Wallace brings Graceland to race land

LAS VEGAS -- Elvis Presley may have left the stage of life in 1977, but that doesn't mean he's gone.

This weekend, the King can be seen on the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford of Rusty Wallace. As part of a special promotion, in conjunction with Action Performance, Inc. and Elvis Presley Enterprises, Wallace sports the special paint scheme to mark the 25th anniversary of Presley's passing.

On Thursday night, the famed fountains of Caesar's Palace served as the backdrop for three different racing machines also taking part in the promotion.

In addition to Wallace, 11-time Funny Car champion John Force and top fuel driver Larry Dixon from the NHRA will carry a special scheme. Dixon's car owner, Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, was also there.

All three drivers were in attendance for Friday night's festivities. A few hundred fans also braved the chilly temperatures to take photographs of the race cars.

Force, never one to shy away from a microphone, talked about what it meant to him to be part of the paint scheme promotion. He is also a devout fan of Presley.

"I got out of the limo there and everyone was cheering Rusty's name," Force said with a smirk. "But at least I got to walk with him, The Snake and Dixon. It's really neat and I have a lot of love for NASCAR.

"Anytime you can be here in Vegas is pretty cool. When I was a kid, I came here and saw Elvis' name in lights on the reader board. Today I saw all four of our names on there, I guess (crap) can't get no better than this."

Wallace carried an Elvis-themed car in 1997 to mark the 20th anniversary of the singer's death. That turned out to be one of the most successful special paint schemes Wallace has ever run.

"I really think this car looks great," Wallace said. "Like John just said, it doesn't get any better than this. This is a lot of fun to take part in this deal.

"Even better than what I think of the car, the fans just seem to love it. Just like last time, people have been telling me how cool it is to have Elvis on a race car and how much they like the look of this new one.

"Now, it's the job of the Miller Lite team to put the car into Victory Lane on Sunday."