THE TV RACING WALLACES
Question Quest Story and photos by Dwight Drum
© 2008 Dwight Drum Web work by Larsen & Drum
Being a TV personality was probably a remote possibility for any member of the Fenton, Mo., Wallace family during the 70's when a young Rusty accumulated scores of short track wins. When he moved up to the NASCAR level, TV coverage was a sporadic reality. The first flag-to-flag TV coverage wasn't until 1979 with the Daytona 500 on CBS. That popularity was helped by a fistfight and national snow storms that created captive audiences. NASCAR caught on.
The Wallace family came along at the right time as NASCAR grew in popularity while Rusty blazed the rise with sponsorships and wins. Brothers Mike and Kenny followed his trail and the Wallace name soon became synonymous with competitive NASCAR teams.
Today, retired racer Rusty is grooming his young son Steven with an expanded Nationwide Series team that now includes two cars and four drivers. Kenny Wallace will pilot a Fitz Motorsports Nationwide Series car during season 2008. Mike Wallace has had a very visible sponsor in that series, Geico Insurance, and this year he will be behind the wheel of a Germain Racing Toyota.
Rusty and Kenny Wallace are excellent TV commentators because of their extensive knowledge of the sport amplified by verbal prowess. Dale Jarrett will take over Rusty Wallace's ESPN booth seat as Wallace steps up to be the 2008 lead analyst for the network's studio programs. Kenny considers his racing his strength, but fans sometimes favor his frank and entertaining personality on the Speed channel over his driving.
Rusty Wallace Racing is a team under construction, but with Rusty having more time to devote to developing his team it's likely the team will have an impact. A quote from a well-known driver points out the hurdles an expanding team can encounter.
"It still takes time for the team to gel" Jeff Gordon said. "Just because the equipment is there, it doesn't mean everything."
So time is a again an essential factor as it is in any venture, but the learning curves, the gelling are always aided by those in the know.
The Wallace family knows.
A swift and recent photo journey with select quotes was produced by reporter Dwight Drum.
Rusty Wallace
"A lot of effort here, man, big effort, lot of money. We're really excited about it."
Four cars and a two car team here, that's new for you right?
"That is for me. We've got two of them are Steven's cars. Two 66s. Two 64s. It's really great. I spent all day yesterday out at Albuquerque, New Mexico at a show. It was a lot of fun. It's a whole new year. We've been working like mad."
"TV is one thing, but they give me my time. This is a lot of fun. We're changing to Chevrolet. All of the cars have been in the wind tunnels. We have the big-time engineers. Everything is good right now.
You have new drivers too, right?
"We actually have four guys. We have Steven, David Stremme, Max Papis and Chase Austin. Four drivers now."
Kenny Wallace
Do you get a bigger charge out of driving or talking about driving?
"My whole family has been on my butt all winter to quit downplaying my TV. I'm in one of those moods right now where I'm just hell bent. I'm getting OK with it, but it's hard for me, it's very hard on me to be known as a TV guy. It insults me a little bit because I grew up watching Kale Yarborough and Bobbie Allison. I don't like it when people just consider me a TV guy.
"Here's my perfect scenario when the fans come up and go, 'We love you on that racetrack and it's pretty good seeing you on TV.' I don't like it when they say, 'You know you're an OK driver but we like seeing you on that TV.' That's OK and I understand they mean well. That's not where I'm at right now. That's why I'm fighting so hard. I got to know that I'll be OK with it, but it's not right this second. And I won't go too long here."
Max Papis
"I've known Rusty for over eight years. When I was the Miller Lite driver in Indy Cars he was in Miller Lite in NASCAR. So I got to know him really well. I was very impressed with his operation. It's not just a Nationwide team. It will eventually be a Cup team one day. They are very precise in everything they do. They changed from Dodge to Chevrolet. Because of the relationship I have with Chevrolet it ultimately made it easy for the deal to happen.
"I have the experience but I still have the enthusiasm. I feel in my heart like I'm 25 years old. So I think that I'm going to get along pretty well with Steve because we talk the same language. We kind of always are learning. I hope that my position will grow with the organization more and more.
"Rusty Wallace's shop is about 10-15 minutes from my house in Charlotte so I go by there quite often. I'm actually dedicating a lot of time to go to the shop and learning how to build a car. I'm going to spend time building my own car because it's a different discipline. I really need to know how everything works to be able to use it properly. It's far away from anything that I usually drive."
David Stremme
"With R.W. and what he's got in the organization, I wasn't going to say no," Stremme said. "We can really run well and compete for wins. He's really put a lot of emphasis on getting his organization better.
"Steven has a lot of talent," Stremme said. "With having me here, I'll be able to get out of the car and go over and talk to him and we'll be able to talk back and forth. And with Harold coming over as an experienced crew chief - to be able to lead that team and help the organization - it's really going to help, too."
Rudy Giuliani had difficulty running for president in 2008 and dropped out of the contest, but his stop at Daytona in January was good timing as Rusty Wallace was there with his Nationwide Atreus team during a test session. Wallace showed Giuliani some of the high points of team equipment.
Rudy Giuliani
Can you compare a lap around Daytona to a long political race?
"I think a lap around Daytona has just enormous excitement. Just like a political race is exciting and there's more at risk."
"I hope I educated him on our sport, you know. To learn how big it is and how important it is us. That means a lot that he chose this facility to come by and say hello to everybody, because he cares. He was obviously trying to get some votes, but still he told me the big thing he'd like to do is get into one of these cars - 'I sure wish I could drive one of them. You always like to drive pace cars but I'd like to get into a real car.' I said the problem is you're too big to fit in one of these tiny seats right now or else I'd try to help you out."
Rusty Wallace
Chase Austin has told us how much it helped him to have your experience when he is on the track. Do you do a lot of that with your drivers?
"I try to. I try to be a big support. I'm out there racing with the money trying to keep this thing afloat with all the financial end of it. Our sponsor's name is John Deen, D-e-e-n. He owns Atreus and this guy is a car nut. He is one of my best friends. Without him we couldn't do what we're doing so everything is working out good."
Kenny Wallace
"I've been in this since 89. When we went from V-8s to V-6s, everybody jumped up and down. When we went from V-6s to V-8s, everybody jumped up and down again. Only the strong survive. If you're weak in this sport you get kicked to the curb."
Do you have a comment about your sponsor JEGS?
"JEGS is been in drag racing for 50 years. They just trying to get into the circle track business. They were a contingency sponsor last year on all the Cup cars. It didn't really get them any where so they hooked up with me for my dirt car. JEGS doesn't have millions of dollars to spend. I think it's really neat, they're not a new company but now they are trying to get into oval track. They've got a lot of hot rod status, it's aftermarket products. You got a car and you want to put some wheels on it or some pipes. They have everything. They are one of biggest high performance aftermarket companies in the United States."
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