After millions of miles and traveling through a vast majority of the 48 continental United States, the Kyle Petty Charity Ride reaches their 30th anniversary ride.
Set to begin on May 1 and run through May 9 and this year they are going back to where it all started.
Some 150 motorcycle riders will begin their journey in the Napa Valley at Sonoma, California and traverse the entire nation before ending their journey at home in Charlotte, North Carolina. Along the way they will travel through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and ending in North Carolina. Landmark and attraction stops this year include Graceland, Route 66, the loneliest highway in America, the Appalachian Mountains, and the original Bass Pro Shop.
Speaking on the Charity Ride, Kyle Petty said, “I have to admit that this one has kind of hit me. I mean, we just kind of floundered along, and now it’s 15, and then it’s 20, and then it’s 25 and you think, man, 30 is coming, it’s just another date, but it’s not. It’s a big deal — 30 is a big deal, you know. I think there’s so many other things that have started and kind of fallen by the wayside, and we’ve done this … I mean, I told somebody the other day, I said they were racing at Rockingham when I started this thing, and then it went away — things you never thought would go away — and now they’re back again, thank goodness. But it is. This is a big deal.”
And this year also marks the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Petty notes, “it’s crazy the way things work out. Nobody planned in 1995 when we started this thing that it was going to be America 250. You just never thought about that, and so we wanted to do something ‘America’ this year and embrace that, too.”
While the ride spots always fill quickly; this year all of the spots were filled within the first 72 hours of the applications going out! Nearly one-third of the riders have been a part of the Charity Ride for over 20 years!
Along with the riders from 35 U.S. states and two Canadian Provinces are All Star guest riders Richard Petty, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, Ken Schrader, Kenny Wallace, and NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton.
Petty observed, “you don’t know how many times I’ve ridden a motorcycle in a pack with this group of people and just watched them as I drove by and looked at their face and looked at their smile and the bike they were riding, and I just think, ‘what keeps you coming back, man? Why are you here? This is your 10th year. This is your 15th year. You know? I mean, what keeps you coming back?’”. And then you stop and you get off the bike, and you talk and have a Coke, and you’re in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere Utah or nowhere Oklahoma. And it’s just you and this group of people, and there’s a bond that is formed.”
He adds, “obviously, it’s helping camp. That is one of the big reasons, and that will always be the reason is to send more and more kids to camp. But I think for me, it’s also the people that ride and the people that we meet along the way. It is absolutely fascinating.”
Petty started the Charity Ride back in 1995 to raise money for sick kids and in 2004 when the Victory Junction Camp opened in memory of Adam Petty, the Charity Ride began raising millions for the camp – a place where kids can just be kids for a week.
Petty said, “over 150,000 kids and their families have benefited from camp free of charge, which just fascinates me, and the charity ride is the largest continual donor. So we feel a huge responsibility that if we go out and raise $1,000, that $1,000 is going to camp. If we go out and raise a million, that million dollars is going to camp. That’s kind of the way it is. Camp just continues to thrive and to flourish and to just be something that’s just taken on a life of its own, but that’s because of these kids. That’s because of the kids, and I’ve said it before. People always point at it and say, ‘How’s your camp going?’ And I will say, ‘It’s not our camp. It’s the kids’ camp. We’re just the caretakers.’ We that donate, we that look after it, we that help support it, we’re just caretakers so that these kids have a place to come enjoy.”