GRR

Video: Petty's 200mph Superbird drives for first time since 1970

09th May 2020
Andrew Craig

First published on May 21st 2015. 

At the end of the 1970 NASCAR season, ‘The King’ Richard Petty climbed out of his 1970 Plymouth Superbird for the last time. Since then, both he and it have become motor racing icons and are instantly recognisable across the planet. 

Although Petty went on to rack up a number of championships on his way to a career total of 200 wins (to give that some context, the next most successful driver sits on 105), the Superbird has spent the intervening time in various museums. Interest in the car swelled once again when it was chosen to appear in the Disney Pixar Cars movie, but until very recently it has run very little and barely been driven under its own power.

Having been hugely popular at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard in 2006 and 2014, Richard Petty was once again invited by Lord March to journey across the pond for the 2015 Festival. To our sheer delight he kindly agreed.

When news of this reached GRR we immediately booked flights to America with the hope of seeing the car run and perhaps even move under its own power around the car park. Once there we had the pleasure of meeting The King and even had time to chat about the cars in his museum, in particular the Superbird. We genuinely didn’t expect what ended up happening though once the car was running… 

  • Video

  • Richard Petty

  • NASCAR

  • Plymouth

  • Superbird

The must-have subscription for motorsport enthusiasts

JOIN NOW
fos-2015-richard-petty-1970-plymouth-superbird-goodwood-25042015.jpg

Festival of Speed

Gallery: Richard Petty's legendary 1970 Plymouth Superbird

25th April 2020

richard-petty-plymouth-superbird-video-goodwood-09052020.jpg

Historic

Video: Petty's 200mph Superbird drives for first time since 1970

09th May 2020

richard-petty-at-festival-of-speed-2024-main.jpg

Festival of Speed

NASCAR legend Richard Petty to star at the 2024 Festival of Speed

24th April

Richard_Petty_Goodwood_FOS_13072024_list.jpg

Festival of Speed

Richard Petty celebrated at the 2024 Festival of Speed

13th July

top_10_video_2017_19122017.jpg

Historic

GRR 2017 – our 10 most watched videos

21st December 2017

elevenses-classic-race-replay-1970-alabama-500.jpg

Historic

Video: Enjoy an entire 1970s NASCAR race

11th September 2020

best-car-names-list-amg-hammer-goodwood-26032021.jpg

News

The 11 best car names ever

26th March 2021

banned-racing-cars-video-goodwood-17062021.jpg

Formula 1

Video: Eight banned racing cars at Goodwood

17th June 2021