NASCAR icon Richard Petty hasn’t driven his 1970 Superbird stock car that gave a character to Pixar’s Cars since the end of the 1970 season, but as he is a regular , he’s about to fire her up next month.

Goodwood Road & Racing’s Andy is a proper muscle car fanatic and the proud owner of a 1965 Pontiac GTO. He went to North Carolina to visit at his headquarters before welcoming him at the hill during in June, and it seems like the trip was totally worth it because Petty’s mechanic Larry took him out for a ride with the ‘Bird that sounds like a thunderstorm.

Petty says the car was so stable at high speeds that it was almost impossible to spin. No kidding! It has a bigger wing than the new 911 GT3 RS...

The good news is the Jalopnik will be present at the Festival of Speed to bring you .

The Beast of Turin Fiat record car will run up the hill with its 28.5 liter four-cylinder at…

And to celebrate that, here are two classic Richard Petty photos from the year of the Superbird straight from AP’s archives:

Talk about the golden age of stock car racing!

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