1on1: Petty's goal is to do even more with VJGC

It has been nearly a week since the latest Prelude to a Dream at Eldora Speedway transpired amid much fanfare.

The dirt-track event at the venue owned by driver Tony Stewart has grown each year in stature and popularity, and the ambitious goal this year was to raise a minimum of $1 million to help open a new Victory Junction Gang Camp to benefit seriously ill and/or handicapped children in Kansas City.

The camp would be the second of its kind, following the wildly successful one that was opened in 2004 by driver Kyle Petty and his wife, Pattie, in honor of their late son, Adam, who passed away in a racing accident in 2000. Kyle Petty talked about the impact the revenue generated by the Prelude has had on the VJGC projects.

How did all this come about, where the Prelude's fortunes are so closely tied to those of your camps?

Petty: When Tony started talking about doing the Prelude, the camp was a big part of it. Then when we started talking about opening a second camp in Kansas City, Tony sat down with HBO and Old Spice and Coca-Cola and a number of the sponsors, and he said, `I really want to raise a million dollars -- and I really want that to go to Kansas City. I really want to kind of dedicate that part of it to Kansas City.'

So we look at this (the latest running of the Prelude) as the kickoff event for that. We've talked about Kansas City, we've talked about building a camp out there. And I think Tony has gone a long way toward making that a reality now. You know, we've done a lot of work with it -- but it takes people like this, and companies like HBO and Old Spice, to really make it happen.

What did you think of the racing at Eldora?

Petty: I tell you what, man, I give a tip of the hat to Robby Gordon. Not to have been on a dirt oval, and do what he did, that was really something. But the most improved, by far, was Kevin Harvick. He gets that award. He is the man. I tell you, he led a lap -- got passed, but then he made some moves. He didn't just fall into some moves; he made some moves.

Kenny Wallace did good. I think there were a lot of guys who did exceptionally well -- a lot better than their heat races and their qualifying showed. Those drag-racing guys -- Cruz (Pedregon) and those guys -- are really good. It just takes some time. They're not used to doing it. ... When you get on a place like (Eldora), it takes some time and you've only got one day. So they all did a good job.

Is the Prelude just a testament to how deeply everyone wants to work together to make this happen?

Petty: I think it's a testament to this (racing) community, more than anything else. That's what I've always said. We had a personal tragedy in our family and in our life with Adam. We kind of raised our hand and said, `This is what we're gonna do.' We didn't say, `This is what we're gonna do. Will you come follow us?' We didn't say, 'This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna twist your arm behind your back and make you do this.' We just said, 'This is what we're gonna do.'

Then Bobby Labonte stepped forward and said he wanted to help, and then Dale Jarrett and then Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr., Michael Waltrip, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson ... you can go through the list. They all stepped forward to help. And they did it for their personal reasons, whatever they may be. And they have other charities that they do things with. But when they did it, their fans did it. Kevin's fans, Tony's fans, Ryan (Newman's) fans. They're all part of it.

That's the amazing part to me. And that's why I say it's a communal thing, it's a community thing. That's the part for me that's more humbling than anything else -- to see how all the fans and how all the drivers react."

Does it matter to you that not only is the Prelude for a good cause, but people also were having fun doing it?

Petty: It's supposed to be a good-spirited thing. It's kind of like the charity (motorcycle) ride. We have a good time riding motorcycles, but we raise a lot of money for charity while we're doing it. Nobody says you have to have a bad time raising money for charity, OK? You can have a good time, too.

I think that's what it is all about. It was hilarious doing the TV. I mean, Jeff Gordon wrecks and he comes in and they're talkin' to him and he's like, `Yeah, I wrecked my car and they're gonna fix it.' And the whole time, he's grinning from ear to ear. It's not like being at the Cup race, where drivers get out of their car (after wrecking) and they go straight up into their haulers and they won't talk to anybody. These guys were genuinely having a good time; they enjoyed themselves.

I felt bad for the guys who wrecked cars, because they didn't get to do what they wanted to do. I felt bad for the (car owners) who got their cars wrecked. Because, you know, they came out here to say, 'Yeah, Kasey Kahne drove my car on Wednesday night.' I felt bad for those guys. But all in all, everybody had a good time doing this.

Why weren't you out there driving?

Petty (laughing): Because I was upstairs doing the TV. I did this the first two years. Then when he did the HBO deal, he said, 'Look, you do the TV and talk about camp and talk about the foundation and talk about all that stuff.' According to Tony, it's more important for me to be sitting up there in the TV booth running my mouth than it is to be sitting in the car running over people.

So are you confident that you guys raised the minimum of $1 million that was the goal (last year $800,000 was raised)?

Petty: With what he raised last year, with the amount of people he had here, and you start adding in the HBO pay-per-view, yes. And a lot of the pay-per-view money didn't trickle in last year until November or December. We were still getting stuff from HBO at the first of this year from pay-per-view. So it takes time, but it probably will exceed a million.

Are you amazed at how the Prelude event has exploded?

Petty: I'm not at all surprised at how the Prelude has exploded. You're bringing Sprint Cup stars, and race-winning caliber cars that these guys furnish for 'em, and you're putting 'em out here -- and they're putting on a show for NASCAR fans, for dirt fans, for drag-racing fans, for race fans, period. It's for the fans sitting here in Eldora and it's for the fans sitting at home all over the country who watch it on HBO. So it's a perfect storm where everything comes together to create an event that you can't duplicate. And every year you think, 'Aw, it'll never get any better than this.' And every year you come back and it's like, 'Oh, they added something; now it's better.' Everything comes together with the right group of people at the right time.

Do you guys have a timeline on getting the new camp up and running in Kansas City?

Petty: We don't have a timeline right now. That's why Tony said, 'Let us help you. Let's get up and running. Let's get an office. Let's get some stuff going and start going down that road.' We have to choose a piece of property, and hopefully we'll have that chosen and sorted out by the time we get to Kansas City for the race.

Is there a third camp in the works somewhere?

Petty: No, not right now. You know, there are always peripheral deals that are out there like that where you're looking at things and you're talking to people about stuff. But our focus right now is on Kansas City and the Midwest.

Are you amazed that the camp has exploded as much as it has?

Petty: Incredibly amazed. No doubt. I'm amazed at how the race fans and race drivers have embraced it. I'm always amazed by that -- but I shouldn't be.

It's very sad, the amount of kids that can benefit from a place like this. So you need more camps. Whether we build another camp or Paul Newman builds 100 camps ... you could put one in every county in every state and still not see all the kids in all the disease groups that we see. So I'm not amazed by that part of it. I just wish I could do more, when I look at it.