Home Motorcycle Kyle Petty and Company Greet Fans on Charity Ride Stop in Southern Utah

Kyle Petty and Company Greet Fans on Charity Ride Stop in Southern Utah

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Kyle Petty and Company Greet Fans on Charity Ride Stop in Southern Utah

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Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America
Iron County Commissioner Mike Bleak (left) stated a couple of phrases earlier than handing the mic over to Kyle Petty after the group arrived in Cedar Metropolis, Utah. (Photographs by Paul Dail)

The skies had been overcast and a light-weight drizzle fell in Cedar Metropolis, Utah, on Might 3, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to dampen the spirits of the group gathered on the southern finish of city – or the lengthy line of smiling and waving riders who had been a part of the Kyle Petty Charity Trip Throughout America that had arrived to greet the group.

Associated: Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Returns for 27th Year

Usually related extra with 4 wheels than two, Kyle Petty began the charity bike experience in 1995 to learn causes for kids with power diseases and situations. The first beneficiary has been Victory Junction, a camp unfold throughout 84 acres in Randleman, North Carolina, that opened in 2004.

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Victory Junction was the dream of Petty’s son, Adam, who was additionally a race automobile driver. When Adam Petty died in 2000, household and associates got here collectively to make the camp a actuality. For the reason that charity experience’s inception in 1995, greater than 8,875 riders have logged practically 12.6 million cumulative bike miles and raised greater than $20 million for Victory Junction and different youngsters’s charities.

Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Herschel Walker
Herschel Walker poses with a fan after signing his bike helmet.

Whereas Kyle Petty could also be principally identified for his racing accolades and commentating, in Episode 56 of the Rider Magazine Insider Podcast, Petty instructed Rider EIC Greg Drevenstedt that he has been using bikes “perpetually.”

“And once I say ‘perpetually,’ it’s fairly dang near perpetually,” he stated. “I contemplate myself a motorcyclist. … Motorcyclists get on a motorbike, they usually go see the nation. They go see issues. They discover. They need to be part of the world.”

Petty stated there are such a lot of motorcyclists who need to give again to charitable causes.

“They’re doing one thing they take pleasure in, they usually see they will do one thing they take pleasure in and nonetheless assist different individuals on the similar time.”

Alongside these traces, the twenty seventh iteration of the Kyle Petty Charity Trip began and led to Salt Lake Metropolis in my house state of Utah and included a visit alongside U.S. Route 50, “The Loneliest Highway in America,” to Ely, Nevada, then southwest to Tonopah and on to Las Vegas for a lap across the monitor on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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Following the cease in Las Vegas, the riders – about 175 of them, for those who counted these using two-up – arrived in Cedar Metropolis round 5:30 p.m. Alongside for the experience had been another acquainted faces, together with NASCAR Corridor of Famer and seven-time champion (and Kyle’s father) Richard Petty, NASCAR legends Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace, former NFL nice and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, and NBC Sports activities NASCAR persona Rick Allen.

Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Ken Schrader
Ken Schrader poses with a fan.

There was a line of individuals ready for images and signatures on all the things from posters to T-shirts to bike helmets. Amongst them was Terie Simcox, who was there together with her sister and three of her sister’s coworkers. Simcox is a fan of each Kyle and Richard Petty however stated she was principally there to see the latter.

“He’s 85 years previous, and he nonetheless is simply as younger as will be and doing these charity runs,” she stated. “He’s nonetheless there for his followers and for his neighborhood. However, in fact, Kyle too. They do loads for communities and fundraisers and charities, and I believe it’s fairly superior.”

Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Richard Petty
Terie Simcox (proper) and her sister pose for a photograph with Richard Petty.

Simcox additionally talked about Kenny Wallace and the way each he and Rick Allen had been cracking jokes as they went down the road.

“Collectively, they had been simply hilarious,” she stated. “It was fairly cool to simply see them being themselves out with the general public.”

Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Kenny Wallace
Kenny Wallace indicators a poster for followers in Cedar Metropolis, Utah.

She additionally stated she was impressed that Herschel Walker was alongside for the experience and was “pleasant and funky with the general public, particularly after such a rigorous political marketing campaign.”

As to bikes, Simcox stated her household doesn’t experience road bikes, however her husband has a Honda 450 they usually “play within the dust.”

“My husband used to race professional, however that was three youngsters and 50 kilos in the past,” she joked.

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Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Rick Allen
Rick Allen indicators a poster for a younger fan.

After Petty made his method by means of the road, he stopped for a second to speak with me.

There’s a joke in southern Utah that when the pioneers arrived, they stated as soon as the wind stopped blowing they’d transfer on. Happily, it was only a mild spring rain we had been getting Might 3, however I instructed Petty they had been fortunate as a result of it was normally windy this time of yr.

“You’re kidding,” he stated and laughed, clearly aware of the world. “It’s been sort of windy, nevertheless it’s multidirectional wind. It simply blows you in every single place, in order that’s alright.”  

Apart from that, he stated, the experience had been nice, with temps within the mid-40s within the morning and mid-60s to low 70s throughout the day, though he did admit that “Vegas was heat.”  

Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America
Representing for Rider journal.

After I requested about his favourite a part of the journey to this point, he instructed me it was the stretch of Route 50 to Ely, then the path to Tonopah and out of Tonopah, however he additionally referred to as the journey into Cedar Metropolis on State Route 56 “stunning.”

“While you’re coming again by means of the valley and the mountains over there,” he stated, pointing the course they’d come, “with the snow on prime which you could see, it’s beautiful.”

Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Herschel Walker
Herschel Walker (left) with three of his bikes.

After leaving Cedar Metropolis, the route would take the riders to Moab, Utah, which is close to each Arches and Canyonlands nationwide parks.

Petty stated the group thinks they’ve seen some nice surroundings to this point, “however I preserve telling them, ‘Y’all ain’t seen nothin’ but.’”

For extra info on the trigger and to donate, go to the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America website.

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