Conversation: Kenny Wallace

DOVER, Del. -- Kenny Wallace is NASCAR's happy-go-luckiest wheelman, a prankster of epic proportions with an infectious appeal who is all too aware of how fortunate he is.

Despite having had a frustrating and fruitless Winston Cup career to date, Wallace remains contented by his past successes.

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Aside from Winston Cup, he's won at every level. Lack of that lone accomplishment, however, has created a void in his life. Hence, he's joined forces with Bill Davis Racing in order to fill it.

He's confident that can, and will, happen. But if it doesn't, he'll ride off in the sunset with a smile on his face, and that rambunctious laughter barreling out of his lungs.

Friday, just prior to Winston Cup qualifying for Winston Cup affair at Dover, Wallace talked with NASCAR.com's Marty Smith to discuss The Lou, former disappointments and the art of autographing thongs.

You're a huge advocate of St. Louis, being from that area. Ever met Nelly?

	Credit: Autostock

No, I never did meet him. But it's just nice to run across somebody who's proud of their hometown and does what he does for it, you know? His latest video, with Destiny's Child girl, I noticed he had a Mets uniform on, which is cool.

You've got to spread it around a little bit. It's just neat to see Nelly true to his hometown, and as they say, keeping it real, not trying to change.

You a fan?

Oh yeah. Lord yes. Before I even knew anything about him I liked the beat of it. I like how versatile it is. If you listen to the words and you're 60 years old and a grandpa or grandma you could maybe get a little offended.

But like I say, he's keeping it real. He's talking about himself growing up. I think that's cool.

Can you recite the lyrics to Country Grammar?

Oh, a little bit. There's so many of the songs that I like, you know. One of the fun ones, No. 14, on Country Grammar kind of imitates The Jeffersons. It talks about baseball.

It's pretty cool. It's like, the fish don't fry in the kitchen, the beans don't burn on the grill. So, he's got so many that are way famouser, I guess you could say, but that's a good one.

You're quite the singer. You once showed me an old photo of you and your brothers with huge afros. Why'd you guys cut those off man?

Times changed (laughing). It's funny. I can remember when Mark Martin turned his straight hair into an afro one time. I think at that time, that was the thing to do.

My hair used to be a lot wirier, crazier than it is now. It's tamer. But back then, well, I guess they made a movie about it once. Hair. Or a dance or something like that.

In all seriousness, it seems you've recently embarked on the best opportunity of your career.

	Credit: Autostock

It's real big. It's a shame it took me to be 39 years old, but I think I made a lot of decisions with my heart rather than my brain. I tend to make decisions with my heart, and I think the older I got, I realized, whoa, I can tell when I'm being used up now.

And I can tell when people are screwing me. And whether I elect to let it keep happening or not, I know what's going on. So this go around, it's all business.

It's fair and square. There's nothing hidden. The great thing about Bill Davis is that me and him have known each other since I've been a teenager, since the days Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin raced short tracks growing up.

Seems like forever, but it's really only been about a year since the Eel River debacle. Were you afraid it could all be over at that point?

I never thought it was over, just because of the fact that I knew I could successful in the Busch Series. Now, during the Eel River deal I will tell you I was worried about maybe getting aback into Winston Cup. Definitely that. But I had a Busch Grand National ride and I was real competitive in that.

I knew I could be competitive. I knew that if I wanted to run the Busch Series, there was a place for me. But this Winston Cup thing is a lot different. There's a lot different attitudes and a lot different things that play into Winston Cup.

It's like going backstage an Aerosmith concert or going backstage to a school concert. This the big time and a lot of decisions are not made on heart. They're all business and performance. So I was worried about it.

Even though you knew the situation at DEI going in -- that Steve would retake the seat when he recovered -- was it disappointing to have to hand over that car?

Um, very little. I was overcome with happiness just because I ran so good in the car. To get in a Winston Cup car and run in the top-10, top-15 at worst every week, so many people were looking at me so much different.

	Credit: Autostock

And now with Jimmie Johnson coming out of the Busch Series and running so good after only winning one race in three years, and so many Busch drivers that didn't prove their ability are coming over to Winston Cup and running good right away. I think everybody started looking at drivers and talent a little bit different.

I think a lot of people are saying, oh, that car he was in did run bad. Because you look at the way Robert Yates is hiring Elliott Sadler. If people run good in any car, why would you change? I think that I was a little upset that I had to get out of it, but I think the happiness of me proving my ability overcame that.

You mentioned Aerosmith earlier. You're pretty tight with those guys. How did that relationship come about?

During my media bio, where they ask you 'What kind of food do you like? What kind of music do you like? Where you from? Height? Weight? Well, in that deal when it said favorite music I put Aerosmith.

Kenny Wallace  Driver Page  Biography  2002 Winston Cup Stats  2002 Busch Series Stats

And we were up in Loudon, N.H., and everybody knows that Aerosmith is out of Boston, and they basically grew up playing at a little place called The Barn, up there by Lake Cennipe.

And all the sudden, I'm up there racing at Loudon and Brad Witford comes up, and I noticed him. It kind of freaked me out. The guy is so knowledgeable. He's the acoustic guitarist for Aerosmith. If you're looking at the stage he stands to the left. And he's just real knowledgeable about racing.

He's not one of those rock n' roll geeks who asks really stupid questions. He's really smart. Hell, we even went to Dave Blaney's World of Outlaws and drove together.

We've become really good friends. More than just buddies because of music and racing. So I was able to, every time they come to town, maybe get good seats and say hi to him."

Ever done any lovin' in an elevator?

Gosh, uh, I haven't done no lovin' in an elevator, but I've done a lot of lovin' going down the highway.

I like your style, my man. Rusty gets fired up when he gets wrecked. You ever put him in the wall?

No, but I'll tell you the closest we've come to probably fighting was '97, '98 at Martinsville. I got the pole and was running second and he was running third and he wanted the lead so bad. I just had a lot of horsepower. At that time I had a Yates motor.

Matter of fact, they just showed it on ESPN Classics the week of Richmond. I was getting a kick out of it. Somebody called me like 10 o'clock in the morning about a week ago, said, hey, turn it on ESPN Classics. I watched it. And he was real irritated with me that time.

He wouldn't talk to me for a couple weeks because, I love my big brother, but he thinks when he comes up to me, he looks at me as little Kenny. And Kenny should move out of the way because here comes big brother. It's got to be hard on him, to always have to keep up that type of profile that he's the best. I think '97 at Martinsville's the closest we've ever come to not talking for a while.

On that same note, Rusty's after win number 55. You're after win number one. Something tells me you're not overly sympathetic for him during his current winless streak.

No, I'm not. But I say life is all stair steps. Somebody that makes $20,000 a year, if they buy something for $100, it's their whole life. If somebody makes $1 million a year and they spend a grand, it ain't no big thing. So I can understand Rusty's situation.

I've got a great life. I've won a lot of Busch races, a lot of short track races. So, in my own right I'm a very successful racecar driver. Just on the Winston Cup level, Rusty's going for stats right now. He's won 16 years in a row.

He wants to keep things going right now and that's what drives him so heavily besides just the will to win. That's what drives all of us. So I can understand the way he feels, but I really want to win so bad it's ridiculous.

Hopefully before I'm done I will have won. But if not, I can definitely live with myself and have a good time.

Can you get that first win with Bill Davis Racing?

I have to. That's the reason I came here. There are times I've went with teams and knew that if I could just be competitive and just put myself in position it might happen.

But you know I've run second three times in Winston Cup - once at Loudon, once at Talladega and once at Rockingham. Led a lot of laps there. So we'll just have to see. But that's the only reason I came here, was to win. The motor program is here, the backing is here. That's what I plan on doing.

Those Stacker 2 commercials are pretty intense. Looks like Ivory could whoop your butt.

She could (laughing). I'm going to tell you one thing, those girls are very talented. What's wild about it all is that they are all funny, the commercials are, but in reality when we're making them they're very serious about what they do and how they go about everything.

So when I try to tease with them, they're like, no, no. They're very serious. So it's a little different making them than you'd think. It's not all fun and games.

You're such an approachable guy, so I'd assume some interesting things have happened to you in public. What's your craziest fan story?

Oh gosh. I think my craziest fan story, now I've been racing for what, 15 years, something like that. I think the craziest one really happened last year. A lady wanted me to sign her pants, and I got to her and she pulled her whole pants down and I signed her thong, right in front of my wife.

So her whole butt was sticking out, right in front of the fans. That freaked me out. That happened at Darlington.