Rusty Wallace to run Busch team in 2004

DOVER, Del. -- Family considerations for the second time has prompted Rusty Wallace to form a NASCAR Busch Series race team.

The operation, which will field No. 66 Duraflame Dodges in 17 Busch Series races next season for Late Model driver Billy Parker, is being prepared for Wallace's teenage son Stephen.

Wallace said the car number is the same -- and the same visual style -- that he carried on his Late Model cars for more than 200 victories and an American Speed Association championship, which adds to his excitement.

The bottom line is it's a family effort, but before the younger Wallace is eligible to race in a NASCAR Touring Division event, Parker will keep the seat warm.

"Billy's been winning like hell on the short tracks around North Carolina and Virginia," Rusty Wallace said, "I've had everybody in the world come up to me and say, 'You've got to take a look at Billy -- this guy is on the gas.'"

Stephen Wallace has raced Late Model stock cars this season against Parker, among other veterans and newcomers, in several UARA/Stars touring series races at tracks throughout the Southeast.

Parker, the younger brother of Busch Series driver Hank Parker Jr., has helped the younger Wallace with his Late Model test program. That, among other things, cemented his deal with Rusty, which will begin next season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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"I went up and met him (Parker) and I liked the way he talked, liked the way he looks," his new team owner said. "I liked the way he got so deep into the cars -- he's into the shocks, the springs, the suspension.

"Everything I've seen him do, he drives the wheels off it. I introduced him to the people from Duraflame and they loved him, so the goal right now is to get him on the racetrack this year.

"We're going to start testing, at Kentucky, Greenville. We've got a lot of places to test, including Las Vegas before we go there next year."

Parker has three Busch Series starts in his career.

"This chance to drive a race car for Rusty Wallace and Duraflame is an unbelievable opportunity, and I'm already looking forward to next season," Parker said. "Although I never met Rusty until this year, he was a driver whose career I always followed.

"This year, I raced against Stephen at Hickory Speedway, and we became pretty friendly. One day Stephen asked me if I wanted to have lunch with his father (and) next thing I know, I'm driving a Busch Series car for Rusty Wallace."

Barry Dodson, Rusty Wallace's Winston Cup championship crew chief in 1989, and Wallace have selected a crew chief but won't announce who it is until next weekend.

	Credit: Autostock

"Barry has helped with this and that and it's cool," Rusty said. "I've hired Barry to be my general manager because he instills a lot of comfort in me. Barry always makes me feel real comfortable and that's what I've got to have."

The new team recalls Wallace's last family-oriented effort.

"A long time ago, when I won the (Winston Cup) championship back in 1989, my brother Kenny was down on his luck and him and I were talking back and forth about starting a (Busch) team," Rusty Wallace said. "I obviously made a lot of money when I won the championship and I had to do something with it, income tax wise.

"I said 'screw it, let's start a Busch team.'

"So that reminds me of what I'm doing right now. Instead of going out and renting a building and doing it real cheap, I built a brand new building, built a brand new team, with the best of everything."

The new team will be housed in a 15,000-square-foot facility located adjacent to the Rusty Wallace Incorporated offices and across the street from Wallace's Penske Racing Winston Cup shops in Mooresville, N.C.

"It's coming up out of the ground right now," Wallace said, "and it's going to be beautiful, state of the art. It's a brand new start-up, so everything's new."

Penske-Jasper Engines, which does Wallace's Winston Cup engines, will provide the power.

In the end, the operation is pointed at his son's budding career, Rusty said.

"Steve had a lot to do with it because I saw how much he loves what he's doing and I know how much dedication he's got," Rusty said. "I tell you what, a couple weeks ago when he went to Hickory and raced against some of the best, he almost won the race.

"He finished third (behind Dennis Setzer and Parker) and they came across the start/finish line bumper to bumper (and) that really made me proud."

The pieces quickly fell into place for Wallace to do the new team.

"I had several sponsors come to me wanting to start a Busch team -- Dura-Flame was the main one," he said. "Obviously, when you look down the road at retirement; two, three years or whenever it's going to be, I wanted to have something in place for RWI and my current employees, that they can stay involved in and not just shutting it down when I quit (driving) and move on to TV or whatever it is that I want to do.

"So that kind of forced me into the decision, but with the sponsorship being there, me looking down the road and Stephen being there, all three of those things made me think maybe this was the right time to do it."

The one thing Wallace rues is the lack of support from his Winston cup manufacturer, DaimlerChrysler. But that continues the manufacturer's previous lack of support in the Busch Series.

He says that won't hold his bunch back, and in fact, in some respects he'll use the Busch team as an R&D arm of his Winston Cup program.

"It will definitely be the best Busch Grand National team out there," Rusty said. "I don't know if we'll run the best, but we'll definitely look the best and have the nicest stuff."