A week-long charity motorcycle ride to benefit a camp for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses will be coming to Peachtree City this summer.

The Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride winds from Traverse City, Mich. to Savannah, Ga this year. The ride will park in Peachtree City overnight arriving on Friday, July 18 before they head out the next day for the final leg of the ride to Savannah.

NASCAR driver Petty will be joined by Fayette resident Dan Cathy, president and COO of Chick-fil-A and also Mayor Harold Logsdon.

Benefits from the ride will support two “Victory Junction Gang” camps that serve children ages 7-15 who have a variety of health issues that would normally prevent them from attending camp. The camps operate solely on the donations of corporations, organizations and individuals.

The ride features NASCAR celebrities along with sponsors and motorcycle enthusiasts.

Since the Charity Ride’s inception in 1995, 5,700 participants have logged more than 7.2 million cumulative motorcycle miles and donated more than $10.5 million to Victory Junction Gang Camp and other charities that support chronically ill children. Petty and his wife, Pattie, founded the first Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, N.C., in 2004 and recently opened a second camp in Wyandotte County, Kansas.

Riders will make a pit stop at the Randleman camp July 17 during a camp session designed for children with physical disabilities. Because of last year’s charity ride, 80 children will attend that five-day session free of charge.

This year marks Chick-fil-A’s fifth year as the event’s title sponsor, and the company has extended its sponsorship agreement through 2009.

“We at Chick-fil-A are grateful for the opportunity to once again be the title sponsor of the Kyle Petty Charity Ride,” Cathy said. “Chick-fil-A is proud to be associated with such a worthy cause and is eagerly anticipating another exciting Ride.”

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