Kenny Wallace respects past, works on future

Kenny Wallace just can't help himself. The brain of the talkative driver sometimes moves way too fast for the ideas in his head.


By the time one idea is processed and released into sound through Wallace's mouth, more ideas spill out.

The full-time Nationwide Series driver and part-time television commentator was asked recently if there were one or two memories that stand out more than others over his long career in NASCAR.

For a guy who has won as much and has seen as much as Wallace, of course there are one or two. Or more.

"I will never forget • there are two things," Wallace said. "Well, there are three things. I just keep thinking."

And he keeps talking. And thinking. And talking some more. If ever there was a driver perfect for TV, it's Kenny Wallace.

But he's far from done with his driving career, and he wants everyone to know about it. Driving comes first, and he'll be happy to tell anyone who listens exactly that.

Wallace returned to NASCAR's No. 2 series this year, starting the 2008 season with Fitz Motorsports. Fitz was expanding to two teams, and Wallace would join Mike Bliss on what looked like a solid independent team.

But sponsorship money dried up, and Wallace was left without a job - for about a day. Jay Robinson Racing came calling, and Wallace kept going.

"Right now, with my race team, I promised myself that I would never be happy with 15th," Wallace said. "I think we are overachieving. We're taking a team that was thought of us a backmarker team. We're upgrading every week, and we're getting better.

"I will never run enough races that I will just run in the back. I joined Jay Robinson Racing because I felt like we could take this team with our new sponsor and upgrade it. We're getting better every week."

Wallace realizes his best days are behind him, and he remembers them fondly. The three things he mentioned? 1. His first race in the No. 2 series; 2. His pole at Daytona to kick off his first full season; 3. His first victory.

Wallace worked on his older brother Rusty's race team when he started driving in the American Speed Association.

"I will never forget for as long as I live that Dale Earnhardt gave me my very first Nationwide ride," Wallace said. "It was at Martinsville, and I sat in his old bucket seat, and I said, 'Dale, I can't drive this.' He said, 'Well, go get your old ASA seat.'

"I'll never forget coming from Charlotte to Kannapolis, N.C., and there I was. Tony Eury Sr. met me there and put my seat in Dale Earnhardt's car."

Wallace finished 11th in that race in the No. 8 GM Goodwrench car and won $650.

Rusty Wallace then started a team for his little brother, and Kenny immediately showed speed in the No. 36 Pontiac.

"I will never forget as long as I live -- it was like yesterday -- sitting on the pole in my very first time ever at Daytona," Wallace said. "Quick time, 1989: 192.730 mph, buddy. I ran a 46.70.

"I was invited to be on Eli Gold's show on MRN Radio. I said, 'Man, I made it!'"

Maybe, but there was more work to be done. Wallace ran well at times but couldn't break through with a victory. At Volusia County Speedway in Barberville, Fla., in 1992, Wallace qualified 13th.

"I remember thinking 13th was an unlucky number," Wallace said. "I won the race. My wife came up to me in victory lane, and I gave her a hug. I'll never forget this: I said, 'Well, it's finally over.'

"I had gone to the big-time right away. I had never started in any local divisions. I ran ASA right away in '87, '87 and '88. And I went to the Nationwide Series in '89, '90, '91. Hell, I went quite a while without winning because I went to the big-time right away.

"When I won that race at Volusia, it proved to me that I belonged."

He's been in NASCAR ever since, competing in all three national series. He recently made his 400th start in what is now known as the Nationwide Series, and upon reflecting on his career said he respects "nostalgia" and the drivers who made the series he still races in.

"I respect Jack Ingram. I respect Sam Ard, Tommy Ellis and Tommy Houston," Wallace said. "Those are the guys that molded me. They taught me how to race. I was so lucky that I came into the Nationwide Series in 1988-89 because I was able to race the great ones. I was able to race the guys that started this deal.

"When I came here, I would finish in the top five and the race would be over and every part of my car would be destroyed and I would almost win. We would run Hickory, South Boston, Orange County and Myrtle Beach.

"I do look back. I always respect the past. • When I first moved from St. Louis, they said the first thing I needed to do was make friends with Jack Ingram, and that's what I did. In '89, we'd run all of our shows one-day shows. When we would get in the garage area, the first thing I would do was go down to Jack and help him unload his car. I'd sit around Jack for a half-hour and just talk to him."

Yes, Kenny Wallace once did the listening.

My, how times have changed.