Victory Junction's growth proof of national support (cont'd)

"Feel your heart race" is the motto of Victory Junction. If you think of the joy in so many children's faces that so many people have witnessed around racetracks -- multiply it a thousand-fold for the kids whose days are consumed with treatments and pills and injections and therapy, when they're at Victory Junction.

Sprint, which began a sponsorship relationship with Petty Enterprises in 1996 and sponsored Adam Petty's racing efforts, continues to honor Petty's memory with its support of the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

Children and children's causes were big deals to Adam Petty. After he died in a crash at New Hampshire in 2000, his family conceived the idea of the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which serves as a point of relief for critically ill children and their families.

With Victory Junction in the preliminary stages of a possible expansion into the Kansas City area -- not coincidentally the headquarters for Sprint Nextel -- the company has stepped up to continue its support by launching a text-to-pledge program that benefits the camp.

Designed to make donating easier, supporters can submit a pledge from any cell phone by texting their e-mail address to the number VJKIDS or 855437. In response to their pledge, they will receive an e-mail directing them to complete the donation. All proceeds benefit the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

As another means to support the Camp, Sprint last year instituted the "Recycle for Victory" program, a wireless-recycling program that helps prevent millions of phones from ending up in landfills. The program accepts all makes and models of phones, regardless of service provider and the net proceeds benefit the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

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Victory Junction is an all-too-brief respite for them. But the way the greater Kansas City area is looking at it, it's one more way to continue to build on the community's legacy of philanthropy and caring -- of creating community pride.

"So many things are being done to benefit so many folks, by so few," said Tim Cowden, senior vice president of the Kansas City Area Development Council, in praising the Pettys and the NASCAR community for their support of Victory Junction. "It's just unbelievable what these guys are doing -- it's really, really cool."

The benefit to the greater Kansas City area isn't lost on him, either.

"This is a great opportunity for the area," Cowden said last week, "and two states, 18 counties and 50-plus communities have stepped up to support it."

Kyle Petty said it was a revelation to him just how much infrastructure improvements and ongoing bills to keep the North Carolina location of Victory Junction cost. It wasn't pointed out, but it's maybe like, uh, operating a race team?

The Pettys spoke of the KC area's pledges of financial support for their project, and Cowden said the benefit to families from across the Midwest and beyond weren't subject to a price tag.

That someone could so convincingly "get it" is pretty refreshing, truth be told.

"This isn't about dollars and cents," Cowden said. "This is about helping kids and helping families. Right now, it can be difficult for them to get to Randleman, N.C., if they live in Oklahoma or Utah or Arizona.

"This is going to open up so many more opportunities for these kids and families who really need it, and that's why we're so excited about this coming to Kansas City -- a place that's a very welcoming community that's built on partnerships and philanthropy."

Sounds like a place where the Petty family, and their beloved concept of Victory Junction, would thrive, to me.

"How truly down to earth, and how committed they are to this cause [is the biggest thing]," Cowden said of what he's learned about the Pettys. "I didn't know a lot about the camp, prior to meeting with the Pettys back in the fall, but that's been the real gratifying part of working with them -- just seeing how they relate to these kids."

The Pettys know what teamwork means, and the Petty family continually thanks everyone -- particularly those in the racing community -- who has selflessly stepped up to support the camp. And ironically that's become part of the problem at the current location.

Thanks to sizeable contributions from Cup drivers Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson, an indoor sports complex and a bowling alley were recently built on camp grounds. Space is tapped out.

And how important is more space?

"I've said it to you guys a hundred times," Kyle Petty said last week. "If there was a camp like this on every corner, there's still not enough camps for these kids -- that's just how simple it is."

But in Kansas City at least, the community once again has proven there's no limit to an open heart. So let the games begin.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.