Kyle Petty And The Charity Ride

When I think of Petty, I think of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers but now I have come across another kind of Petty. The one that leads a pack of rolling thunder in support of a charity.

Kyle Petty is a NASCAR driver. The Pettys began leading an annual cross-county charity-related motorcycle ride in 1995 to support various childrens’ hospitals and research facilities along the route.

With Adam’s death a week after the 2000 ride and the 2002 opening of the VJGC, the charity ride became one of the Camp’s major fundraisers.

This year’s ride leaves Sunday from Traverse City, Michigan, goes northward and westward over the Mackinac Bridge, and spends Sunday night in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The Monday leg is Elkhart Lake to Lombard, Illinois, with a long visit to the new H-D Museum in Milwaukee.

One weekend I woke up to the quite loud trademark potato sound that these Harley’s emit and realizing that this was a non-stop roar meaning it could be a procession on its way, I peeped out of the window just in time to see a cavalcade of riders dressed up in leathers and riding on these hot rods.

This was by far the biggest group of Harley riders I had ever seen and let me tell you it was pretty impressive. (I am not sure though whether it was the same group or a similar group).

So make sure, if these guys are passing by your area, don’t miss them.