Kyle Petty is king in more ways than one

By Mark Young

Ahhh, an off weekend.  Not only for the NEXTEL Cup Series but for me as well with relatives in town for a reunion weekend.  One last chance to get those batteries recharged for a very long stretch run of racing before the Chase is set and we get down to business.  After my post last week where I refused to give Tony Stewart a very deserving throne atop of Bill France Mountain I got a few e-mails from people saying I should have named Kyle Petty as King for essentially saving TNT from assured self-destruction.  Well I thought a lot about this and figured this would be the perfect place to give Kyle credit where credit is due and thus proclaim Kyle Petty KOFM.

Kyle may have found his true calling during the past six race segment where TNT has had television rights for the races.  I was not a big fan of Kyle trying to commentate while racing but man he kicked some serious ass in the booth with his honesty, enthusiasm, and current racing knowledge.  I place Kyle in the same ranks as Ned Jarrett and the late Benny Parsons when it comes to great color commentators in racing.

Racing isn't the only reason why I want Kyle as King this week.  Any race fan that isn't aware of the unbelievable humanitarian effort Kyle and the entire Petty family has put forth in the creation of the Victory Junction Gang Camp for terminally ill children must be living under a rock.  This past week the Victory Junction Gang Charity motorcylce run took place where thousands of motorcyclists rode across the country to help raise money for the camp.

For years Kyle has had to live under the shadow of his father, the real King of NASCAR, Richard.  Kyle's performance on the track is nowhere near a portion of that accomplished by his father, any old-school race fan knows that.  He has won his share of races and will be remembered on the track as a man who race everyone clean and earned every spot he gained.  But in many ways Kyle has cast his own shadow for everyone in the garage area to work to get out from under, only this shadows extends well beyond the perimeter of any racing facility.  The shadow Kyle casts is that of love, kindness, and respect.  The three largest virtues I can think of and Kyle is King for all that he does for racing, sick children, and anyone that is associated with those children.

Well done Kyle, well done.