Written by:
Kenny Wallace
09/30/2008
Charlotte, N.C.
Veteran NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace is an analyst on NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)
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The hot NASCAR rumor right now is not something you’d hear anywhere other than around the race shops in Mooresville, N.C.
Everyone wants to know if my brother Rusty Wallace is coming out of retirement to drive for Dale Earnhardt Inc. next season.
I’m running the No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega and was at Michael’s shop Tuesday being fitted for my seat. Six different crew members came up to me and said they’d heard a rumor Rusty was coming back to drive for DEI.
These rumors get started in the Mooresville area because the shops are so close to each other and nothing can be kept secret for long. All I can say is that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And he is definitely considering stepping back into a race car.
I love my brother dearly and only want the best for him. If it weren’t for Rusty, I would have never made it out of St. Louis and into NASCAR. I literally owe all my success to him because he moved me down here, set me up in a brand-new, single-wide mobile home, got me a car and sent me on my way.
So, it really breaks my heart that when Rusty retired at 49 years old, it was a mistake. He thought he was ready to quit because he was tired of the routine of being at the track and in the motor home every week. He had done it for so many years that he thought he couldn’t do it anymore.
But I really respect Rusty for going out on top – he was among the top 10 in the Chase that year and had a good season. But he pulled the plug on his NASCAR career a year or two too early and he knew it six months after he quit.
I was in Rusty’s corner when he retired because he was almost 50 years old and all the focus was on the “young guns.” I think he felt he was being pushed out a little because he wasn’t a kid anymore. But everyone has their era and I think the NASCAR drivers have come full circle. It’s the old guys’ turn again.
The Indy car guys had their time; the young guns currently are the hottest thing around but lately we’ve seen that teams want experience. That’s why Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte and now Rusty’s names have resurfaced. Teams are under enormous pressure to keep their cars inside the top 35 in points and land sponsorships, and they want champions and guys like Rusty to help them accomplish these goals.
