Conversation: Kenny Wallace

Editor's Note: The following Conversation contains adult language. Discretion is advised.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - There are very few people in the NASCAR world like Kenny Wallace. Heck, there are very few people in the world like Kenny Wallace.

Archive  Conversation Archive

The youngest of three racing brothers, Wallace is a lot like comedian Robin Williams. He's a wide open, fast-talking, laugh-a-minute guy.

But he's also serious about his job, and he hates to lose.

Audio Listen to the Conversation! / 11:54 Listen

Wallace, who has one year left on his contract with Bill Davis Racing, sat down with NASCAR.com's Lee Montgomery in a Conversation that ranged from his positive attitude to playing PlayStation to being the class clown to his three daughters.

We wish we could have more guys like Kenny Wallace.

So what's going on Herman? How's life treating you these days?

Wallace: Well, I'm good, my family's good. We've been racing a lot this summer. I'm excited to be with my new team.

We've got a bunch of good guys. Obviously, we've been struggling a little bit. We all go through that in this sport. I've found a new love; it's called dirt racing.

I've been with Kenny Schrader a lot on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, running some dirt modifieds. That's been a new adventure for me. It's broadened my horizon a little bit on racing.

Have you found it difficult at all to keep the positive attitude you seem to have with all that's gone on, with Dodge, with not running as well as you'd like?

Wallace: You know, I surround myself with a lot of champions: my brother Rusty, Tony Stewart's a good friend of mine, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte.

2003 Winston Cup Series  Results  Standings  Schedule  Tickets  Drivers  Crew Chiefs  Teams  Statistics  Video Highlights  Best 25: Last 6 races  Best Starts by Driver  Best Finishes by Driver

And they're all miserable, too. It's just the nature of the sport. Whether you're contending for a title or whether you're running bad, I've watched and I've learned from history.

I've watched Dale Jarrett going through what he's going through. I've watched my brother Rusty not win in two years.

We all have different situations year after year. It's just like that old Richard Petty commercial with Goody's Headache Powders. He says, 'You know, you can't let one bad year or bad race get to you.'

I'm just a racer, that's the bottom line. People assume that if you have a bad year, you're supposed to quit racing, and that's totally ludicrous or stupid.

You're judged on how you go through rough times. Anybody can be happy winning. That's easy. It's the old saying. You know how to get morale built? That's run good.

Well, it doesn't take a scientist to figure that out. I've got a broad mind. There's a lot more to life than what narrow-minded people think.

Let's go back a few years to when you were a kid. Were you a handful for your parents?

Kenny Wallace  Driver Page  Bio  2003 Stats  Article Archive  Video Highlights  Merchandise

Wallace: Very much so. I was a handful for myself. (Laughs) I've said it before: I was diagnosed hyperactive probably when I was in about fifth grade.

Took me to a psychiatrist, because I was always in trouble in school. I just could never sit still in a seat. That's why I'm so much different than everybody else. Everybody else is content just to be quiet. Me, I've got to have a good time and be surrounded by happy people.

They used to pay me to shut up years ago. We would drive a hundred miles to the races, and people would say, 'I'd give you a dollar if you shutup.' Well, a dollar was like a hundred bucks to me. So the joke was on them because I'd just shut up. Then they'd owe me a buck.

How long did a dollar last? A hundred miles?

Wallace: It was about from, let's see, from Six Flags outside Highway 44 all the way to Sullivan, Mo. It was probably a good 50 miles.

Would they give you more dollars? If your parents went cross-country, you'd be a rich guy.

	Rusty (left) and Kenny

Wallace: What it was, it was my mom and her friend trying to talk. I wouldn't let them talk because I'd talk so much. So the friend said, 'If you would just be quiet, I'll give you a dollar. (Laughs) Sue Siffert and Judy Wallace.

They couldn't talk to each other because I wouldn't let 'em. I kept all the talking.

I'm guessing you were a bit of a class clown in school, too.

Wallace: I was voted Class Clown 1981. Fox Senior High. I graduated in 1981. It's something I didn't work to get.

It's like my brother Rusty tells me, 'OK, Herman, you win the Everybody Likes Herman Award.' I said, 'Rusty, I don't set out for that award. That's just me.'

Any new Stacker 2 commercials coming along any time soon. You're probably not going to include Tony Stewart this time?

Wallace: No, far from the truth. Actually, we're going to put Tony in the next commercial.

Is he going to be your buddy this time?

Wallace: By this time, I will have caught him. I'll have the golf cart and the girls. Tony's a great friend of mine, and he's just such a great guy.

It's a shame that all we see is the TV Tony because you couldn't meet a better guy. He's been a good friend of mine throughout the years, and that's why he's in the commercials, because I asked him to, and he was nice enough to do it.

The people at Stacker 2 tell me that we're going to do another one. We'll just have to wait and see when.

Are you a guy who doesn't have regrets? Do you look back at anything and say, 'I wish I could've done that different'?

Wallace: That's an odd question for me because I don't live my life like that. I never say 'I wish I'd have done this, I wish I'd have done that.'

Watkins Glen Videos Jeff Gordon spins on Lap 1 Play video Kevin Harvick's car catches fire briefly in the pits Play video Tony Raines, Boris Said spin Play video Rusty Wallace spins out Play video Robby Gordon wins, Jeff Gordon hits the wall on the final lap Play video Victory Lane Play video Jeff Gordon is frustrated after last-lap crash Play video Hear from the top five finishers at Watkins Glen Play video

But if I were to pinpoint my career, obviously the first thing I would have never done was, I would have made sure that I was with a -- naw, I wouldn't have done anything different.

Let me tell you something. You can't pick and choose your Winston Cup rides. They're so hard to come by. I wouldn't do anything.

The thing about Winston Cup racing, we all get in this little cocoon, and little do we realize this is the biggest form of motorsports in the world. This is bigger than Formula One.

Just because Formula One runs from one country to another doesn't mean nothing. We've got the biggest fan base, the biggest audience.

It's not like I can just go to any of the top teams and say, 'Hey, lemme drive your car.' You take what you can get and try to do good with it. I'm very thankful for the opportunities; let me put it that way.

I don't ever look at regrets, I look at the opportunities I had: The opportunity that I had with the 28 Havoline car, and the opportunity that I had with the 1 car.

The 1 Pennzoil car literally saved my career. People to that point doubted my ability because I had just got out of that Eel River ride.

But after I got done driving the 1 Pennzoil car, I had a couple different team owners wanting me to drive their car. They'd seen the talent that I had. There's a lot of things that happened the last three years that really broadened people's minds.

What's going on with you guys here? What do you need to do to get better? I guess if you knew that, you'd be running better. What's the situation?

	Dale Jarrett

Wallace: It's no different than -- I can't particular comment on my team because that wouldn't be fair to my guys. Anybody can say things and read about it.

That's a cheap shot. See what I mean? But what I can do is give you history and give you examples of people who were in this situation like we were.

The biggest example is the 88 car. We know Dale Jarrett's a champion, but they're not running good. Matter of fact, we've run better than them a lot this year.

Whatever they're going to do, they're going to do. The same thing with Mark Martin the year before. Or Bobby Labonte. You look at my brother.

I think what you've got to do is you've got to look at the history and get examples from the sport. Some people panic and some people keep working hard. I think our team is going to elect to work harder.

In between, there are some times there comes some dissension because they can't work through it. But our bunch right now is doing pretty good. I'm happy with the effort we're putting in.

You've got two teen-age daughters and one that's going to be a teen-ager this year. Are the four of you a dangerous combination together?

Wallace: I would see me and my middle one are a dangerous combination. My wife, my oldest one, Brooke, and my youngest one, Brittany, are just sweethearts and very easy-going and they love the world.

They must've gotten their mom's genes.

Wallace: They got their mom's genes. The middle one, Brandy, is a lot like me. She's psycho. She's like me. She's just off-centered. She is very blunt, says things that you would never think anybody would ever say.

The big thing around our house right now is -- my girls are 12, 14 and 16 -- the big thing is boys. They're just in love with boys -- thank God. That's a good thing.

You wouldn't believe the conversations that happen around my household. You would die. But to me, they're pretty good.

Such as? Are they not for a family publication?

Wallace: No, I don't mind. I'm an open person. I think great conversations around our house are basically about sex, where the limits are with their boyfriends. Kissing and fondling are OK. But that's about it.

I took Brooke's boyfriend and sat him down in my living room. I told him I understood that they like each other. They're going together over a year, and I see my oldest daughter, Brooke, really likes him.

I told him my job as a parent is to make sure my daughter gets all the way through high school without getting pregnant. I told him that he needed to remember that.

He said, 'Oh, yes, Mr. Wallace.' I'm like, 'Damn, that's the first time anybody ever called me Mister.' It took a 16-year-old kid to call me Mister. (Laughs)

Last question. What's something that's made you laugh the loudest recently? Is there anything?

	Tony Stewart

Wallace: Oh, yeah, there's a lot of things that make me laugh hard. Oh, lemme think. Well, just the stupidest things really make me laugh a lot. For example, on my Playstation 2, me and my motorhome driver, Matt, we like starting last and wrecking everybody.

Sometimes we wreck them so bad that we fall out laughing. We've got tears rolling out of our eyes. Anytime I'm racing Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart, after we get done wrecking them, we say to ourselves (in a mocking voice), 'What happened there Jeffy?' (Laughs)

We amuse ourselves in very simple ways. We don't get much time off. It's not like I can run home and go on a trip. We get Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday night, we're right back in the motorhome.

A lot of people say to me -- you say it's the last question, and I'll end it with this -- 'How ya doing Kenny?' I'll say, 'I'm doing great. My race car's not doing as good as I want it to.'

But I don't know if it has feelings or not. That's the way you've got to run this sport. You've got to remember you're an individual, you're a person. A man has got to keep his dignity.

We all can be smart asses out there. We all can say what's going to fix the problem. But I haven't seen nothing that can fix anything in a hurry. So we just keep working hard.