How to take home more prize money? By winning more races? That’s true, and that’s what Richard Petty would’ve thought when he swapped his #43 with his son’s #42 car, making it one of the most iconic moments in NASCAR history. Iconic, how? It’s because five of his seven Cup Series championships have come from his #43 car, which would now be taken over by Kyle Petty.

Two years after “The King” clinched his 7th and last NASCAR Cup Series championship in 1979, the father-son duo, in a gamble to rake in more prize money, made the move and traded their cars. However, fate had something else to offer as the switch lasted only a single race.

Richard Petty’s gamble to mint more dollars paid off unexpectedly

The #43 is the car in which “The King” spent a whopping 22 years of his dominant NASCAR career. After spending decades with #43, Richard Petty made his switch to his son, Kyle Petty‘s #42 car. The duo was seen calmly walking towards each other’s cars in a fashion so iconic that many remember it even to this day! The sight was one to behold!

Within no time after the move, a NASCAR reporter asked Kyle if he was under pressure to field his father’s storied car on the asphalt to which he replied, “I don’t really think so. You know I mean people thought running the #42, being my grandfather’s [Lee Petty] number would put a little bit of pressure on me, but #43 to him is his number, so the only pressure on me is to not crash it and just take care of it.”

Since Kyle already had the experience of driving the #42 car, the pressure mounting on him regarding his father’s #43 car wasn’t anywhere to be seen. But the story doesn’t end here as it was “The King’s” turn to answer some of the reporter’s questions, and his witty financial aspirations behind the switch became evident.

When asked about the reason behind the barter, Richard said, “I went out through the winter, everybody was changing cars and numbers. Nobody asked me to change cars and numbers so I said ‘What the heck, I want to get in on action, so I’m going to change too.'” Petty then said that the exchange is because of the framed rules and said, “The way the rules were set up, if you got a winning car last year or this year, you get one kind of payoff and if we take #42 and put it on NASCAR Playoff, then we’ll make a little bit more money, so that’s why we’re at it.” 

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Despite Richard Petty’s rationale behind the car swap, the reporter further enquired if the 1979 Cup champion swapped his car to overturn his luck. However, “The King” was ready to clear the air.

“The King” rubbishes NASCAR reporter’s speculative queries

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During the 1980s, changing cars and numbers to override bad luck was the talk of the town in the NASCAR community. The same was the reporter’s belief when he asked Petty, “Some people make changes of their sort to change their luck. Was that in the thinking?”

Favoring his #43 Pontiac Grand Prix for his luck, Petty unveiled, “No not really. That #43 has been with me for so long and I’ve been so lucky all these years to do as good as what I have. From a luck standpoint, if I want to go anywhere, I’d stay with #43.”

It would be safe to say that talent, luck and hard work have always favored Richard Petty. As for his son, Kyle Petty went on to participate in just one race in the #43 car at Riverside International Speedway and finished P20.

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1981 was truly a year of trial and error, where finding loopholes in the rules to ace the race and make the most out of the cash prize was the norm. What, according to you, was the most exciting about the father-son car swap?