Date at home track worth extra effort for Wallace

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kenny Wallace has gone through a lot of trouble to return home and race in the NASCAR Busch Series Charter Pipeline 250 at Gateway International Raceway.

First, Wallace lined up a deal to have the St. Louis Cardinals major-league baseball team adorned on his car. Then, he arranged to drive a car for Bill Davis Racing, his Winston Cup team, in the event.

	Kenny Wallace finished 19th at Gateway in 2002. Credit: Autostock

But when that didn't work, Wallace had a deal lined up with Michael Waltrip to drive one of his cars. That didn't work out, either, so he gave Joe Nemechek a call.

Finally, that worked out. So Wallace will be in a NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet for this Saturday's race. Whew.

"I told Bill Davis, 'If I would've known it was going to be this hard, we'd have never done it,'" Wallace said. "We didn't have a clue that one of the winningest drivers last year in the Busch Series would have such bad luck at the start of the year. (Wimmer) had such bad luck that they have no cars."

Wimmer, who drives BDR's Busch Series entry, has crashed out of three races in 2003, and the team is scrambling to get back on track.

Wallace then went to Waltrip, who runs a Busch Series car part-time and has entered Wallace in a Winston Cup car in the past. Wallace would drive Waltrip's No. 99 car, and the deal was all but finalized.

KENNY WALLACE  •  Driver Page  •  2003 Winston Cup Stats

"And then he's had a lot of bad luck on the Busch side," Wallace said. "They couldn't do anything, so Michael Waltrip's people suggested to call Nemechek. I called them, and they were thrilled to death."

The car Wallace will drive was last run at Nashville Superspeedway by David Reutimann, who finished fifth there.

ALSO  •  Wallace to fly Cardinal colors at Gateway

"For the first time in my life, I got luckier than hell," Wallace said. "The car I'm going to drive is what I would've wanted to drive in the first place."

No, it hasn't been easy securing this deal. It all started when Wallace was trying to figure out a way to help finance the trip to St. Louis for Davis. Wallace was going to race at Gateway with or without a sponsor, but he wanted to at least try to help.

Wallace called Anheuser-Busch, who put him in touch with Major League Baseball. The Cardinals loved the idea, and the deal was off and running. There have been a few snags in getting souvenirs approved, however.

"It's been pretty tough getting Major League Baseball to approve everything," Wallace said.

Tougher than dealing with NASCAR?

"Uh, yes," Wallace said.

You won't be able to buy any Kenny Wallace/St. Louis Cardinals hats. Oh, well.

All that effort for one race.

"I love coming back to St. Louis," Wallace said. "I always tell me dad, 'Why do you live in one spot?' He always complains that he wants to go back to St. Louis because he misses all his buddies.

"I said, 'By God, I'm going to have me two places.' So I bought me a villa back here, a place where somebody else cuts my grass and takes care of everything. Yet, I own the house."

Wallace will spend time with family and friends this weekend, and he hopes for a good run in Saturday's race.

"Now, it just can not rain," Wallace said.

He means on Friday for qualifying. Should it rain -- and rain is not in the forecast for the Madison, IL. area -- Wallace could miss the race because he doesn't have any provisionals. But as of Thursday afternoon, only 40 cars were entered, so Wallace should be OK.

"I don't have a provisional," Wallace said. "That's the reason we came up with the 99, to have a provisional. That was based on driving Michael's deal. When they backed out, I still had to keep the 99 because of all the die-casts. If it rains out, I have no provisional, and I'll race somewhere else."

One weather factor Wallace and the rest of the Busch drivers won't have to worry about is heat. Instead of the stifling mid-summer heat of late July, when the race has been run in previous years, Gateway should see mild temperatures.

"It's something that NASCAR finally got a grasp on," Wallace said. "They're doing it on the Winston Cup side now. ... It's hard to do anything in June and July because you can't even breathe in St. Louis. I'm happy they moved it up."

He'll be even happier if he could somehow drive the No. 99 to Victory Lane.

"If I win, the party will start at the Arch," Wallace said. "And it will go all the way out Highway 55 and will probably end up a little bar called Memories.

"Actually, when I win, it's cool, but I don't celebrate much. My nine wins have been, 'OK, see ya'll later.' That sucks because nobody celebrates anymore. Maybe this time I'll celebrate."