Timothy Peters returns to his roots, goes back to school at Bartlett Yancey

YANCEYVILLE, N.C. — Bartlett Yancey boys basketball coach and physical education teacher John Mitchell couldn’t have been more surprised when he left his class about midday Tuesday and saw a former student taking a look at the trophy case outside of the gym.

Mitchell stood in amazement as Timothy Peters turned around and walked over to him, only to find the words, “Well, I’ll be…” as the two had a chance to relive a few memories from Peters’ days at the high school.

A few minutes after catching up with Mitchell, a student introduced himself to Peters, got an autographed hat from the Providence, N.C., native and then asked for a second autograph — for his hall pass. Peters obliged, adding the words, “He’s OK!” before signing it.

Those were two of the many highlights of Peters’ day as the 1998 graduate of BY visited the high school to help promote Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway.

“I would say the coolest part about the whole day is just getting to come and seeing some of the teachers that I had here when I graduated high school that helped me stay on that straight-and-narrow path,” Peters said. “It’s been cool to see those people, their reaction, because some I’ve seen even after I graduated, but let’s face it, some of these people I’ve seen today, this is the first time I’ve seen them in over 10 years.”

The morning started with Peters talking to students in the automotive technology program and donating tools provided by one of his sponsors, GearWrench. The Danville resident began his tour at the welding shop where he mastered his ability to work on cars, which has since been renovated, and then making rounds to both the automotive technology and collision repair classrooms.

Plus, there were the numerous stops in the classrooms as he got a chance to meet several students. Peters was able to film most of his classroom stops, which will air at 7 p.m. tonight on the SPEED Channel show “Race Hub.”

“That’s pretty amazing to see the new welding shop and to see the excitement. To be welcomed with open arms is really cool,” Peters said. “The biggest thing was, when I was coming up, is the teachers did their best job to make sure that when you got to your senior year at the end of May, you walked across that stage and got your diploma. My parents pushed that in me as well.”

Following his graduation from BY, Peters began the pursuit of his dream. He won the Late Model Series track championship at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C., in 2002 and ’03 and followed that up with a track title at South Boston Speedway in 2004.

 “Any time you can bring someone back that’s graduated, that’s had a lot of success and walk around like this and see he’s a normal guy, that’s really big for the kids,” BY collision repair teacher and Late Model Series driver Daryl Carver said. “He would be surprised at the impact he made if he could just tomorrow morning come and hear the buzz like we’re going to hear it. They’re going to be talking about this for a long time. … He stressed the importance of keeping your nose in the book and staying in school and coming to school every day and that’s how we got to where he is now. He had to do this first and then he followed his dream. That’s a big deal to these kids.”

Peters, who sits third in the points standings and is seven points behind leader Matt Crafton, has won twice in the Truck Series. He had a chance to tell the automotive technology students about his trip to Victory Lane at Daytona in 2010 and how big that was for his career.

“Growing up, I had a goal and I had a dream that I wanted to race,” Peters said. “Back then, if you would have asked me am I going to be driving as a living 10 years down the road, probably 50 percent of me would say you’re crazy. The other 50 percent would say absolutely,” Peters added. “I never gave up and a lot of that goes to my dad and my mom. They were my biggest supporters and they sacrificed a lot to get me where I’m at and I’m very grateful they stayed on me. There were times that is it really worth fighting with your parents every day, but in the end result, it paid off and I got a lot great people that believe in me that allow me to represent them.”