Petty surprises fans with ride-along offer at Lowe's

Like many unsuspecting NASCAR fans camped out at the track Saturday, David Urie was napping in a lawn chair just working on his farmer's tan.

Unbeknownst to him, something was stirring in the campground; a visitor terrorizing campers in an all black Dodge Charger covered in decals.

And just as Urie hit REM mode, the 57-year-old was ripped from his slumber by ... wait for it ... Kyle Petty?

"I'm still tripping and it ain't because of the acid from the 60s," laughed Urie, who on Saturday afternoon was randomly selected to take a few fast laps with the driver of the No. 45 Coca-Cola Zero Dodge as part of a Coke Rewards promotion.

He and a handful of others were escorted by Lowe Motor Speedway officials from their campsites and taken trackside to ride shotgun with Petty inside his Richard Petty Driving Experience racecar.

"When Kyle showed up I thought I was still dreaming in my chair," said Urie of New Haven, Ohio. "I'll never forget this."

After his ride, the die-hard Petty fan, who drives a custom Petty edition Dodge and wears the belt buckle to match, crawled out of the car window and shouted, "I just won the Coke 600!"

His overt affinity for the Petty racing family is what landed Urie his unforgettable ride, as Kyle Petty literally drove around the LMS campsites looking for fans at random to take in his racecar.

"Doing this was my way of thanking my fans," Petty said. "They do so much to support our Victory Junction Gang Camp and our sport. The fans have really become a part of my family."

The relationship between NASCAR fans and their drivers -- the accessibility the drivers provide their fans -- Petty said, is what makes NASCAR the No. 1 spectator sport in the country.

"The fans are what make us tick," he said. "It's a strange relationship. They are here when you're as high as a kite and here for you at your lowest of lows."

As Petty approached each fan at their various camp sites, in true Ed McMahon fashion with enthusiasm and humor, each fan's emotion was different. Some threw up their hands in excitement, while others just looked at the driver in disbelief uttering only a few words until their brains could process the mere fact that a NASCAR star such as Petty was standing before them.

"Oh my gosh, I've gotta change clothes," reacted Robyn Gallimore, 39, of Fredericksburg, Va. "This is hard to believe."

But once she tore around the track at 130 to 160 mph, Gallimore had no other choice than to believe she could now check "ride in a stock car with Kyle Petty" off her list of things to do in life.