Kyle Petty leads charity motorcycle ride stop in Asheville for Victory Junction
Kyle Petty brought about 150 motorcycles into downtown Asheville Friday, putting the Renaissance hotel at the center of a major fundraiser for Victory Junction.
Kyle Petty and roughly 150 motorcyclists rolled into downtown Asheville on Friday, May 8, turning the Renaissance Asheville Downtown Hotel into a temporary stop on a cross-country charity ride that brought national attention, hotel traffic and a steady stream of fans into the city center.
The Asheville overnight stop was part of the 30th anniversary Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America, a nine-day run that started in Sonoma, California, and finished in Charlotte. The route covered about 3,400 miles across 11 states, with Asheville listed as the Day 8 stop before the group headed on to Charlotte the next day.
For Buncombe County, the ride’s value went beyond celebrity visibility. The stop put a large traveling event in the downtown core during the busy spring tourism season, with Petty greeting children and fans as the group paused in Asheville. That kind of public-facing visit can matter for hotels, restaurants and nearby businesses that benefit when a national event chooses Asheville as an overnight base.
The ride raised money and awareness for Victory Junction, the camp founded by the Petty family in honor of Adam Petty, who died in a racing accident in 2000. Victory Junction says it has provided more than 150,000 camp experiences since opening in 2004 and serves children ages 6 to 17 living with serious and chronic medical conditions. The camp is part of the SeriousFun Children’s Network founded by Paul Newman.
Petty said the ride began with an idea tied to his son Adam, and that history still gives the effort emotional weight. The cause also has a long fundraising record: the charity ride has raised more than $22 million since 1995, involved more than 9,350 riders and covered more than 13.1 million cumulative motorcycle miles. Victory Junction says the 2025 ride raised more than $1.4 million for the camp.
The Asheville stop also connected the city to the region’s motorsports culture. Petty shared a video from Wheels Through Time in Maggie Valley before arriving, underscoring how the ride threaded through western North Carolina as part of its public route. For Asheville, the result was a one-day convergence of charity, tourism and recognizable name power in the heart of downtown.
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