When Kyle Petty’s son, Adam died in 2000 during a practice run for a race, the famous NASCAR racer determined not to quit racing. The driver in America’s fastest growing sport, with more than $1 billion of NASCAR merchandise sold last year, just determined to dedicate all his races to his late son and to continue to race for his faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Although Kyle Petty had a lot of self help books, he found the only book that could provide answers after Adam’s death was the Bible.
Kyle Petty comes from a famous racing family, with his grandfather, Lee, being the best driver in the sport in the 1950’s, with many wins to his credit, including the Daytona 500. He retired in 1964. Kyle’s father, Richard, is known as the “King” in NASCAR circles, and he won the Daytona 500 seven times and won a total of 200 races.
Kyle Petty has not been a slouch either since he started his career in 1979. He has won eight races and been a top ten finisher 173 times. He said he was in the second or third grade before he realized that not everybody makes a living as a NASCAR racer.
Nothing in his career would have prepared Kyle Petty for what happened to his son, however. Adam decided by the time he was 14 or 15 that he wanted to be a race car driver as well. When he was 18, Adam won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. A year later, just weeks after Lee Petty died, Adam was killed in the practice run.
Kyle Petty has trouble expressing the pain he felt for his late son. Petty says after an uncle died during a pit road accident, he had believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and His Savior, because he realized this life is not all there is. It was that faith that helped sustain Kyle Petty after the death of his own son.
“You can’t go back and re-do yesterday,” Kyle Petty said in a CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) interview after the death of his son. “When Adam’s accident happened instantly I realized we couldn’t go back. It still hurts the same.”
Kyle Petty says at times when he goes to a racetrack memories of Adam come flooding back to his mind. Petty says “it breaks my heart.” He says he wakes up in the middle of the night crying, and his wife, Patti experiences the same emotions.
Patti remembers telling Adam that maybe he might not want her to walk with him when he would be near his friends, so he would not be thought of as a “mama’s boy” or might want to meet girls. Adam responded that his mother was the prettiest girl there, and he wanted to be seen with her.
Although Kyle and Patti Petty have come to believe that God would not give them more than they can handle, even though their son died and that God will use the tragedy for His good, they struggled at first. They even doubted God, before their faith actually became stronger. Kyle says God has a plan for his family’s life.
Today Kyle races for his late son and the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Quitting racing was never a consideration, although the pain of losing Adam has not gone. He says his family’s faith has given them a sense of peace in the midst of their trials.
