Meet Lee Petty Engineering/Petty Enterprises, Now Richard Petty Motorsports. ..
RPM started out as Lee Petty Engineering in 1949.
The original race shop in Level Cross. N.C. is now known as the Petty Garage where they restore classic cars.
The #42 driven by Lee Petty won 3 championships and 55 races including the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959.
What is said to be one of the most recognizable numbers in motorsports the 43 car debuted in 1954 when LPE became a 2 car team. The drivers were Bill Welborn and Bill Lutz.
Richard Petty took over the 43 in 1959. The King was successful early in his career but his best was 1963 when he won 14 races, 30 top 5’s, 39 top 10’s and 8 poles.
In 1964 The King won his first championship.
In 1971 Richard won his 3rd championship, won 21 races and became the first driver to earn over $,10000,000.
STP’s historic career sponsorship began in 1972 until 2000. STP originally wanted the car to be orangish red, but they and the Petty’s agreed upon what is now known as STP red and Petty Blue.
Richard retired in 1992 with 7 championships, 200 wins, 123 poles, 712 top 10’s .
After the Kings retirement the 43 had 4 drivers and won its first race in 1995 which was their first win in 12 years. They had another win in 97 and again in 98 with a 5th driver which was the teams last win as Petty Enterprises.
In 2009 they merged with Gillette Evernham Motorsports and became known as Richard Petty Motorsports with current driver Bubba Wallace.
The infamous Petty blue color came about when they didnt have enough white or dark blue paint to do the entire car so they mixed the two and Petty blue was born.
