Wallace signs one-year deal with DEI
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
November 16, 2001
12:13 PM EST (1713 GMT)
HAMPTON, Ga. - Three months ago Kenny Wallace faced an uncertain future, having hit rock bottom after a tumultuous stint, and subsequent falling out, at Eel River Racing.
 | |
Kenny Wallace
|
|
|
Today, his future has never looked brighter.
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. has signed Wallace to a one-year contract as a “contingency plan,” just in case injured driver Steve Park is unable to return in time for the Feb. 17 running of the Daytona 500.
Wallace has piloted the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet since early September, when Park was injured in a freak accident during a caution period in the NASCAR Busch Series event at Darlington Raceway.
Ty Norris, DEI executive vice president of motorsports, said that there’s even a remote chance Wallace won’t man the car even once in 2002. If Park is 100 percent healthy at the start of the year, he’ll return to drive the car.
“We just really needed a contingency plan in case Steve can’t return,” Norris said. “This does not mean he won’t be back at Daytona. He is adamant that he won’t come back too early, and he had a big part in making this decision. He was very confident, very appreciative that the company would commit that kind of money to make sure we’re OK.”
 | |
Steve Park
|
|
|
But will Park be back? Park continues to improve daily during rigorous rehabilitation sessions, but according to Norris, “no doctor in the world could predict when he might come back.”
Subsequently, Norris met two week ago with Park and Teresa Earnhardt for nearly two hours to determine where the driver felt he stood in the recuperation process. Following that meeting, and after receiving permission from Park, Norris conducted a follow-up meeting with the driver’s doctors to further determine the extent of Park’s setback.
After that, it was off to Houston, Texas, to discuss the matter with sponsor Pennzoil, who was ecstatic with Wallace’s performance both on and off the track.
After three weeks of meetings, it was decided that Wallace should be hired on as the fourth full-time DEI driver. He will be paid a full Winston Cup driver's salary regardless of the number of races he runs. Wallace will also run 20 races in the No. 48 Busch Series car for owner George deBidart during tandem weekends. Shane Hmiel, son of DEI vice president of motorsports and technical director Steve Hmiel, will drive the No. 48 in 10 races.
 | |
Kenny Wallace has two top-10s in the No. 1.
|
|
|
Wallace said his recent success in the No. 1 Chevrolet afforded him several offers from other Winston Cup teams, but his heart was in Kannapolis all along.
“I just wanted the opportunity to win, I needed the opportunity to win,” Wallace said. “I just sat there and had a heart-to-heart with my wife, me on one couch, her on the other, and had it out. We knew this was what we needed to do. I would rather not run in Winston Cup at all than have to go through what I went through with that 27 (Eel River Racing) car.”
| 
;){kind=link}