 | | Michael Waltrip: "(I'm) looking forward to not only racing (the No. 15) next year, but for about another 10, 20 years ahead. I have no plans of not driving and no plans of not driving that car." Credit: Autostock |
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
July 19, 2004
03:23 PM EDT (19:23 GMT) Knowing the requisite millions of dollars necessary to maintain Victory Junction Gang Camp, much less see it thrive, Michael and Buffy Waltrip wanted to develop a unique way to raise national awareness for the cause. So they decided to run a campaign. Well, actually they decided to campaign by running, as it were.  |  | AUDIO | |
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In hopes of raising at least $1 million for Victory Junction, the Waltrips developed Operation Marathon, a six-month fundraising initiative that will culminate with Michael running the 2005 Las Vegas Marathon on Jan. 30. Last Thursday, just before arriving at Chicagoland Speedway for the Tropicana 400 weekend, Waltrip rang NASCAR.COM's Marty Smith for a conversation about Operation Marathon, as well as his thoughts about developing an ASA program, the sentiment that Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s restrictor plate dominance may be over and the Chase for the Championship. Q: First, let's talk about your marathon initiative. I know it's to raise money for Victory Junction, and it's in Vegas, right? |  | | Michael Waltrip |
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Michael Waltrip: It's January 30th. Buff and I had it on our hearts to raise a significant amount of dollars for the camp, in order to help them to maintain. Understand, a lot of times it's easy when something's new to get people to get involved and stuff. But they built this wonderful camp, and it just costs so much for children to get to go visit it. We made a commitment over the foreseeable future to try to raise $1 million per year for the camp. Our first goal is just to raise $1 million, and we'll see how that goes, but we want to keep working and keep trying to raise money in order to assure that the camp is always full of children and a lot of folks get to take advantage of it. Q: Is that going to be a per-mile deal, like so much money for how many miles you run? |  | MICHAEL WALTRIP | |
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Waltrip: Well, it's not going to be a per-mile deal, because I'm 41 years old and if I break down I don't want to have to give any money back. So what we're doing, basically, is just using the marathon to raise awareness for our fund driving efforts. We're going to have tons of ways for people to contribute to the Michael and Buffy Waltrip Charitable Fund, and Operation Marathon, more specifically. T-shirts, hats. People can log on to michaelwaltrip.com and eventually will be able to see my training regimen and be able to join me in virtual training, training with me online. And then you can call 1-866-Waltrip and just flat out make a donation to the effort. My sponsors are getting involved, for sure. Aaron's was the first to step up. Every time I finish in the top-10 of a Busch or Cup race between now and the end of the year they're going to donate $9,999 to the effort, and all my sponsors will eventually figure out some way to pledge money or contribute to the goal. "A marathon of giving" is our motto. We know that's what it's going to take in order for the camp to always be full of young children that are getting to experience a part of life that maybe they hadn't been fortunate enough to see. So the marathon, we thought, was a good way to draw attention to that and a way to get people all across the country involved, instead of just having a golf tournament or something in one town. |  | | Credit: Autostock |
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We felt like over the next six months we can get everybody in the country aware of the marathon, and that we're planning of having a big post-race party after the marathon that night, and hopefully celebrate our attaining the goal of $1 million. Q: Now, running a marathon is no easy task. I've done it myself. It's grueling. How many have you done? I know you've done at least one, maybe two or three. Waltrip: I've done three. And I don't even know why I'm doing another one. It's crazy. I think it becomes something you get mentally almost addicted to, or you're at least driven by it mentally to see if you can attain this goal. I'm a total goal-oriented person and ... At this point we were disconnected, somewhere between Pennsylvania and New York in a razor-thin construction zone on I-81. Please excuse the interruption... Waltrip, continued: I totally just think you become mentally driven toward accomplishing a goal. My goal was to run a marathon in less than four hours, and my best time of the three has been 4:12. So to be that close to a goal and I think have the knowledge of how to go about accomplishing that goal, then using something like the awareness for the camp and the drive to raise that type of money, all those goals and the commitment makes me want to try it again. I'm looking forward to the Vegas marathon. I think that'll be a pretty neat place to run one, and a great place to have a celebration that night after we raise that million. Q: Agreed. I'm looking forward to it, as well. Let's shift gears now. A lot was made after the Pepsi 400 about DEI's restrictor-plate dominance, and speculating that you've fallen off somewhat, or that others have caught up and that your plate dominance is over. What's your take on that? Waltrip: Ummm. I think we were pretty dominant for most of the race. Then, at the end, Junior lost his wingman. My car went to pushing, severely, so for some reason I stumbled home with an ill-handling car. I think if the two of us had been there, we'd have been able to display that we're still on top of our game. And I think that throughout the first half of the race we were able to show that we are right where we were. What happened to my car, why it went to pushing so bad, I really don't know. Just seemed like maybe the tires that I got at the end didn't match up with the setup I had on my car or else the track changed more as it got later than we had anticipated. Whatever the reason, I wasn't able to race them at the end. Q: Speaking of Junior, he was a bit critical earlier in the year, saying you guys had to step up or there was the possibility you might lose that ride. You've had several top-10s here, finished second at Charlotte, etc., and I understand now you're secure in that car for next year? Note: The following weekend in Chicago, it was announced that Waltrip and NAPA would be back at DEI in 2005. Waltrip: Yep. We're all set. Just looking forward to not only racing it next year, but for about another 10, 20 years ahead. I have no plans of not driving and no plans of not driving that car. I'm looking forward to continuing what we've been able to build here lately. As a racecar driver it's just so much fun when you get all your stuff worked out and you're on top of it. Right now we are. Q: You guys have been really, really good in the Busch cars, as well. And I understand that you're hoping to create an ASA program? Waltrip: Well, we bought a couple cars and we're going to test some guys, mainly. I've got a couple guys ... ideally I'd like to take my Busch team and run for the championship in Busch with another driver. So it's just a process of beginning to try to find my replacement for the Busch car so that I can build that program. We thought the ASA was a great way to go about it. We got our cars and we're pulling all our stuff together, and hopefully, on July 20 we're planning our first test, so we'll see how that goes. Q: Where's that test, and do you have any particular drivers in mind? Waltrip: The test is at Hickory Motor Speedway, and we have a couple guys that are going to test, but we're not saying who they are right now. We're just going to see how it all goes and find out where that takes us next. We actually have four or five guys we want to run through the car, and it'll take us more than one test in order to accomplish that. Q: Michael, you're a really successful plate racer so you know all too well that blocking is part of that. Jason (Leffler) got into you during the Busch race at Daytona, then went up to block Junior and, of course, got into Junior and NASCAR penalized him. Do you feel like that was warranted? Waltrip: Yeah. He took out DEI's Busch racing dominance -- one guy in a half lap ended that right quick. And that's not cool. I didn't think as the leader I was supposed to get spun out. I didn't crowd him up, just finished the pass and he hit me in the back. I don't understand why he did that. Then he said he crowded Junior up. Not necessarily speaking about what he did to Junior warrants a penalty or not, but probably the combination of the two. Q: A lot of guys, Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson, included, have been quite critical of the points system, in a negative light, and don't agree that it's going to really reward a true NASCAR-type champion. What are your thoughts on the way the championship is decided and if it's viable? Waltrip: Since the day I heard about it, I thought it was genius. I felt it was a great idea, and I've endorsed it. To hear somebody say that the championship just rewards a guy that's able to do good in 10 races is crazy. You don't understand the intensity level of what it takes to be a part of the top-10 after 26 races, so to battle your way into being one of the top-10 drivers in order to set yourself up to battle for this championship at the end of the year, I don't think people have been taking into account how difficult that battle will be. You know, everybody says, 'Well all you have to do is be good for 10 races and you can be the champion.' Well that's untrue. You've got to be good for 26 to even have the opportunity to be the champion. Tell me this, what would the NFL be without the Super Bowl? What would Major League Baseball be without the World Series? Those events put an exclamation point on the season. It's exactly like saying you could be the Super Bowl champion and just play four games. It takes a season of building and preparing and putting yourself in a position to become the champion. That's exactly what these 26 races do. It lets you build your team and prepare your team, then you've got to win and be successful even to get the opportunity. Then when you get the opportunity, those teams that are battling are going to be prepared to fight to the finish, and the race fans are going to be rewarded with a championship battle like never seen before. It'll make the end of the season and the champion, ultimately, the most exciting champion ever crowned. I don't understand why people can't endorse it. I understand that everybody has an opinion, and I respect Richard Petty's opinion, and I respect other drivers' opinions that they don't like it, but to me whoever thought of it is a genius, and I think when it's all said and done and we go forward, it'll be endorsed by more and more. Q: Let me ask you this, though. NASCAR implemented that system to encourage mashing it, getting up front and winning races. There's a real possibility that a guy like Bobby Labonte, who's yet to win but is fourth or fifth in points, could qualify, then top-five them to death in the final 10 and win the thing without a victory, right? Waltrip: What's your point? Matt Kenseth won the thing going away last year with one victory... Q: Right, but ... Waltrip: Any scenario you try to paint, in order to criticize something, you have say, 'Well, that's exactly what could have happened under the other way you did it. But you're taking the chances out of that happening greatly by setting the deal up like it is now. You're going to have to go out there and beat each other heads up in those final 10 races, I would think, in order to get the most points. | 
