Finding Independence and Confidence as a Victory Junction Camper

What’s Happening?

As someone who was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair for mobility, Hannah Smith has long been passionate about helping people who live with similar challenges. 

Now 22 years old, Smith has put that passion into action on many occasions over the course of her life. In 2024, she even received a prestigious ESPY, the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, in recognition of her humanitarian efforts, which include, perhaps most notably, starting wheelchair basketball camps for youth and women in the Richmond, Virginia, area where she grew up.

While Smith’s parents played a large role in inspiring her to be an encouraging light to everyone she meets, Smith also continues to draw inspiration from the four summers she spent as a teenager at Victory Junction – a Randleman, North Carolina-based camp founded by NASCAR’s legendary Petty family to serve young people with complex medical and physical needs.

“For me, the most important things were the independence and the confidence I gained there,” Smith said. “I had tried a lot of things and had a lot of life experience, but when my parents found out that I wanted to go to Victory Junction for the summer as a camper, they said, ‘Oh, well, this is a great time to tell you that you need to be completely medically independent before you go to camp.’

“Now, is that required to go to camp? No, it’s not. But my parents thought it would be a great motivator for me to learn how to take care of my medical treatments 100 percent independently. 

“And you know what? I did. So, I was allowed to go that summer because I had been motivated to learn those skills. It was the motivation I needed to be able to take that next step in managing my own personal care.”

Being a camper at Victory Junction during the week designated for kids living with spina bifida, craniofacial anomalies, and other physical challenges also fueled her desire to dedicate her life to helping others and giving back.

“While I was there, I was able to be a leader,” she said. “I tend to be a confident person, and so I was able to be a good influence and an encouragement to everyone around me. Some of them hadn’t really met many leaders with disabilities before, so I got to be kind of that leader, that positive example for the younger campers.”

Just two years ago, in the summer of 2023, Smith returned to Victory Junction as a counselor for the same week she attended as a camper.

“I had a blast,” Smith said. “I actually had a kid I coach in wheelchair basketball from the Richmond area in my cabin at Victory Junction, which was so, so special. And I got to see that camper do things that she had never done before, and I definitely saw her gain a lot of confidence over that week.”

Being at Victory Junction in a different role and seeing the smiles on the faces of the children there naturally caused Smith to reflect back on her time as a camper and how it helped shape her into the person she is today. From horseback riding to fishing to ziplining and a host of other activities, Victory Junction offers no shortage of fun for campers, but archery is the activity Smith will always remember most.

“Every year, every single morning I went to archery,” she said. “We had campers who had more limited mobility who were able to use a crossbow with a trigger release, with the help of their counselor. And we had kids who were shooting a standard bow traditionally, independently. Every single camper was celebrated for their ability and their achievements. And I always loved that, because no one had to prove anything. Nobody had to try to be ‘less disabled,’ if I may say, than they were. Everyone was celebrated for who they were.”

Smith, who graduated from college in December, recently accepted a full-time job with SOAR365, an organization that provides social groups, employment services and various therapies for people with disabilities. So, between that and her continued volunteer work, she’s busier than ever.

But, time permitting, she would love to serve again as a counselor at Victory Junction, which will always hold a special place in her heart.

“I will do it in a heartbeat,” she said. 

To hear more from Hannah, check out her appearance on Out of the Groove below:

If you know a camper who would have fun at Victory Junction, would like to help a child attend camp, or wants to volunteer, visit VictoryJunction.org/Discover.

The Medical Care That Makes Victory Junction Possible

What’s Happening?

Every summer, hundreds of children spend a few days at Victory Junction – a camp for kids living with complex medical and physical needs – to escape the realities of the challenges they may face on an ongoing basis.

Still, the health needs of these children can’t be ignored when they’re at the Randleman, North Carolina-based camp founded by NASCAR’s legendary Petty family.

For the campers to enjoy the best possible experience, they must take any needed medications on the same schedule that they would at home. Campers – and their parents – must also have assurances that properly trained medical personnel will be available to treat them if a medical need arises.

Thankfully, Victory Junction is fully equipped in these areas, thanks in large part to its director of medical operations, Amy McDowell, and a robust team of staff members and volunteers that typically includes at least six on-site nurses each week of camp. The team includes a pediatric ICU nurse, an emergency room nurse, and medical personnel especially trained in the diagnoses most campers deal with.

In addition, Victory Junction has what it calls its Body Shop – a room stocked with various medical supplies designed to meet the everyday needs of campers. Among the vast array of items found here – and paid for by generous donors to Victory Junction – are diabetic and basic first aid supplies, IV therapy, respiratory and feeding care, urinary catheters, and sunscreen.

On camp check-in day, parents hand-deliver all medications in their original bottles to a Victory Junction team member, so there’s never any confusion about who a certain medicine belongs to.

The goal is to put the minds of both campers and their parents at ease with regard to the medical piece of their stay at Victory Junction.

“The key to having it covered is our application process, which usually starts in December before camp,” said McDowell, a registered nurse whose medical credentials include a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and Master of Science in Nursing. “We reviewed over a thousand applications for this summer. The parents provide a lot of information about what their camper needs, and the physicians supply us with info on what the kiddos need to be successful at camp. We review them early, and then once we have kids that are accepted to camp, our medical team is going back and calling parents at least a week or two before camp and just kind of getting updates.

“It’s really just communicating with the parents, and we do a lot of asking, ‘How do you do this at home?’ It’s just picking out those details and how we can fine-tune it and work with parents to make their home schedule work with the camp schedule.”

McDowell and other members of the medical team also never hesitate to reach out to parents once camp weeks are underway.

“My philosophy is that I don’t want parents having any surprises when they come pick their children up from camp,” said McDowell, a mother of four. “If their child scrapes their knee because they fell, it’s, ‘Please call the parents and let them know.’ If you start a child’s feeding and something just doesn’t seem right, it’s, ‘Please don’t assume you know, but please call the parents – they are the experts.’

“So, we are on the phone touching base, not to bug parents, but we’re not going to assume that we know. We always call parents and ask them.”

McDowell considers it “an honor” and “very humbling” to be tasked with ensuring that the children at Victory Junction can have fun and make lifelong memories without needing to worry about whether they’ll have the proper medical care and attention when they get there.

“It feeds my soul. It really does,” McDowell said. “I get more from the children, I’m sure, than they get from me. They really just provide a sense of true purpose and what it is to care for the most precious people on earth. The Lord gives us these beautiful children and expects us to take care of them. It’s just amazing. I just love it. Every day.”

To sign up to camp, volunteer, or join the summer staff, and to learn more about Victory Junction’s application process and program offerings – including its family weekend camps and day programs – visit VictoryJunction.org/Discover.

A Family Legacy: How the Pettys Built a Haven for Kids

Since its genesis in 2004, Victory Junction – a Randleman, North Carolina-based year-round camp for children with serious illnesses and chronic medical conditions – has delivered more than 136,000 camp experiences while serving kids from all 50 states and several countries.

Synonymous with the Petty name, especially that of legendary co-founders Richard and Kyle Petty, Victory Junction – or a place like it – is the culmination of a vision cast by Richard’s grandson and Kyle’s son, Adam, before he died tragically at the age of 19 in a racing accident at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Before Adam’s passing in May 2000, he had drawn inspiration from a visit he made to a Florida-based camp that was enriching the lives of sick children. Wanting to make a similar type of impact back home in North Carolina, Adam shared his idea with family members and close friends.

So, not long after Adam’s death, Richard and Kyle Petty, along with other members of the Petty family, set out to build Victory Junction – a camp established in Adam’s memory, with the goal of reaching and helping as many children as possible.

“When I see the joy and the smiles this camp brings to kids and their families, I can still feel Adam’s giving spirit and see his smile,” said Kyle Petty, a former NASCAR Cup Series driver turned NASCAR broadcaster.

Chad Coltrane, Victory Junction’s CEO since 2015, is motivated daily by a desire to carry out Adam Petty’s wishes in everything that goes on at Victory Junction.

“I didn’t know Adam, and I had never met Adam, but I heard the story about how this idea of camp came about and this idea of all the kids coming to Randleman and being served in one location,” he said. “I hope he would be shocked at how many kids we actually see here on-site now through all the different programs, and that he would be inspired by the numbers of kids that we serve.”

This year alone, Victory Junction has received more than 850 applications for its summer camp experiences, which begin in June and run through early August. Each week of camp is tailored to children with a different medical condition, providing not only a welcome distraction from the daily challenges they face but also making a difference that extends far beyond the four or five days they spend at camp.

“We know through data and research, with Yale University as an example, that the work we’re doing is life-changing,” Coltrane said. “We know the kids leave camp with more self-confidence and more self-esteem and a willingness to try new things. We’ve done a study with kids that now are in their 30s, so now adults, and we know there is a longer-lasting impact of camp than that summer camp experience.

“It’s longer than the summer when they return home or the school year after. We know that it stays with them until at least their 20s and 30s. It’s a strong, strong mission.”

A nonprofit organization that relies on generous donors, Victory Junction is the sole beneficiary of the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America – an annual cross-country motorcycle event that’s welcomed more than 9,000 riders and raised more than $22 million since its 1995 inception.

“Our camp footprint is larger than most camps, and it’s because of NASCAR and the Petty name and celebrity but mainly because of the advocacy that the Kyle Petty Charity Ride provides for us across the country at various locations year over year,” Coltrane said.

Kyle and Richard Petty both sit on the Board of Directors for Victory Junction, but their involvement runs much deeper. Not only are they regulars at camp during the summer, often mixing and mingling with the children at a fun-filled camp event dubbed NASCARnival, but Richard Petty recently donated 403 acres to Victory Junction.

The gift includes eight parcels of land next door to what had been the camp’s 140 acres, 84 of which Richard and his late wife, Lynda, donated to help launch Victory Junction. “My family and I are dedicated to leaving a legacy,” said Richard Petty, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the Cup Series’ all-time wins leader with 200
victories. “By donating an additional 403 acres, we hope to ensure the camp can continue serving even more children for generations to come.”

Coltrane called the additional land “a huge deal.”

“To be given that land at this point is a game-changer, and we’re being very meticulous and methodical in our planning and preparation of what we’re going to do with it,” he said. “Much like a university would, we want to create kind of a master plan and really just go about this in a slow and methodical and thoughtful way.”