Many people try to just cruise to retirement and then find hobbies to get into. But for Byron Turkett, he already has everything set up for his foreseeable future.

As a physician's assistant in Tennessee and Georgia, Turkett has a background filled with healthcare services. But he has taken his care and knowledge international.

On Easter Day 2022, Turkett came across a news segment that featured an organization that delivered an acute hospital to Ukraine; he then applied with the organization as a paid volunteer. Because of his background in medicine and education, he was called to go and teach primary doctors how to take care of trauma.

“Because of my background in education, I was called to go and teach primary doctors how to take care of trauma. Because they were worried that the casualties would overflow the military capability, military hospital capability, these civilian doctors would need to take care of them. So we went to hospitals for 30 days all over Ukraine, teaching this course that we had written,” Turkett said.

Ukraine is not the only place Turkett has served on a mission trip, though, as he has traveled to places such as Nicaragua, Haiti, Kurdistan and Uganda. 

Those were only the beginning, though, as only a few years later, Turkett is gearing up for another mission trip to Ukraine.

As most train times in Ukraine are not posted due to safety concerns, Turkett has more than your usual connecting rides to get to the church he volunteers at in Vinnytsia.

“It takes a few days to get [to Ukraine], so I have a flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Krakow, Poland, from Krakow, Poland a three hour train ride to the border of Poland and Ukraine, and then a seven hour train ride from the border of Poland, Ukraine, to where I work, where I'm based, which is a town called Vinnytsia,” Turkett said.

Turkett and other volunteers see roughly 200 patients a day at their church in Vinnytsia, but that is not the maximum number of patients a day. In one of his previous trips, Turkett administered care to 250 individuals, mostly involving thyroid ultrasounds in concern with radiation around the area.

While he spreads his message through mission trips, Byron also spreads his message on the track while also getting used to his first time in a race car. Turkett spent most of his professional life in the field of medicine, but a simple episode of Jay Leno’s Garage changed the look of his retirement plans.

“I really did never intend to get into this. I didn't even know about Legend Car Racing. I happened to stumble across Jay Leno’s Garage and watched the episode about Legend Cars, and I said, well, that sounds pretty cool,” Turkett said. “So I went to the [EchoPark] Speedway, and Joey Logano happened to be standing right there, and I introduced myself. I told him, this looks really cool, man, and he told me, you ought to get a car, just do it, don't worry about your age. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna do it.” 

With no racing background or experience, Turkett met the perfect man to help him kickstart his racing career, NASCAR legend, Ken Ragan.

“So I met a man named Ken Ragan; he found me a car and got me started and has coached me along. So I'm in a little bit of a transition. I've been an educator for the last several years and was developing a PA program, and that gave me time, instead of clinical practice and having calls and that kind of thing,” Turkett said. “It gave me time to be able to play around with the racing thing. So that's how it all got started, and that's how space was created for me to do it.” 

Although Turkett did not grow up around race cars, he has been an avid NASCAR supporter for over 30 years; he just never saw himself racing, or even doing a racing experience. It was as if his career in Legend Cars started out of pure fate.

“Now this does not qualify me in any way, but I have watched NASCAR since 1990, so I was familiar with some of the words and some of the strategies. How to diamond a corner and take the low line and all those kinds of things, I can't do them, but I've heard of them,” Turkett said.

Outside of the basic terms used on broadcasts, Turkett was unfamiliar with most racing jargon, especially the technical terms for the cars. But just because he did not know, did not mean he could not learn.

“The first thing I did was just go on ChatGPT and just learned about the Legend car. What are all the parts, what's that Yamaha engine? What's a tie rod? What's an A bar? What's a B post? You know, definitions and glossary are 50% of the battle, just knowing the language,” Turkett said.

While the start of his racing journey came about unexpectedly, Turkett has since fully immersed himself in Legend Cars. Despite where he starts or finishes, it is all about going out there and having fun while doing something he never imagined himself being a part of.

When Turkett is on the track, though, his messaging does not stop. From his paint scheme to his team name, everything is about spreading his message.

“I've had a lot of people ask, you know, particularly about what Second Wind Racing means. That's the name of my race team, and I came up with that because I'm 62 and I'm hoping I'm catching my second wind as I head towards retirement and be able to do some things that I really enjoy. So then I combined my passions of medicine, and I have a Caduceus on that logo, and then the colors of the Ukrainian flag in honor of the people in Ukraine,” Turkett said.

As Turkett gets more used to his car and the series, he also has to upkeep his car. While he has a friend who takes care of most of the bigger issues, his wife and daughter are his pit crew and support staff with him in the garage for most races.

“What's really been interesting is that my family's gotten involved. I'm married, and I have a 17 and 18-year-old. My 17-year-old is my daughter, and both my wife and my daughter come to just about every race, and they wear a radio, and they keep me on schedule,” Turkett said. “They tell me, all right, you've got about 15 minutes before qualifying. My daughter checks my tires; she gets down on the ground, and she's never driven a car, any car. She doesn't have a driver's license, but she wants to learn how to drive a Legend Car.”

While Turkett planned to race in every round of Thursday Thunder at EchoPark Speedway, a hard hit in Round 8 has him sidelined for the near future after injuring his rotator cuff. As this was his first real accident, it has given him experience as he is already itching to get back out on the track. While he is unable to drive for now, he still has many plans on how he wants to improve in the future.

“Even before my little crash, my plan was to stay at EchoPark all season and maybe do a practice at Cordele. Ken Reagan had suggested I go down there and just experience a banked oval a little bit faster, a little bit longer. But I have too much to learn, and so I'm just going to stick with EchoPark this year,” Turkett said.

Since his first season is all about learning and experience, he is not forcing himself into any major events outside of Thursday Thunder quite yet, but he has his eye set on America’s Home for Racing, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Charlotte has always interested me, but everybody I talked to has me scared to death to go up there when the fields are, you know, they're 20 to 22 cars deep. They're all very expensive racers in the Masters category, where I race because I'm an old guy. I may just go and watch as a spectator [first],” Turkett said.

As Turkett’s first Legend Car season winds down with Thursday Thunder, he already has his goals set for next season. Such as staying on the lead lap and passing a car, very reasonable goals as he is not even 10 races into his Legend Car career.

“The nice thing is that my expectations are so reasonable, they're almost zero. I expect to go out there and have fun, and if one day I can be a little competitive, that's awesome. I set my goals very reasonably, like my goals right now are to try to finish on the lead lap and to try to pass a car,” Turkett said.

Turkett is open to continuing his mission trips in the future, but it would have to work around his Legend Car schedule as he is now fully committed to the series. 

Spreading hope is always the main goal for Byron Turkett, no matter the setting or time. Whether he is volunteering overseas or on the racetrack, his message is always present.