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 The No. 43, in the NASCAR world, is synonymous with “The King” Richard Petty.
Petty chose that number because it immediately followed his father, Lee Petty’s, number 42; Lee chose 42 simply because it was on the license plate of his personal car. No one could have imagined what that license plate had created. Petty would often say ‘the 43 has been good to me’ and it certainly had. He won 200 Cup Series races with that number, a record that will never be broken. On Wednesday, it was unofficially announced that A.J. Allmendinger will drive Petty’s famed No. 43 next year, replacing current driver Reed Sorenson. It makes a person wonder if the magic of the 43 will ever work for anyone else besides Petty who hung up his helmet for good in November of 1992. Since Petty’s retirement, seven drivers have been behind the wheel of the famous 43 and in those 535 starts, there have only been three victories, two with Bobby Hamilton and the most recent with John Andretti in April of 1999. This means that the 43 has been out of Victory Lane for over a decade. The question is, will Allmendinger be able to win with the famous number? Richard Petty Motorsports along with Ford, the team’s new manufacturer, and Best Buy, reportedly the car’s new sponsor, are certainly hoping so. Maybe the famed 43 will be magic again in 2010.  MORE NASCAR NEWS
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