Kyle Petty’s ride-for-charity fundraiser includes 3 stops in Nye County

Kyle and Richard Petty – along with a group of supporters – will be hosting their annual Ride Across America charity ride through Utah and Nevada to help raise money for Victory Junction, a children’s charity in North Carolina.

This is an annual charity ride in its 27th year for the Pettys. What once started out as a ride with four friends driving cross-country to a NASCAR race has turned into 30-plus riders getting together to raise money every spring.

“We went from North Carolina to Phoenix,” Kyle said of his inspirational ride in 1994. “We were racing in Phoenix at the time. On that trip, there was four or five of us. Then we picked up two or three more, then two or three more. We thought, ‘Man, what a cool idea if we did a bike-a-thon.’ That was the original concept, to raise money for charity, like a telethon.”

During the first ride for charity in 1995, Petty and the group raised $35,000 for charity.

Petty did admit that the second ride in 1996 was a little difficult to get the excitement up, but they went through with the ride and they have kept it going since then.

Every year, even before Victory Junction was formed, all of the money was donated to the families who had children in hospitals across the country. The money went directly to the families to help pay for the hospital bills.

In previous years, the routes have gone either up and down the coasts, or they have gone cross-country.

Beginning in 2022, they decided to switch things up and start doing regional rides.

This year’s 1,581-mile ride will begin and end in Salt Lake City, Utah beginning on Saturday, April 29 and finishing up on Friday, May 5.

The ride will go through central Nevada, stopping in some of the rural towns throughout the state, before reaching Las Vegas and returning back to Salt Lake City.

During their stops, the group will be mingling with fans throughout their ride.

The group will reach Tonopah on Sunday, April 30, the second day of their ride. They will stay there until Tuesday, hanging out with the locals and seeing what Tonopah has to offer.

“We were in Tonopah a couple of years ago,” Kyle said of this year’s trip. “After we went through there one time, our riders kept saying, ‘We want to go back. We just want to go back and spend a little bit of time there.’ It’s so pretty out there. We’re from the East Coast. When you get out there and you get out in the mountains and out in the desert, it looks so different. It’s like you’ve gone to a foreign country somewhere, it’s so fun to ride.”

Victory Junction, the main beneficiary of the ride, is a children’s camp in Randleman, North Carolina. Children from not just the country, but from all over the world come to Victory Junction.

The camp is used to help children who have severe illnesses have a better life and experiences.

The camp was created in honor of Kyle’s son, Adam, who passed away in 2000 after an accident during a practice round before a Busch Series race.

Adam often visited children’s hospitals and camps to donate his time and give back to those who were dealing with medical conditions. One of those camps that he visited was owned by Paul Newman.

“Adam and I had been to Florida and had been part of a camp and worked with a fundraiser for a camp,” Kyle said of his son. “It was like, ‘Man, what a cool idea, what a great camp.’ Then, when Adam’s accident happened, it just so happened that I had been very fortunate and had been able to run some sports car races with Paul Newman. So, I called Paul and said that Adam loved those camps. I asked if he ever thought of building one in North Carolina. He said, ‘If you want to build one, we’ll put it under our umbrella and see how it goes.’”

Fans are encouraged to come out to meet the riders, get autographs and take pictures.

“That’s the fun part,” Petty said of meeting fans.

Once the riders leave Tonopah, they will be stopping in Beatty and Pahrump on May 2 before reaching the Las Vegas area.

The charity rides are open to the public for anyone to join. If you’re interested in participating in a future ride, head to kylepettycharityride.com and fill out the application.

If anyone would like to donate, you can visit kylepettycharityride.com/donate or call 704-714-4545 to make a donation over the phone. All of the proceeds will go directly to the Victory Junction camp.

Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @_dannysmyth on Twitter.