By Stephen Smoot
“Mama lock your daughters up! That wild bunch is back in town!”
Charlie Daniels penned those lyrics in the wild and woolly time of the first generations of NASCAR racing, when a number of those driving professionally came from roots of “haulin’ shine” as a “regular line till the track got in his blood.”
On May 9, Kyle Petty will lead a special run down US 220 through the heart of the Potomac Highlands, stopping only in Moorefield. No need to lock any of the kids up. The 29th annual Ride Across America is so special because, at its heart, it is for and about children.
“Listen,” said the veteran racer with a three decade career with eight wins, 173 top 10 finishes, and eight pole positions, “we’ve been everywhere. It’s like that Johnny Cash song, we’ve been everywhere man.
He explained that the idea came up almost 30 years ago, saying, “Honestly, about five of us wanted to ride motorcycles from California to North Carolina.” He added that “they told us we were crazy” and joked that “we’d be fired from our jobs.”
In 1994 the ride commenced, as Rider magazine shared, “pretty much in the spur of the moment.” Numbers expanded as those riding called on friends to join.
“Like the scene in those John Ford westerns,” the article explained, “the posse grew along the way.”
One of the most legendary “master(s) of going faster” from one of the founding families of NASCAR, however, then gave the idea of a fun and lengthy ride a greater mission. Petty explained, “Then we told them we’d do it for charity. Then they said it’s the greatest idea in the world.”
At that point, they understood the dream that he got.
In its first several years, the ride traveled across the country to stop at children’s hospitals. In those days, as Rider magazine described, the ride included “almost 200 biker-philanthropists, NASCAR zealots, supermodels, celebrities, good ol’ boys, and Southern eccentrics, all heaven bent on raising money for a good cause.”
“We stopped at children’s hospitals all over the country and left a donation at each one,” Petty explained.
Then, in 2015, came a tragedy that changed this special family – and NASCAR itself – forever.
Only a few days off of a quarter century prior to Petty and the ride coming to Moorefield Petty’s son Adam, a 19-year-old rising star, died during a practice lap. The throttle stuck in the car that he was powering down a New Hampshire track at 130 miles per hour. The young driver collided with the wall and died instantly.
Kyle Petty had once tried to balance rising stardom in both NASCAR racing and country music before committing fully to driving. He recorded an autobiographical song about the “people who love me” and “worry a lot.”
In a BBC article, Petty remembered that feeling as a father as he watched his son compete at Talladega Speedway in Alabama. He said, “All of a sudden here’s your son in a car and you’re not there to protect him. I was a nervous wreck, but at the same time you’re so proud of what he’s been able to do.”
Two changes took place after that crash. First, NASCAR worked to protect its drivers even more by establishing a safety research center and passing a number of protocols.
And second, the mission of the ride shifted into a higher gear.
Adam Petty dreamed of drinking champagne in the victory lane and hearing that concrete whine in his chosen profession. He also dreamed of an even greater legacy off the track.
In 1999, as the website for Victory Junction tells it, “a lanky wide-smiling teenager visited Camp Boggy Creek, a SeriousFun camp in Florida, with his dad and knew it was his calling to bring a similar camp to the hills of North Carolina.”
Not entirely out of his childhood himself, still living at home as he pursued racing, Adam Petty’s heart was committed to helping the kinds of very special kids who found a new lease on life at Camp Boggy Creek. As he worked to lay the groundwork for another such camp, Adam Petty spent his time between races with children suffering from chronic and terminal illnesses.
That dream would enter reality as a camp called Victory Junction.
“That camp was built to honor my oldest son, Adam,” Petty explained. He then added that the camp welcomes children suffering from a wide range of debilitating illnesses and conditions that prevent them from experiencing so many of the joys that other children take for granted.
The entire Petty family had established a four generation legacy in sport, but now endeavored to build another in a field much more profound. As the Victory Junction website states, after the crash “the Petty family gathered their strength and challenged themselves, their friends, and the NASCAR community to build his inspired dream.”
Richard and Lynda Petty donated land in the Tar Heel State’s countryside as part of a 2002 capital campaign. Funds from corporate and individual donors flooded in. In June of 2004, the camp welcomed the first of approximately 125,000 children.
The “very special kids” who come to Victory Junction get to enjoy and experience what most view as the normal childhood experience, but safely. Petty said, “So many of the children who spend time here live in a medical facility, or stand on the sidelines and watch other children”
And in many cases, the people who love these children worry a lot and may not know what all they are capable of doing, despite their conditions. Camp activities are designed to build confidence in the child, but also the family, that they can have at least part of a normal childhood where their conditions don’t restrict them.
Some of the activities include rope climbing, ziplining, minigolf, bowling, archery, swimming, boating, and even hot-air balloon rides. Bass Pro Shops donated an entire fishing facility where campers can “Catch, Kiss, and Release.” They catch the fish, kiss the fish, then return it to the water. “For some of these kids, it’s the first time they caught a fish in their life,” shared Petty.
Children who attend Victory Junction qualify if they have one of the many approved conditions. These range from hemophilia to genetic and organ disorders and include a wide-range of diseases and chronic conditions, including diabetes. Others contend with conditions not related to a congenital condition or other illness. Children who have suffered from severe burns and other serious permanent injuries can attend as well.
The camp urges families who have a child with a condition not listed to reach out. “This list is not comprehensive and is ever changing,” the camp advises. So that it can provide the most safe conditions for each condition, the camp has specific weeks for children with specific issues. For example, those with bleeding and gastro-intestinal conditions come between June 8 and 12; those with cerebral palsy from June 15 to 19. Children with autism or other neurodivergent conditions go from June 29 to July 2. The entire summer has a week blocked off for each general problem.
Richard Petty once said of Victory Junction that “we see Adam every time we see a happy kid and it makes us feel good too.”
The Ride Across America takes different routes every year. This year it will run from Traverse City, Michigan, starting on May 3 and ending on May 9 in Hot Springs, Virginia, a total of 1,400.1 miles. On the final day, 225 motorcycles will thunder down US 220 from Bedford, Pennsylvania, to Hot Springs, Virginia, stopping at 11 a.m. near the Sheetz to greet fans and others looking for midday family fun.
This will bring them through Keyser in the morning and also allow them to pass through Petersburg, Franklin, and Monterey, Virginia, in the afternoon. Only at Moorefield will the riders have a chance to stop and hold an event.
In previous iterations, the ride has held stops in Charleston and Morgantown.
The other side of the ride lies in giving race fans a chance to see heroes and legends. The aforementioned Richard Petty still, and always, the reigning “King” of NASCAR has fans, as Kyle Petty puts it “from six years old to in their 90s.” He and fellow NASCAR hall of famer Herschel McGriff will be part of the ride.
Also riding along will be University of Georgia Heisman Trophy Winner and former Dallas Cowboy Herschel Walker, retired NASCAR drivers Max Papis, Ken Schrader, and Kenny Wallace, as well as television personalities and Rutledge Wood, the grandson of Bill Davidson, one of the founders of Harley-Davidson.
Kyle Petty explained that the ride will help the Petty family build an enduring legacy in addition to America’s favorite racing sport. “The goal is to keep it running and see it funded in our lifetime and then see it funded for after we’re gone.”
“The ride existed before the camp. The ride exists now because of the camp,” said Kyle Petty.
