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From the Archives..... RIDING TO VICTORY 6
How are the following things connected?
§ NASCAR
§ Salad dressing
§ Wheelchairs
§ Bricks
§ Motorcycles
The answer is found in a place of caring, giving, and fun that’s colorfully airbrushed across 75 acres in Randleman, NC: The Victory Junction Gang Camp! It’s a magical world created for children who spend more time with medical professionals than with kids their own ages…more of their lives surrendering to folks shooting foul chemicals into their bodies rather than themselves boldly shooting their own arrows at an archery target…and a whole lot more of their young existence living with physical pain and social isolation than the idyllic image of
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the carefree childhood.
NASCAR … The Victory Junction Gang Camp came into being through a great convergence of energies, sparked by a young NASCAR driver’s vision, and ignited by his early passing. Adam Petty, son of NASCAR’s Kyle and Pattie Petty, died in a racing practice accident when he was 19 but not before he and his family set out to make the camp dream a reality. Today, Adam’s mother leads the way for this camp to thrive and honor her son’s life and wish that seriously ill kids to have an over-the-top camp experience. According to camp literature, the mission of Victory Junction is “to enrich the lives of children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses by providing life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun, and empowering, in a safe and medically sound environment.”
SALAD DRESSING … Adam and Kyle Petty saw a similar camp in Florida and Adam commented to his parents that he’d like to make such a camp happen in the Carolinas. The camp that lit Adam Petty’s imagination was part of the Association of Hole in the Wall Gang Camps started and funded by Paul Newman and his massive charitable-giving organizations. Newman’s Own salad dressings and microwave popcorn and lemonade and salsa and pasta sauces raise enormous monies for charitable causes. The product labels say “Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good”….a curmudgeonly-humble statement of purpose for a company whose profits and royalties ALL go to charity including the Hole in the Wall Camps throughout the world ….plus our “Carolina’s Own,” The Victory Junction Gang Camp!
WHEELCHAIRS … There’s all the usual kids’ camp stuff at Victory Junction ….arts and crafts, archery, music, nature, outdoor games, fishing, and a zip line. But look deeper and you find a full medical staff and facility, specialized equipment and wheelchair-accessible accommodations, and a strong sense of safety-consciousness for the camp’s fragile participants. It’s clear that this place was built on a foundation of love and with a spirit of childhood exuberance. It’s a bright and colorful setting and with its Petty-family roots, this place is decked out in full racing regalia from the building shaped and painted like a huge No. 45 car (Adam’s Race Shop) to the totally cool old-style gas pump nightstands and diamond-plate toolbox footlockers at the feet of camp beds to the Hendrick Motorsports Fuel Stop dining hall, to the Goody’s Body Shop medical center, to the Kurt Busch Superdome indoor sports arena, to the Jimmie Johnson’s Victory Lanes bowling alley. In addition to horseback riding and rope-climbing, campers can suit up like their racetrack benefactors and play “pit crew” tightening lug nuts on the race car tires they changed themselves. What a way for a kid to take back their personal power in a life that does nothing but take away from their birthright of freedom!
BRICKS … Last month, your Born to Ride - Carolinas Edition celebrated the life of Click Baldwin who passed away on his way to Sturgis this year. Click was a vigorous supporter of The Victory Junction Gang Camp and now after his passing, his legacy continues to give to Victory. The Bricks for Click program invites folks to purchase a brick that has built a walkway at Victory Junction Camp in memory of our friend and to support the continued work at the camp.
MOTORCYCLES … And the Carolina motorcycle community’s support of Victory Junction extends beyond the donated brick walkway. This past month, the Ride to Victory VI raised $36,000 as 660 riders burned pavement from Carolina Harley Davidson in Gastonia, NC to the camp in Randleman, NC. The ride was a tribute to Baldwin and Kyle Petty, Click’s long-time riding buddy, sang “The Most Famous Man I Ever Knew,” the song he wrote when he learned of Click’s passing. The walkway was revealed and riders were fed and free to tour the colorful camp.
The Ride to Victory is part of Kyle Petty Charity Ride, Inc. a dynamic organization that raises huge bucks for Victory Junction. Once a year, an enormous motorcycle ride pulls in big dollars for the camp as well as other children’s hospitals and charities across the country. An immense undertaking, the Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America is a 9-10 day ride that, this year, covered 3000 miles and about 14 states; all police escorted, fully pre-planned, and decked out with full amenities provided and fine resort accommodations along the route. “It’s an upscale entertainment ride,” explains, Diane Hough, President/Executive Director of Kyle Petty Charity Ride, Inc. Diane and her staff are powerhouses, fast-paced professional multi-taskers that build and put on the road a well-oiled-ride-machine that roars across America complete with full medical staff, (2 surgeons, a nurse, and a BMW medic bike,) a luggage-hauling team (a team of Charlotte Firefighters that do this every year,) a merchandise trailer, a service unit provided by Harley-Davidson and 7 motor marshals (existing and retired Highway Patrol.) “Every piece of dirt the ride will cross has been personally pre-inspected once we leave here and all police jurisdictions are on alert and in concert with us for guidance through their districts. All tolls and fuelings are paid. We make 5 stops a day all planned ahead and ‘VIP’ boundary tape encloses fuel and rest stops wherever we go,” explains the ever-vigilant Hough regarding the masterpiece of a ride that she crafts like a elaborate sculpture. Without question, the level of detail-focus that’s employed for this ride will blow your mind! The Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America begins with an application to enter and ends with amazing countryside to cross, a grand cause to support, a couple hundred rider friends to play with, and relaxed time in the saddle doing what it is we all love most. Hough encourages everyone to go online and learn about the application process at www.kylepettycharityride.com. It’s a ride that’s quite a commitment in time, energies, and finance but remember the kids and the cause….and put on a Ride member t-shirt and your favorite jeans, throw your leg across your leather, and explode into the ride of your life: a personally enriching and deep life-changing connection ride that everyone dreams of. And make NO mistake, this IS a ride of a lifetime.
Motorcycles….Bricks……Wheelchairs…..Salad Dressing…….NASCAR …The Victory Junction Gang Camp has great friends in the motorcycle enthusiast community, as the photos from its past events show. Click Baldwin’s legacy lives strong at the camp in the baked clay memorials that young feet and wheelchair tires will happily trample for years to come. The stuff poured on salad greens and spaghetti noodles will continue to support this place as well as its sister Hole in the Wall Gang camps worldwide and another star’s bequest to the kids will shine on. And the logo-adorned guys in fast cars will hit walls and finish lines and keep the multicolored dream alive: that sick kids can play and explore, create and imagine like all children are surely born to do with gusto.
By Fancy Free
who rides a purple
Yamaha V-Star
with lots of fringe
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