NNS: Wallace - One Of Sport's Colorful Characters

Nationwide

NNS: Wallace - One Of Sport’s Colorful Characters

Kenny Wallace has taken the green flag 800 times in his career...

Lee Montgomery | http://www.scenedaily.com | Posted September 17, 2009 Charlotte, NC

Kenny Wallace is currently twelfth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series points standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Nationwide Series driver and television analyst – in that order, he insists – Kenny Wallace ran his 800th NASCAR race last weekend, and he remains as outspoken as ever.

He’s most outspoken about himself, because Wallace says he hates it when fans refer to him as a TV guy.

“Drives me absolutely up a wall,” Wallace said. “My mother taught me to never use the word ‘hate,’ and I hate it. If I could quit TV, I would do it, but it pays too much money, and it brings me too much sponsorship.”

The sponsorship is for Wallace’s own race team, because he races a lot more than just on the Nationwide Series for Jay Robinson Racing. He says that of seven days in a week, he’s doing TV only two hours.

Still, fans often only see him on TV.

“I hate it when people come up and tell me I’m a TV guy,” Wallace said. “I want to punch them out. But I won’t.”

Wallace says he’s still a hard-core racer, and his love for the Nationwide Series is as strong as ever. Wallace’s driving career blossomed in what was then known as the Busch Series, and he wants what’s best for the series.

And what’s best, Wallace says, isn’t the $6 million to $10 million budgets some teams have.

“The [Sprint] Cup car owners come in with massive amounts of money, and they make their cars really fast,” Wallace said. “People say we need identity. We don’t need identity; we just need less money in the sport. There’s too much money. When you need a $6 million sponsor to go Nationwide racing, there’s something wrong.”

And this year, a team could spend $6 million, finish sixth in the point standings and not be able to celebrate at the Nationwide Series banquet. For 2009, NASCAR combined the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series banquets to save money, and only the top five drivers from each series will attend.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lee Montgomery

SceneDaily.com

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