Zach picked up where Petty left off, and he created a highly-successful food drive of his own. Next week at Bristol, Petty will meet Zach again as the Blountville, Tenn., youth serves as an honorary member Kyle Petty’s #45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawney Dodge crew.
Last year, the Sullivan Central High School (Blountville, Tenn.) running back and basketball player took time away from school and athletics to generate publicity and gather food at his school and at a Food City store located near Bristol Motor Speedway. He collected more than 4,000 pounds of canned goods for Bristol Emergency Food Pantry.
Though he wants the spotlight on his cause and not himself, his efforts attracted several honors this year, including one from The White House. Frye received the “President’s Award for Student Service,” as well as the 2004 “Civic Responsibility and Outstanding Character Award” and the “National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award.” What he really wants is to tell Kyle Petty about his successful food drive and how meeting him 10 years ago put him on track to achieve his goals of service to others.
Petty and his Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge crew more than welcome Frye to the team for the Food City 500 at Bristol. “The ripple theory – one pebble in a pond creates ripples that go forever – really came into play here, but you need young people with Zach’s compassion and willingness to help others to make it work,” Petty said. “A lot of cool things happen in a race car driver’s life, but something like this is pretty hard to top. Somebody told me Zach had said it was a real honor to be in our pit at Bristol. Let me tell you, it’s an honor to us to have him there,” Petty added.(Williams Company PR)(3-23-2004)