Hustler Donates Mowers to Victory Junction Gang

Hesston, Kan. – Maintaining 72 acres of hilly terrain can be tough enough. Imagine trying to do it in 24 hours. Now try doing it for a group of 125 campers who have immune disorders and cannot be around grass pollens.

That’s just one of the daily challenges faced by the Victory Junction Gang crew. And that is why the camp has teamed with Hustler Turf Equipment to meet its groundskeeping challenges.

Victory Junction Gang is a year-round, racing-themed camp in Randleman, N.C. The camp, which opened in June, serves campers ages 7 to 15 who have chronic or life-threatening illnesses that might otherwise keep them from going outdoors, much less attending a wooded camp in rural North Carolina.

“This is a $25 million dollar, state of the art facility with everything from boating and fishing to a race shop built to scale 20 times the size of a stock car,” says Brian Collier, executive director and CEO of the Victory Junction Gang camp. “In other words, we take everything – including landscaping – very seriously.”

The Victory Junction Gang camp will serve kids with hemophilia, rheumatic arthritis, cancer, spina bifida, kidney diseases, asthma, sickle cell disease, burn survivors, skin disease, heart disease, epilepsy, HIV, immune disorders and hepatitis. The camp is part of the network of Hole-in-the-Wall-Gang camps founded by Paul Newman in 1988. Victory Junction Gang was launched in 2000 by NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and his wife Pattie in partnership with Newman.

The groundskeeping difficulties at the facility are enormous. Not only is the terrain hilly, but the camp also has to be accessible, whatever the child’s needs. “The camp has to be examined every day,” Collier says. “The paths must be clean and clear, everything has to be smooth and easy to use, and it all has to be safe for the kids.”

Hustler has donated the use of several mowers to help Victory Junction Gang meet these stringent requirements. On May 14, Hustler presented the camp with two 37-inch Hydro WalkBehinds™, two 60-inch Super Zs™, a 52-inch Super Z™ and an ATZ™ all-terrain mower capable of handling 25-degree slopes.

“Many of our campers have immune disorders, asthma or other conditions that might make them sensitive to dust or grass pollens," says Jim Pauley, facility director for Victory Junction Gang. "There simply cannot be any of that in the air. That’s why we mow when the campers aren’t here.” Each group of campers leaves on a Friday afternoon. The next group arrives on a Sunday morning. “We have 24 hours to turn the camp around,” said Pauley. “The speed of the Hustler mowers is critical to our being able to do that.” Pauley also praised the BAC-VAC™ catchers on the Super Zs. “Every grassy area has to be short, even and vacuumed. That’s extremely important to us and to the health of our campers.” Brian Collier adds, “The camp is free of charge and solely reliant upon the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations. That makes the gift of the mowers even more special because it gives us more money to put into programs.”

“As soon as I saw a commercial for Victory Junction Gang during a NASCAR race, I knew we had to be part of it,” said Eddie Wilson, Hustler’s territory sales manager for the area. “I set up a meeting and just asked, ‘How can we help?’” Hustler is now an Official Corporate Partner with the Victory Junction Gang camp and will supply mowers and groundskeeping equipment to the facility.

Paul Mullet, president of Excel Hustler, said, “This is an amazing facility with a wonderful mission. I’m pleased that we can support the camp and provide them with some of the equipment they need to make it a great experience for the kids.”

For more information, contact Ken Raney, Excel Hustler advertising manager at 620-327-1229 or visit www.hustlerturfequipment.com and www.pettyracing.com.