CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Successfully pulling off the Kyle Petty Charity Ride each year requires countless hours of effort and seemingly endless planning sessions.
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Once the route is planned, it's time to start booking hotels. It's certainly not time to suddenly throw the original plans out the window in favor of something else.
Yet, that's exactly what Kyle Petty did last year after a May meeting with America 250 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He saw an opportunity to shake up this fundraising ride for Victory Junction, the camp that provides life-changing experiences to children facing medical challenges.
"We already had an idea in our mind of what we wanted to do for the 30th, and Kyle's like, 'We're changing everything,'" Morgan Petty told FanBuzz while laughing during a recent sitdown. "We had this entire route, and he changed everything to line up for America's 250th birthday."
The 250th is not the only milestone being highlighted by the 30th anniversary Charity Ride. This year also lines up with the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and the 100th anniversary of Highway 50. These are some iconic roads, so it's only fitting that the hundreds of riders travel along them.
So how did this late change happen?
As Petty explained, they came home from the 29th iteration of the Kyle Petty Charity Ride, which raised $1.4 million for Victory Junction. Morgan finished up the books for the year and ensured that nothing lingered.
They then went to the beach, which should have been an opportunity to just relax and reset. That's not how this trip went.
My helmet for the 30th Anniversary @KPCharityRide is better than I could have imagined! Everyone at @OffAxisPaint absolutely crushed it! pic.twitter.com/Tiz5q9NdDl
— Kyle Petty (@kylepetty) April 17, 2026
"Even when we were at the beach, we went and bought an atlas, and sat in the house," Petty said. "I mean, we started instantly redoing (the route). So that went... that basically went the latter part of June, July, and August, and then we were back.
"We were on the road doing site inspections, and she was already making hotel reservations. I mean, so it was like, within...so that shifted all the planning for the six or seven previous months, you threw (it) out the window, and we tried to do everything in 60 days. Really, because I would be online doing something, I'm like, 'Oh, this looks like a hotel. Let's call this place.'"
The timeline crunch could have disrupted the KPCR, especially as Morgan tried to find hotels along Route 66 and Highway 50. These rather desolate roads aren't exactly known for areas where 250 hotel rooms are readily available.
The staggering amount of turnover in the hospitality industry has also complicated the process each year. Morgan would work with a hotel manager for an extended period of time, only to learn that they left the position mere weeks before the riders arrived. So, she would have to start over from scratch with someone new.
Yet, they pulled it off. They booked the hotels, planned the meals, designed and ordered the merchandise, and set everything in stone. Now, they get to take riders on a unique trip across America while recreating the start and finish points from the original KPCR in 1995.
The group will just be much larger. Instead of only 35 people, which included Mike Helton and Robert Yates, the ride will feature hundreds.
Photo credit: Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America
"In 1995, they didn't start at the Sonoma track," Morgan explained. "They started at the 49ers training camp. So they're in that area, right?
"And then the ride ended at Sandwich Construction Company (in Charlotte), which is no longer, but it was the most iconic racing spot. If you wanted to meet a driver, you went to Sandwich Construction."
The middle section of the ride will feature Highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America, as well as Route 66. The riders will take on these stretches of highway while looking at incredible landscapes.
They will go from the red rocks of Nevada and Utah to the mountains of Colorado. They will get to ride the scenic Tail of the Dragon.
These riders will get to stop by the Boot Hill Museum in Kansas, the iconic Golden Driller statue in Tulsa, the original Bass Pro Shops in Memphis, Graceland, and the Coker Museum filled with automotive history. They also get to meet with Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris.
Along the way, they will get to meet many kids who have attended Victory Junction. This will only further drive home the importance of the fundraising efforts.
Would this year's version of the Charity Ride have been as memorable if Petty didn't make these sudden changes to line up with other milestones? It's possible. The riders would still have been able to see some beautiful parts of America.
Yet, this updated route will only make the 30th anniversary more special, especially as the riders deepen their ties to Victory Junction and continue an important relationship.
"The Kyle Petty Charity Ride is the largest continuous donor to camp," Petty said. "From the very beginning, from the time we broke the first shovel full of dirt at camp, the Charity Ride was there.
"And Charity riders were there — not just the Ride — riders who volunteer and go there and work during the summer in the cafeteria. It's almost like they started as two separate entities and became almost one in a lot of ways."
Full Kyle Petty Charity Ride Schedule
- Day 1, Friday, May 1 - Sonoma, CA to Ely, NV
- Day 2, Saturday, May 2 - Ely, NV to Moab, UT
- Day 3, Sunday, May 3 - Moab, UT to Colorado Springs, CO
- Day 4, Monday, May 4 - Colorado Springs, CO to Wichita, KS
- Day 5, Tuesday, May 5 - Wichita, KS to Springfield, MO
- Day 6, Wednesday, May 6 - Springfield, MO to Memphis, TN
- Day 7, Thursday, May 7 - Memphis, TN to Chattanooga, TN
- Day 8, Friday, May 8 - Chattanooga, TN to Asheville, NC
- Day 9, Saturday, May 9 - Asheville, NC to Charlotte, NC
