Richard “The King” Petty is, unquestionably, one of NASCAR’s most storied racing legends and because he has royal status in the sport, it makes it all the more exciting when bits of his royal entourage are put on display. In this case, it will be his iconic 1970 Plymouth Superbird and one of his 1957 J-2 engine powered Oldsmobile racers from 1957.
Oldsmobile aligned with the Petty family – Richard and his father Lee – for racing in 1957 by supplying them with the J-2 engine for their convertible and hardtop racers, only to have them banned when the head of NASCAR [the recently deceased Bill France] discovered that they had hit 145 mph at a Daytona beach speed week competition. The 1970 Superbird met a similar fate after Petty won eight races with it and it was deemed too fast for the track, inspiring specific rule changes by NASCAR that made the car non-competitive by adding weight and engine displacement requirements.
![Richard "The King" [aka The Squirrel] Petty in one of his first 1957 Oldsmobile racers](https://autosportsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/petty2.png)
Both cars will be on display at the Motorsports 2015 trade show in Philadelphia from January 23-25, 2015.