I wanna again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. It's cool out there, guys. Get your sweater and a cup of coffee, glass iced tea, or bottled water, and let's see what's happening. Spring wheat $6 and a nickel, $6.05 a bushel before dockage, a 550lb steer calf I'm gonna give you a range because all steer calves are not created equal, $5 a pound to $5.12 a pound. A 100lb fat lamb in Billing sitting right where it has $2.90 a pound. But, guys, there's more, much more.
It's Jay and Joe's Motor Monday. I got a good one for you today. It's a somewhat of a repeat on a car that I've talked about before, but today, much more information. The year was 1969. America had put a man on the moon. The Archie's sang Sugar Sugar and made it the #1 song of the year. In 1969, young men cruised Main Street beneath neon lights.
And in the South, on a hot Sunday afternoon, stock cars thundered around high banked racetracks like artillery shells wrapped in sheet metal. And among those drivers, well, one name stood taller than the rest. His name, Richard Petty, the king. And he's still alive today in the year 2026, guys. He's 88 years young, tall, lean, sunglasses, had a cowboy hat, and was he loyal to Plymouth.
For years, Richard Petty and Plymouth had been almost inseparable. Fans saw the familiar Petty Blue streak across racetracks from Daytona to Darlington, victory after victory, season after season. But by 1969, something had changed. The speeds had become frightening. NASCAR teams were pushing closer and closer to 200 miles per hour.
And suddenly, engineers realized that horsepower alone was no longer enough. Air. Air itself had become the enemy. So the Dodge division of Chrysler unveiled something radical, the Dodge Daytona, a stock car with a pointed nose like a missile and a rear wing taller than most kitchen tables. What happened?
Well, people laughed at it until until it started winning. The aerodynamics worked. The Daytona sliced through the air cleaner, steadier, faster than the old blunt nose machines. Dodge team suddenly had an advantage on the speedway runways, but Richard Petty drove for Plymouth. And Plymouth had no answer.
Now imagine the frustration. The biggest driver in NASCAR watching sister teams inside the same corporation receive better equipment while he fought the wind with outdated machinery. And so in one of the boldest moves in racing history, Richard Petty walked away. Yep. He did.
He left Plymouth entirely, signed with Ford Motor Company for the 1969 season. Now that may not sound shocking today, but in NASCAR country, it was like watching a church steeple uproot itself and move across town. Fans were stunned. Plymouth executives were embarrassed. And Richard Petty, well, he started winning in Ford machinery almost immediately.
Well, that got Detroit's attention. Before long, Plymouth officials came calling. What will it take to bring you back? Richard Petty's answer was simple. Build me a car that can compete.
So right there guys engineers went to work not stylists, not marketing men, engineers. Some with aerospace backgrounds, men who understood wind tunnels and drag and the strange invisible science of air pressure. They took a Plymouth Roadrunner and transformed it into something the public had never seen before. A pointed fiberglass nose nearly two feet long, a rear wing mounted so high it caught clean air above the turbulence. Now the wing looked ridiculous to some people, but it worked.
At nearly 200 miles per hour, the car stayed planted like it was nailed to the racetrack. They called it they called it the Superbird. Now NASCAR had a rule. If you wanted to race it, well, you had to sell it on the open market. So Plymouth built nearly 2,000 superbirds for the public to purchase. And now Americans did not know quite what to do with them. Some sat at dealership for months. People stared at the enormous wing. Children loved them. Adult adults often laughed at them.
A few dealers even removed the wings just to sell the cars. But on the racetrack, the laughter stopped. Richard Petty returned to Plymouth in 1970, and the Superbird became one of the most feared machines NASCAR had ever seen. That season, the winged warriors dominated stock car racing. The Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird together won race after race after race.
Now the cars became so effective, NASCAR eventually changed the rules to slow them down. Think about that. The cars were not outlawed because they failed. They were outlawed because they succeeded too well. And today, well, those strange unsold cars, those awkward machines gathering dust in dealership corners have become some of the most valuable muscle cars in America.
But beneath all the chrome and legend sits the heart of the story. One driver, one decision, Richard Petty walking away from the company he loved only to come back and win big. And now you know the best of the story, and it is a great story.
Now just time enough for our theme bible verse, remember the days of old, consider the years of many generation. Ask your father and he will show you your elders and they will tell you. Deuteronomy 32:7 So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.