In Their Own Words …
NASCAR Driver Kyle Petty on 'Church and Community'

My Grandmother Petty went to a Methodist church in Level Cross and my Grandmother Owens went to a Methodist church in Randleman [N.C.]. My mom always had something going at the church or at the school. She worked for the PTA. She was a Scout teacher. She was in 4-H. She and my grandmothers were always doing something. We grew up in small communities, and the churches are the hearts of small communities. I don’t care how you look at it. I know that both former President Bush and President George W. Bush talk about faith-based initiatives, but faith-based initiatives start in rural America. When somebody’s house burns down, the church is the first one there to try to do something. The church has the covered-dish suppers to raise money for a family who’s lost something or had a tragedy. That’s faith in action. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That’s it. Everything sprouts from that. [Faith] has an important place in this sport. Even though the demographics continue to change, this is still a grassroots, blue-collar sport. America is still basically a blue-collar nation and a grassroots working-man’s nation. And when you go there and you talk to those people, what’s the center of their life? The center of their life is Wednesday-night prayer meeting and Sunday-morning church service and Sunday School, and then they’ll go watch a race or watch football. But God and church always comes first.”

From Excellence: The Heart and Soul in Sports © 2009 by Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Published by Regal Books. Used by permission. All rights reserved. To purchase the book, click here.

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