On winning a championship: "We're racecar drivers and that's all I want to do, is win. I don't like talking about other racecar drivers winning anything." Credit: Autostock
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
May 10, 2004
10:54 AM EDT (1454 GMT)
FONTANA, Calif. -- In a league that demands total commitment, Michael Waltrip is one of the busiest drivers in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.
Not only does he drive the No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet in Nextel Cup for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. He also owns and drives his own No. 99 Aaron's Chevrolet in the NASCAR Busch Series, and later this season he'll make a spot appearance in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The pressure doesn't end when you factor out the test days necessary to maintain competitive programs in his two full-time series. Waltrip also has a wife and two daughters, a busy promotional schedule and a serious charitable bent that sops up even more of his time.
 | AUDIO | |  | |
|
|
Before the recent Auto Club 500 at California Speedway, Waltrip sat down with NASCAR.COM senior writer Dave Rodman to discuss his hectic lifestyle, competing for the Busch championship, maintaining a trim physique and what impact a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nextel Cup championship would have, among many other topics.
Q: What happened to (Kenny) Wallace Monday? He didn't show up for "Inside Nextel Cup."
Michael Waltrip: (Laughing) He said he forgot. I think he was just afraid to face me after tearing the hell outta my car Sunday at Talladega.
Q: How complicated would you say your life is right now, with all the balls you're juggling? That's not a deep, probing question, but with the Busch program running so well, the Cup program trying to get there -- how complicated is life?
Waltrip: My life couldn't be more simplistic. I love what I'm doing. The Busch team runs itself -- I just show up and drive. The Cup deal has been a struggle, but I think I see where it's heading in the right direction now and it's all good. I'm real happy and my life isn't complicated at all.
Q: Family is a big anchor for you, so does your charity work kind of fit the same niche?
Waltrip: I like it when something makes sense, you know? This charity association I have between Just For Men and Give Kids The World is the perfect situation. You just go to justformen.com, log on and enter our "40 is your lucky number" sweepstakes and (Just For Men) make a donation to Give Kids The World.
| MICHAEL WALTRIP | | | | | | | |
|
|
That benefits Give Kids The World and all kind of children throughout the United States that get to go there now because of the money that Just For Men is donating to Give Kids The World. And the consumer that logs on gets a chance to win a trip to the race in Vegas in 2005, so therefore they can benefit by logging on and entering our sweepstakes.
And then of course there's the product, Just For Men hair color. It was something that I decided when I turned 40 I didn't want to have gray hair so I just washed it away. I really enjoy the association I have with Just For Men and all that they do for Give Kids The World.
You know, (my brother) Darrell and I have been supporting Give Kids The World for a couple of years now and the ability to rev those contributions up through our association with Just For Men is real important to me.
Q: Judging by all the fun those people at Talladega had over the weekend a trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway wouldn't be a bad prize, would it?
Waltrip: (laughing) Vegas is one of the premier races on our schedule. Obviously, there's a lot to do during the evening time and the fans can enjoy a great race on Sunday, so it's a really neat prize package and a really neat sweepstakes that's gonna benefit a lot of people.
When you just enter, the camp -- Give Kids The World is a 51-acre resort in Central Florida -- they benefit immediately because when you enter Just For Men will donate a dollar to Give Kids The World. So it's my goal to get like millions of people to enter our sweepstakes so we can give lots of money to Give Kids The World.
Q: Congratulations on how successful the Busch program has been. You're running second to Martin Truex Jr. after the race at Gateway, and I don't want to beat a dead horse because you've said you'll run all the races through Charlotte and then regroup, but have you had any more conversations with the folks from Aaron's about that?
Waltrip: I have conversations with the folks from Aaron's every day. They're not only my sponsor but they're my partner. We've had such a wonderful relationship with Aaron's and I couldn't be prouder than to represent that wonderful company.
You know, yesterday on Wall Street the stock from Aaron's was the No. 1 gainer on Wall Street, so obviously the company is doing well. Ken Butler, who's the president of Aaron's just loves NASCAR racing and using NASCAR racing to help people be aware of the wonderful products and dreams that can come true when you shop at Aaron's.
So we've talked regularly about what we want to do in 2004 and we've basically decided that we won't even think about a decision on that until Charlotte. We're prepared and we could run them all, easy. We have all the equipment to do so.
But it's just a matter of deciding if we think it's something that Aaron's wants to tackle, as far as from the monetary side, because it's going to cost us more money to race in 2004 if we add races to our originally budgeted program. We have to decide if that's something that we want to do and how it works logistically.
Q: So is the Best Western-backed race you've added to your schedule later in the year, in Phoenix a case where a sponsor stepped up and you've added that race?
Waltrip: Yes, and that's a really neat deal because Best Western is the Official Hotel Chain of NASCAR and an associate sponsor on my NAPA car. They just wanted to have their own identity on a car somewhere this year.
Phoenix is their corporate headquarters so we worked it out to run the No. 99 Busch car out there with Best Western on the side of it, so that allows us to run one more race than we were planning to run in the 2004 season, with backing from Best Western.
And there is a possibility that maybe some of our other sponsors might want to run a race or two along the way as well in order to run the whole season in '04.
Q: In my mind's eye I see a row of Aaron's Dream Machine Juniors lined up in your garage to cut the grass with, but what's the coolest Aaron's product you've got?
Waltrip: Oh, I love these little motorcycles, or scooters that you can lease to own. That's one of my favorite products. Of course, the lawn mower painted up like my racecar is big.
My Dell computer that I just got from Aaron's is another favorite of mine, so I can't tell you how much fun it is for me. I can flip up to the store in Hickory (N.C.) or I'll fly by the one in Mooresville (N.C.) and check out what they've got going on.
It's just a really unique way to make your dreams come true and my little scooter that I ride around my farm out there in North Carolina is probably my favorite.
Q: Thousands of people have got to want to know the answer to this question. As a spokesman for Domino's Dots and with access to any food preparation device you could ever want from Aaron's, how do you manage to stay pretty svelte?
Waltrip: Well, until about two years ago I didn't even know what the word "moderation" meant. If you said that word to me I would think you were speaking Chinese. So, as I began to look at turning 40, I decided that I wanted to weigh less than 200 lbs and to lift more weight and run further and faster than I ever had in my whole life.
In order to accomplish all those things I really probably OCD'ed on the working out -- I ramped that way up and then I just tried to be more reasonable with my food consumption. I love pizza, but I don't have to eat a half a pizza or a whole pizza now to be happy. I can just have a piece.
It's the same way with the Domino's Dots. That's how I've conquered my weight, is finally understanding that one piece is enough, or that's what I try to say, anyway. I said that really good until I lost all my weight, and now that I got it off I'm starting to slip back towards eating the whole pizza instead of just a piece or two.
But I've managed to maintain my weight pretty good over the last couple of years.
Q: Through it all you've managed to maintain your workout program, and I understand a marathon is still out on your horizon, right?
Waltrip: Yeah, I want to run the Vegas Marathon and I need to work on that and enter it -- thanks for reminding me. I want to try to get Kyle Petty to enter it, too, and we're going to try to figure out a way to raise a lot of money for Kyle's camp.
We're supporting Give Kids The World this year but Kyle's (Victory Junction Gang) camp is certainly another wonderful place for Children that are challenged to visit. So we want to raise a lot of money by running the marathon in Vegas in January for the Victory Junction Gang Camp.
Maybe we can ask the folks on NASCAR.COM what do they think would be a good way to go about accomplishing that?
Q: That brings to mind a first-time charity event you did last year. Is that on your schedule again in 2004?
Waltrip: We did the "Party with the Posse" at Sherrills Ford and I was just overwhelmed by the support that we received for our party. We raised over $70,000 and basically we didn't do anything.
We just sat and signed autographs but there was a lot of preparation work that went into it. When I say "we" didn't do anything, I mean the drivers didn't do anything but sign autographs. But Terry Smith and Brooke and all the people that work in my organization spent months preparing for it.
We had an auction with a lot of wonderful memorabilia that folks were able to buy, and games and food. It was almost a family reunion type atmosphere and it went so well I was afraid to do it again because I didn't want to try to match what we accomplished the first time.
So what we've decided to try to do in 2005 for our fundraiser is the marathon. I really want to work throughout 2004 trying to figure out a way to raise money for the camp by running this marathon. Right now, that's the next event I have planned on the personal side for a charitable fundraiser.
Q: Do you feel like you made the ultimate sacrifice for your teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., by pushing him to the front and then getting peeled off the draft and left behind?
|
|
 |
|
| On running full-time in Busch: "We have to decide if that's something that we want to do..." Credit: Autostock |
|
Waltrip: Well, he had fallen back and I had been in the front and in fact, we were all over the place. We had made a good run up around the outside to the front but there just wasn't room for me to pull over to the left like Junior did.
When he made his left to the bottom and secured his position in the lead, it kinda like ended my run to the front, and that started an extreme fall to the rear. I mean, our car just stopped when he pulled over and there wasn't anybody up there helping us.
I probably fell back to 15th or 20th. But that being said, I still felt I could've won that race if the caution doesn't come out with four laps to go, because I had a fast car, I had a lot of help and things would have worked out -- I would have been back.
But I just didn't get the opportunity because of the caution flag, so more than me thinking that Dale Jr. pulling down out of in front of me and over to the other lane of cars cost me the race, I think that caution cost me more because I think I would've been back up there for a win or a top-five position if the race goes 188 laps.
Q: With all that crap flying over the fence, it must've been deja vu all over again for you, with your win at Daytona in 2002?
Waltrip: Last year, when I won Talladega in the fall, we had a red flag with, I think, five or six laps to go, so I didn't get the break that (Jeff) Gordon did. I had to race 'em all the way to the end.
Q: From a driver's standpoint, does it offend you at all when NASCAR says you guys can't complete a two-lap or one-lap or even a three-lap shootout, because they're afraid you'll destroy each other?
Waltrip: Well, haven't you seen us drive? Those caution-free races at Talladega were luck. I mean, you put 30 cars and give 'em one lap. . . One lap would have been better than two. In one lap we would've only gone fast enough to hurt ourselves for about a mile.
We wouldn't have been up to speed. Two laps would've been disastrous (but) one lap would've been all right. I wanted to go -- I mean, I was sitting there in 12th and I didn't go to Talladega to finish 12th. I went there to win.
I didn't necessarily think I could go from 12th to win in a one-lap shootout, but I was pretty confident I could work my way into the top-10. I was disappointed, but NASCAR makes a lot more right decisions than they do wrong ones.
Q: With the way you ran at Talladega, are you pretty enthused about coming back and winning another Pepsi 400?
Waltrip: I am. Our car was really good and it didn't get torn up, obviously, at Talladega. So we have the ability to improve it and come down there and get us a win.
Q: You've still got the capability of getting into the top 10 in the championship, where there's a lot of contenders, and I don't want to write anybody off; but with what we saw at the end of the Talladega race, what kind of an impact would a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nextel Cup championship would have?
Waltrip: Oh, I mean, he's hugely popular, so I think that everybody would love to see Dale Jr. be our champion as far as the fans go. He would be my choice, obviously, if I can't win it, that he be the one to win it.
But that being said, I know how much it would mean to me, or to any of the other drivers to be champion so we wouldn't care if it would be better for the sport if he won than if I won. I still want to win it.
We're racecar drivers and that's all I want to do, is win. I don't like talking about other racecar drivers winning anything.
Q: With all the problems NASCAR seems to be having freezing the field, what's your feeling about reverting back to the last green flag lap?
Waltrip: I think that would be OK for maybe the first -- or maybe most of the race. But with five laps to go, if you pass a guy and you're ahead of him and the caution clearly comes out after you've passed him, well, it's too hard to pass people just get back in line behind them.
Maybe they can revert back to the last completed lap until there's 10 to go and when there's 10 to go they need to freeze the field, and they need to get better at it.
Q: Would it be feasible to run the last 10 laps caution free and if you get a caution in that time, stop the field and don't count any laps run under caution?
Waltrip: You advertise the "Daytona 500" and there seems to be so much strategy put into winning a 500-mile race. If you start trying to pull off what you're saying there, then you're going to be racing maybe a 507-mile race and I don't like that idea.
I like the idea of throwing the red flag late in the race to get the track cleaned up and throwing the green with a lap or two if you have to, to get a race in.
|
