Rusty Wallace

Rusty Wallace
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace, Jr.is a retired American racing driver, and a former NASCAR Winston Cup Champion. Considered one of racing's most well-known and charismatic personalities, he is a member of four of stock car racing's major halls of fame: the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame. He also served as the...
ProfessionRace Car Driver
Date of Birth14 August 1956
CityArnold, MO
We certainly want to go out on top of our game at Bristol with a strong run and I think we're primed to come in there and do just that. The fact is that we had a car that should have won the spring race at Bristol and looked like we were certainly headed that way until we had a right-front tire go down.
It was twice as wild when I started, because when I started, there was no spoiler rule, ... Guys were running wide-open with only an eight-degree rear spoiler, and cars were out of control, sliding and spinning out, going in the air and flipping upside-down. It was just totally crazy.
I've always enjoyed racing at MIS and would like to win here again. This track has always treated me real well and the fans here have always been some of the best on the circuit. It's been a great run and I've enjoyed my last season in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series.
I feel good -- I'm in the Chase and ready to run for the next 10 races,
Then I got to thinking, 'Hey, I could just take those two weeks off and get ready to go!' But I think when you sign up to run all those races, if you take a couple off I think it would void your Winner's Circle program. So if you skip one it just wouldn't work.
We still had a pretty good position going. I had a pretty clean stint myself. We were running third and fourth and kept our car running there. (I was) just getting ready to pit and coming down pit road and got out of the car and it was just really overheating bad.
My racing career in California dates back to the late '70s when I was out here running the outlaw late model shows,
I put Stephen in the car, and he runs a 22.99. He said, 'I beat you,' and I said, 'I'm glad. That's good. I'd rather have you beat me than any of the rest of these characters.'
By the second day she was running laps a half-second faster than I had on the first day. Let me tell you something, she's fast. And if she couldn't drive, she wouldn't be in our car.
But I'll tell you this -- there's no way we could be out there racing at those speeds. It was neat to be out there running that fast by myself, but it would be insane to think we could have a pack of cars out there doing that.
I'm having better runs than I've had in a long time, ... I want to go out on top of my game, and I'm doing that right now.
I ask myself why would I retire and its because I don't like running 36 races. I hate running 36 races. I don't like being away from home that much.
I'm going to do it all year long in the two-seater, run all the tracks and get a good idea of what's going on.
I'm really disappointed that Mark has been talked into running that extra year, ... The thing I feel bad about for Mark is that he and I have been out there getting all these accolades, and now Mark's having to say, 'It looks like I'm coming back.'