Credit: Phil Cavali
Kyle Petty, Special to Turner Sports Interactive
June 28, 2002
10:50 AM EDT (1450 GMT)
Thursday, June 27
Greetings from Chicago!
Today we traveled 500 miles, completing our fifth day on the road. During our first fuel stop of the day in Des Moines, several hundred fans greeted us as we arrived at the gas station, including a radio deejay that once worked on my crew during the first night race at Daytona.
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| Steve Park Credit: Phil Cavali |
The fans in Des Moines were so generous. I think almost every single one of them made some sort of donation to the Charity Ride. It was awesome.
The group also took time this afternoon to stop at the Starved Rock Harley Davidson in Peru, Ill. The stop really gave people a chance to rest up, relax, shop and even get their bikes worked on.
After lunch, several of us separated from the ride to get an early start on the trip to the Windy City for a visit to Children's Memorial Hospital. I have to say the Chicago rush hour traffic was quite a change to the deserted highways we had been traveling.
Charity Ride regulars Steve Park, Ken Schrader, Robin Pemberton, Matt Yocum, Lake Speed, Winston Kelly and Bill Davis traveled to the hospital with me as I hosted a live videoconference via STARBRIGHT World using Sprint technology. That had to be one of the coolest hospital visits we've done because so many guys from the ride joined me. I think the kids really enjoyed meeting such a variety of people in motor sports.
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| Credit: Phil Cavali |
The setup of this visit was pretty unique. Instead of going from room to room to visit kids, the eight of us hosted our own television program on the hospital's internal television station. Kids in any room of the hospital could pick up the phone to ask any of us questions and we could reply live on television to the entire hospital audience. They had all sorts of things like "Do we ever get any speeding tickets?" or "Do people ever tell me that I look like Billy Bob Thornton?" I think all the guys really got a kick out of it.
During our visit, we also presented a check for $15,000 to Children's Memorial and Sprint donated $10,000 to the STARBRIGHT Foundation.
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| Pattie Petty Credit: Phil Cavali |
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The timing of our visit to Chicago couldn't have been more perfect. Chicago is one of the newest markets on the Winston Cup circuit and we will be out racing at Chicagoland Speedway in two weeks. Our stop was a great opportunity to get the fans excited not only about the ride, but also the upcoming race. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when all of our bikes parade down Lake Shore Drive as we leave town Thursday morning.
Today was Kenny and Anne Schrader's last day on the ride. Schrader is headed up to a truck race in Milwaukee. He's been a regular on the ride for several years now and has also done so much to support the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The next few days on the road won't be the same without him. Good luck in Milwaukee and thanks Kenny!
Friday we continue our journey towards the east coast as we travel through Indiana and Ohio, where we are making a visit to the temporary road course at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland.
Until tomorrow,
Kyle
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