Children and (Lucky) Charms: The legacy of Adam Petty

At the time of Adam Petty’s death, everyone - including myself, though Adam’s birthday predates mine by six and a half years - talked about what a shame it was to lose such a young man who really hadn’t even begun living. He had only been racing two seasons, which was almost too early to even decide what his potential was, much less for him to fulfill it.

As time went by and the scope of Adam’s passion for his fellow man and especially for children became common knowledge, it was clear that the legacy of Adam Petty was not that of a young, ever-smiling NASCAR Busch Series racer who had died doing what he loved, but as a 19-year-old kid who was wise far, far beyond his years.

And in a reversal of roles, it was through Adam’s father that the legacy lived on.

Kyle Petty was already known as quite the humanitarian himself by May 2000, through his “Kyle Petty’s Charity Ride Across America.” But after Adam’s death, it was Kyle who carried his son’s torch, first through taking on the #45 that Adam had driven - and stating that, for the rest of his career, he was “a substitute driver” - and then by making Adam’s dream of building a camp for children who were chronically, sometimes seriously ill, where they could go and, as a commercial for the Victory Junction Gang Camp once said, “just be kids,” a reality.

The Pettys are known, for a variety of reasons, as NASCAR’s first family. Lee was the sport’s first repeat champion and the first man to win the Daytona 500. Richard’s stats and stature within stock car racing will stand for all-time. And with Kyle and Adam, they are also the first family of sports, period, as in no other league had four generations from the same family competed at the highest level when Adam started his only Winston Cup race, the 2000 DirecTV 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway.

But as they are the first family, they are also, truly, a family that looked at the community as their family and always put that family first.

For me, one of my favorite, but most bittersweet memories of Adam Petty came not long after his passing.

Lucky Charms, through General Mills’ sponsorship of Petty Enterprises, was an associate sponsor on Adam’s #45 Sprint - yes, that Sprint - Chevrolet. In 2000, they also had a limited edition rainbow marshmallow that replaced the traditional one, which was white with rainbow-colored sprinkle sugar on them.

In late May or early June, my mom bought a box of Lucky Charms, and on the side panel was a little feature on Adam where he talked about racing and about the new marshmallows, stating that “Hopefully they’ll bring us some luck this year,” or something along those lines. It was a sad thing to read, knowing what had transpired, but at the same time, it was rather comforting to read his first-person words and his enthusiasm for the new marshmallow.

In a way, it showed that Adam was just a kid like anyone else his age or younger, and as his legacy has shown us, quite an extraordinary one as well.