Kyle Petty, Auto-Racing Icon and Philanthropist

Monday, October 29, 2012, 10:15 a.m.
Charlotte Convention Center

Kyle Petty is an auto-racing icon, a champion of philanthropy, and one of the most popular personalities in all of sports. His name and mega-watt smile will always connect him with NASCAR's most famous family. To the world, his father Richard Petty was, and still is, "the King," the greatest champion in NASCAR history, and Kyle's grandfather, Lee, was larger-than-life in the early days of stock car racing, but to a young boy growing up in Level Cross, North Carolina, and places like Daytona, Charlotte, and Talladega, they were simply Dad and Grandpa.

Today, it is Kyle Petty who is larger than life. Inspired by the vision of their late son Adam, Kyle and his wife Patty have in turn inspired the compassion and generosity of the NASCAR community and corporate sponsors nationwide to help those in need. Their crowning achievement is the Victory Junction Gang Camp near Level Cross, where thousands of children with life-threatening or chronic illnesses find hope, laughter, friendship, and adventure every year. Founded in 2000 in partnership with family friend and racing enthusiast Paul Newman, Victory Junction Gang Camp has proven wrong every "expert" who counseled the Petty’s against the undertaking, citing the immense cost and complexity of building and operating a camp for kids with special requirements. The camp has not only become a shining example of what character and commitment can achieve—it has been so successful that a second Victory Junction Gang Camp is planned for the Kansas City area.

An avid motorcyclist, Kyle also founded the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America to benefit children’s causes. Every year hundreds of NASCAR fans, drivers, and crew members jump on their motorcycles to join Kyle in visiting local children's hospitals and other charities. To date, the Kyle Petty Charity Ride has raised more than $14 million and is the most successful philanthropic event staged by any person in the NASCAR family.

Kyle has been named or nominated by NASCAR, plus various media outlets and corporations, as Person of the Year, Father of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, and the USA's Most Caring Athlete. He is an inductee in both the Philanthropy Hall of Fame and the Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

For more than three decades as a driver, owner, and media commentator, Kyle has put his heart and soul into doing what a Petty does best: compete with class and raise the game of everyone around him.