Steve Waid: No doubt, driving is still on Kyle Petty's mind

I saw Kyle Petty holding court in the garage area at Richmond International Raceway, and since I hadn't seen him in a while, I thought I'd chat with him when I got the chance.

"Here's a question I've never asked you," I said. "Just what the hell are you doing?"

He laughed loudly.

"What do you mean you've never asked me that question?" he said. "Every time I wrecked, you and other guys asked me what the hell I was doing."

Petty's sense of humor remains intact.

But what I really wanted to know was what he was up to now that he is no longer driving a race car - or overseeing a team - for the first time in 30 years, 829 starts and eight victories.

He said he wasn't up to much. He does television work for Speed and TNT and is part of NASCAR.com

But what really occupies his time is the Victory Junction Gang Camp that he and his wife, Pattie, founded which serves children with, among other things, debilitating diseases.

To help raise money for the camp, Petty and many others are scheduled to embark on the 15th Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America on Friday.

The motorcycle caravan will cross the country. It will start in Stevenson, Wash., and end 10 days later at the camp in North Carolina after covering more than 3,800 miles.

The highlight of the trip will be the groundbreaking ceremony for the second camp, located just outside Kansas City.

"It's about five miles from Kansas Speedway, toward the city," Petty said. "It will be a year or two before it's completed."

It does seem, indeed, that with his TV work and the camp, Petty's schedule is full.

"Thing is, at the camp, we're overbooked. We have been for a year," Petty said. "In these economic times, families forgo vacations, but with the kids we get, the parents always send them to the camp for some sort of vacation."

The camp would be a priority for Petty even if he were still racing. The reasons that he isn't certainly don't sit well with him.

Once the CEO of Petty Enterprises, Petty, 48-year-old son of Richard Petty, was forced out of the job and became just an employee when the company was, essentially, acquired by the investment firm Boston Ventures early in the 2008 season.

"That's me - an employee," Petty said when the announcement was made.

Later in 2008, George Gillett, who had purchased majority ownership of Evernham Motorsports to form Gillett Evernham Motorsports, agreed to acquire Petty Enterprises. The team is now known as Richard Petty Motorsports.

Kyle Petty was not retained as a driver.

"I don't like the way it was handled," Petty said last year. "I don't like a thing about it."

He said he doesn't care if his father's name is attached to the team, the fact remains that there was no Petty Enterprises after it moved from Level Cross, N.C., and was later acquired by Boston Ventures.

As a competitor, Petty is on the outside looking in.

He wants to get back in.

"You never make [the] adjustment to not driving," he said. "I will say that after coming back to tracks several times, the only thing I really miss is the driving.

"When I was 7 or 8 years old, I dreamed about driving. I didn't dream about signing autographs, making personal appearances and all that other stuff.

"For me now, well, I guess I'm like Bill Elliott. If I could drive a race car - just do that and not all those other things - that's what I would like to do."

Maybe that's what will happen.

If not, Kyle Petty has obviously found ways to fully occupy his time - and one of them is the pursuit of a noble cause that helps so many others.

 

See original article here.