Pettys ride on despite sadness
ALBANY, N.Y. — Another Mother’s Day soon at hand, another moment in time tinged with sadness for stock car racing’s first family.
It’s been 18 years since Kyle Petty’s son, Adam, was killed during practice for a NASCAR race at New Hampshire International Speedway. Just 19, Adam died on May 12, 2000, only weeks after running in his only Cup Series race, a debut that made the Pettys the first four-generation family in NASCAR.
Adam’s fatal crash came five weeks after his great-grandfather, Lee Petty, died, so it’s understandable that this time of year is just different for the family.
“It’s a sad time,” Kyle said Saturday after the first leg of his annual motorcycle ride for charity. “I lost my mom four years ago. Adam passed away on Mother’s Day. It’s not a good weekend. It can be hard, but it’s what you make of it, how you come back from it.”
The Petty family has come back from Adam’s tragedy in a big way. A devotee of motorcycles, Kyle started a charity ride in 1995 that originally was targeted to benefit children’s hospitals, but the family took it a giant step further.
Four years after Adam’s fatal crash, they opened the Victory Junction Gang Camp — on Father’s Day 2004. The summer camp for children with life-threatening illnesses is a way to honor Adam, who accompanied his father on a couple of the charity rides before his death. Since its inception, the annual event has attracted more than 8,175 riders and logged more than 11.9 million miles while raising $18 million.
“It’s always a tough time of year, but this is what we do, and we have a camp because of Adam,” Kyle said. “That’s what this ride is all about.”
The trek began Saturday in Maine and included a stop at New Hampshire International Speedway — and some laps around the mile-long oval — before the pack of bikers crossed into New York.
“To go back to New Hampshire, it’s a little bitter that you have to go back to the race track,” said Kyle, who understandably didn’t take any laps. “But it’s sweet that you’re going back for a good reason.”
Now a television commentator on auto racing broadcasts, Kyle said the ride also serves as a sort of catharsis.
“It’s incredible. You saw all the motorcycles,” he said. “That’s incredibly gratifying.”
The annual trek normally starts somewhere on the West Coast, but this year, for just the fourth time, it’s going north to south through nine states and will last one week. It is scheduled to end Friday in Greensboro, N.C. — NASCAR country.
Among the more than 200 riders taking part are former drivers Donnie Allison, Ricky Craven, Harry Gant and Hershel McGriff; current driver David Ragan; and college football royalty — Heisman Trophy winners George Rogers of South Carolina (1980) and Herschel Walker of Georgia (1982). Petty’s 80-year-old father, Richard — a seven-time Cup Series champion and the namesake of Richard Petty Motorsports — will join the ride after today’s Cup Series race in Dover, Del.
The trip also will include a visit to Woodstock, N.Y., and victory laps at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. Riders will get tours of the Martin Guitar Factory, a Harley-Davidson factory, Manheim, Pa. — site of the world’s largest auto auction — and the Petty Museum in North Carolina.
“It’s awesome!” said Donnie Lamm of Newbern, N.C., who was on the ride for the first time. “I love it.”
“I lost my mom four years ago. Adam passed away on Mother’s Day. It’s not a good weekend. It can be hard, but it’s what you make of it, how you come back from it.”
— KYLE PETTY