The year was 1965 and Richard Petty went drag racing because NASCAR had a rule change on engines, maximum  displacement of 355 cubic inches allowed and Petty's Engines were 426 Cubic Inches and the Petties did not have a small block that  was competitive with GM and Ford's small block engines. So with that in mind Richard thought he would give drag racing a try for one season and the outcome would be Richard would return to NASCAR and Bill France lifted the band on the hemi engine and Richard Petty was back in the NASCAR drivers seat to stay!