MRO provides safe haven for drivers' children
By Liz Allison, Turner Sports Interactive
September 12, 2001
6:41 PM EDT (2241 GMT)
Have you ever wondered where the driver's kids go during a race?
 | |
Liz Allison
|
|
|
Well, let me tell you all about it. It is a great place called MRO-Kids Club.
It was not too long ago that I was a driver's wife at the track trying to figure out what to do with my kids while my husband was racing. The best I could do on any given day was to find a cab section of a hauler that was not being used by the team members.
That was -- of course -- on a good day. I spent the majority of the time in a rental car from somewhere in the infield with two children for an entire day. Doesn't that sound like fun?
A few years ago, many of the drivers started purchasing the motor coaches to travel with so that they could spend more time with their families and to give a place for their wives to keep the children.
This became so popular that there are currently designated areas at almost all of the tracks that host Winston Cup events. These areas have secured play areas for their children and direct access to and from the garage area. This enables the drivers to slip in to the garage area and slip out during the day to see their children or grab a quick lunch at their coach.
Even though the "coach era" had set in, there was still something missing. This is how Jackie Pegram and the MRO-Kids Club got started.
Jackie and her husband Ron Pegram -- who is now the Director of Ministry Operations --noticed all the racing kids at the tracks on the weekends and wondered: "What were the kids doing for church since the races are run on the weekends?"
Jackie decided to start gathering up these kids and teach them Bible stories and give the wives a chance to see their husbands for a few minutes on race day. She admits that in the beginning, people must have wondered what in the world did she want with all those kids.
It did not take long for anyone to see the gift that Jackie had to share with children. What started in the back of Phil Parsons's hauler has now turned in to a full-time position for "Miss Jackie" to the kids and an incredible MRO hauler that visits almost every track on the Winston Cup circuit.
On any given day, you can expect to see 30 to 40 kids in the play area and 18 to 20 youth in the older group that is directed by Lonnie and Angela Clouse.
 | |
Dale and Zach Jarrett
|
|
|
"The youth group is a very close group," Jackie Pegram said. "They have something in common with each other that not everybody can relate to. They do not have normal lives so we try to give them a Christ-centered environment that is as close to normal as possible."
The youth group went to camp in Pennsylvania this past summer together and spends quite a bit of time together with other events as well. In Darlington, the group went to a rodeo the night before the Winston Cup race. My good buddy, Jeff Hammond, gave the group a VIP tour before the rodeo got started.
It has taken Ron and Jackie and many other MRO personnel to make MRO what it is today. The Kids Club started in 1990 in the back of a team hauler and now is the center point for all the kids' week in and week out at the track.
MRO not only gives the kids a loving environment -- it gives Mom and Dad a peace of mind knowing that their children are in good hands while their minds are on racing.
It is an understatement to say that MRO has helped change the family life of the racecar drivers.
For a family sport to have such a ministry is priceless. For someone who struggled to keep my children in the back seat of a rental car and tried to teach my children about Christ while watching a race.
Thank you, MRO for all that you do for these families.
To find out more about the Motor Racing Outreach Ministry log on www.Go2MRO.com or call (704) 455-3828.
| 
