald Trump’s inauguration parade
‘The King’ reflected that receiving an invitation to the parade was a significant honor in itself, and it provided a unique opportunity for the Petty family to showcase one of their storied racecars at such a prestigious event. He considered it a monumental occasion for everyone associated with the Petty legacy.
Petty expressed, “I think it’s a big honor for us from the racing standpoint, from the Petty standpoint to be able to even be in the parade at all. And then having the race car, which represents us, NASCAR, all the racing people. So again, it’s a big, big deal for us. Hope it’s a big deal for the parade.”
Interestingly, Trump is not the only Republican Petty has endorsed in his lifetime. In 2022 and 2024, he backed retired Colonel Christian Castelli to represent North Carolina as a Congressman.
In fact, Petty has fought elections as a Republican in the past. In 1996, he lost to Democrat Elaine Marshall and famously said, “If I knew I was going to lose, I wouldn’t have run.” Prior to that, from 1978 to 1990, he served in the Randolph County Board of Commissioners for the party.
Petty will always be remembered as someone who was passionate equally about politics as much as racing, without fear and that’s a rarity in today’s world.
