Ricky Craven: "Going Home to Take a Snowmobile Ride With Some Friends"

Ricky Craven: "Going Home To Take A Snowmobile Ride With Some Friends"

By Mike Lange - Editor, Moosehead Messenger

GREENVILLE, ME - Ricky Craven broke the news to his NASCAR Winston Cup team that he was "going home to take a snowmobile ride with some friends" last weekend even though there was plenty of work to do in preparation for next month's Daytona 500. "So the crew asked me how many friends I was talking about. I told them, 'Oh, about 450,'" Craven quipped.

Craven's friends, family and fans not only turned out in droves, but set an all-time record for donations in the Fifth Annual Ricky Craven Snowmobile Ride for Charity. Event organizations said that $114,640 was raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Children's Miracle Network, the Marrow Foundation, the Travis Roy Foundation and Give Kids The World - a charity added this year and supported by Craven's Winston Cup sponsor, Tide.

The final major donation came via an auction of a custom-made Fisher snowplow, painted bright orange with a Tide detergent logo and a picture of Craven's Winston Cup car. Darren Martin, the owner of Economy Motors in Hermon, was the high bidder at $4,500, but admitted with a smile that he'll never plow snow with the apparatus. "We've got a wall in our showroom decorated with Ricky¹s stuff, so I'm adding this to the display," said Martin.

Craven also announced after the ride that he was donating $10,000 to C.A. Dean Memorial Hospital Capital Campaign. The Maine NASCAR driver explained that he wanted to make a contribution "to an institution that touches the lives of nearly everyone in Greenville" and noted that the hospital was undergoing a $2.5 million expansion.

The ride itself drew more than 400 snowmobiles - twice the number that showed up last year - but went off without a hitch. The group was broken up into groups of 60 sleds that traveled north on Lily Bay Road to a trail north of Wilson Pond, east to Katahdin Iron Works and back through the Hedgehog Gate checkpoint for a total of 60 miles.

Craven joked that daughter Riley, 10, was his "restrictor plate" which prevented him from driving too fast for the rest of the pack. "We change the route every year, and it's fascinating that we can go to different places within miles of each other and it's almost like you're in a different part of the state," Craven said.

Royce Howes, president of the Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club, said last week that another six inches of snow smoothed out the trails. "We actually got about four inches Thursday night, but it really helped. Perfect timing, I'd say," said Howes.

First-time participants like Adam Friend of Pittsfield described the ride as "awesome. I couldn't believe the turnout. Ricky has done so much for kids that I was determined to come up this year, even though I had to borrow a sled." Friend has raced in the Maine-based Pro All-Star Series and NASCAR Busch North Series and met Craven when he first became involved in the sport. "He's first-class all the way," said Friend.

Three employees of the Palmya Wal-Mart - Bobbie-Joe Gerry of Pittsfield, Sherry Lundberg of Stetson and Barbara Meservey of Plymouth - didn't even bring snowmobiles to Greenville, but pitched in to help with the ride in other ways. "We've been setting up tables, packing souvenir bags and doing just about anything the folks want us to," said Gerry. "Wal-Mart has been very supportive of Ricky's ride, and we wanted to do something personally for him," she added.

The 750-seat gymnasium at Greenville High School was jammed during the post-ride ceremonies as riders watched a tape of Craven's first NASCAR Winston Cup victory last fall, breaking into cheers as the orange-and-white Tide Taurus crossed the finish line ahead of Dale Jarrett. More applause erupted during the post-race interview when Craven recalled his days "floating around Moosehead Lake" wondering about his future in the sport before he was signed with PPI Motorsports/Tide Racing.

But even though the Newburgh native has achieved stardom in one of the most high-profile sports in the nation, Nancy Dysart of the Children's Miracle Network said that there is another, more private side of Craven that fans may not know. Just before Christmas, Craven returns to Maine and quietly brings gifts to every patient in the children's ward at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, and spends "quality time, one-on-one, with each of them."

Eileen Lafland of Brewer, who has volunteered as an event photographer for the past four years, probably summarized the theme of the charity ride-in the best. "I've watched Ricky since he was racing at Unity at the age of 16. He's had his tough times and good times, but he's never forgotten where he came from, and never will."