Rusty Wallace: "The reason I'm retiring like I'm retiring is 'cause I don't want to be a driver out there running 30th or almost close to missing the race." Credit: Autostock

Conversation: R. Wallace

In Part 1 of this conversation, which took place on New Year's Eve, Rusty Wallace discusses with NASCAR.COM staff writer Lee Montgomery why "retirement" is a bad word, his plans for after 2005 and the burgeoning racing career of his youngest son, Stephen. Part 2 will post Wednesday.

Q: Here we are, New Year's Eve, ready for 2005 -- your last year. Has it hit you at all that this time next year, you're not going to be getting ready for Daytona, you're not going to be cinching up the belts at all? Has that sunk in at all yet?

Yeah, it has sunk in a lot. I continuously question myself, whether I retired a year too early because all my fans and friends and sponsors come up to me and say, "Why'd you retire so soon?" I say, "Well, I'm 48 years old. I'm going to be 49 next year."

	Credit: Autostock
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My little brother Kenny come up and said, "Man, it just sounds weird for somebody to be driving at age 50. To me, it seems funny or not right."

But anyway, I've got so many things going on, that's what got me thinking about retirement. The main reason I retired was because of the amount of races that we run. I just physically got tired of being on the road so much. If the schedule was broken up more -- like if we run 10 races and get a break, run eight more and get a break and run eight more and get a break -- maybe that's better.

I'm probably, at this moment, saying I retired a year too early. Maybe I'd have had it out of my system by then. Hey, I pulled the trigger and made the decision. There's no turning back right now. That's what I'm sticking with.

I'll miss it. I'll miss the finances, I'll miss all those things, but, hey, we'll just lean down a little bit. That's part of retiring.

Q: Are you going to be a guy who a couple years from now will hop in a truck or a Busch car or something silly like that? Or once you quit, you're going to be like Richard (Petty), and that's it?

That's my plan right now. Once I've retired -- I keep using that damn word, "retirement". That's really bothers me using that word. I don't want to use that word. I'm quitting driving. I'm not retiring. People retire when they're 65. I'm only 48 right now, so I'm ending my driving career.

I think I'm going to be a great car owner. I understand what these guys need and want. You try to be a sounding board for all your employees, and a lot of them will wear you right out. A lot of them will take you to a corner and say, "Man, I really need to talk to you."

You can only do so much of that. I've been through all that, and I think I'm going to make a good car owner.

Where was I going with that question? What were we talking about?

Q: What were we talking about? About coming back.

I said I don't want the word "retirement" around. I'm just quitting driving. People retire when they're 65. I'm not retiring. I'm stopping driving. I plan on really being involved in the team. Myself and Roger (Penske) and Don Miller started the team. I've got a lot into it.

I haven't been involved in the daily operation of the team for two or three years now because I've been racing and I've been building for the future with my car dealerships that are up in East Tennessee and the Busch team that we've built -- to help take care of my employees and build something for Stephen and build the Rusty Wallace Inc. name. I've been involved with doing all that.

But now, once I get out of the car, I plan on spending a lot more time with Team Penske in our new building. I believe I can really, really help our new drivers a lot. I think I can help short-cut what they're feeling on the racetrack and get their performance up to speed faster than they can on their own. I think that's going to be a neat deal.

Q: So you may be a little bit like Rick Mears? Once he got out, he stayed around and was a "driving coach" of sorts.

Running at Bristol Motor Speedway. Credit: Autostock

A little bit like Rick Mears, but a lot more. Rick was a driver, but he never was the owner. I've got a pretty good understanding, I think, of what's the whole deal.

I feel like I know what these sponsors want, I feel like I know what they need to be treated like, how they need to be served and what they're objective is when they get in and put their name on the side of the car. I'm definitely going to be involved in that area, to get those guys to meet their goals.

Let me tell you what, these damn things burn $100 bills every minute. They're blowing $1,000 bills out their tailpipe as soon as fire 'em up. It's one of the most expensive things we've ever encountered, so I'm going to be really actively involved in that.

But one of the questions you asked me was my plan right now is to get out of the car like Richard Petty got out of the car. But as mechanically inclined as I am, if I go to the racetracks with these guys, and they're stuck and can't get the car to handle, I know I'm going to say, "Get out," and I'll get in and say, "Oh, that's what it's doing." I'll get it then.

But as far as jumping in a truck and running a truck for four or five races or running this or that, I don't know. I've got such fond memories and I enjoy running Bristol so much, and I enjoy racing the road courses so much, I'm not going to say you won't catch me getting in and going to Bristol one time or go to Watkins Glen.

Although, that probably (won't happen until) 2006. And 2007 will probably be as far out as I would do that.

At the end of the year, if I get real comfortable with everything and my lifestyle is readjusted, then maybe I'll be totally comfortable. Maybe that feel will pass.

Q: And maybe Patti will just kick you in the butt a couple times and say, "You're not getting back in that car."

She could. She could do that. But Steve's coming up so rapidly that I've just got a feeling that that thing's going to consume a lot of what I want to do. We'll probably put him in a couple ARCA races. My plan for Stephen is to run him in all 17 Hooters Pro Cup races.

Barry Dodson, who put together the Busch team for me and got it up and running, is now down handling Stephen. Barry's going to be Stephen's crew chief, general manager all in one and help Stephen get going and get up to speed. Barry told me last night, "We'll win a championship with him." After the kid went down and (became) the youngest kid in history to win the Snowball Derby, I don't doubt that they can't do that.

I'm going to be really involved with him. Greg's got his new company, Blueflame Authentics, going on right now. He's doing great. Katie and Greg are both at Wake Forest University in college right now. If I can just get Steve out of high school, I'm really doing something with him because he's definitely going to be a racer.

Besides Team Penske, the other main, main thing that I've got a lot of money invested in and something I really, really enjoy doing is when I go to East Tennessee to the car dealerships.

Rusty straps in to race his Busch Series car. Credit: Autostock

We've been that brand-new Honda dealership. Our Pontiac dealership, our Toyota dealership, our Ford, our Lincoln-Mercury-Mazda. I love going to Morristown, Tenn. and Knoxville and hanging out and doing that.

I'll try to understand the car business more. I've been kind of the key guy that does the TV commercials and the radio commercials. I've put hard hats on and went and visited a lot of plants and thanked them. It's been a lot of fun, that thing has.

I'm constantly at the doggone track, and people come up to me and say, "I was driving through Knoxville, Tenn., and my car broke down. I dropped off at your Pontiac dealership, your Honda dealership, and they were so nice to me, it's unreal." That's the really cool thing that I found out. If Penske's taught me anything, it's been customer service, take care of your customer, and understand him. We do that at our car dealerships.

Ray Huffaker is a guy that I met a long time ago, and he got me in the business with him, and the guy has been one of my best friends. A hell of a teacher; this guy's amazing. I love hanging around with him. I like hearing the things he says, how he treats people, and it was really cool when we had our customer appreciation day the other day at the Honda store.

We set up all kinds of food, and we sent invitations to anybody that ever bought a car from us. Told them to come out, hang out, have some food, drink some coffee, bull----, talk about racing, whatever. Every one of them came in and said the reason they kept coming back was because my people treated them so well. So that was a great feeling. I am going to do more things like that.

I want to get more hands-on with the car dealerships. If you get in the damn plane, it's only 45 minutes up there, or a three-hour drive.

Q: As far as getting out of the car, quitting driving, did you want to leave fans wanting more? When Bill Elliot retired, fans thought he could still win. You don't want to be the kind of guy that drags on and year after year people wonder why you don't retire. Is that one of the reasons that you chose to retire now?

That's exactly right. One of the reasons that I retired is that I feel like I'm on top of my game. Yeah, I haven't won as often as I should win. But I sit there and I look at my performance on the track, and I said, "I don't have to feel bad about anything, man. I have run up front all year long." Last race at Homestead, me and (Greg) Biffle had a half-lap lead on the field, checking out, going. I've got to stop because I'm three laps short on gas.

My problem these past two or three years has absolutely been pit strategy. It's not a crew chief problem, it's not Larry Carter or anybody. Maybe I'm as much to blame as anybody. We definitely have a fast car. Very seldom did I qualify out of the top 10 this year.

We have a lot of strong, strong performances and just can't close the deal at the very end there. I look back and say, "Gosh, you should've had five or six wins." "If" is a big word.

Stupid things like the Watkins Glen deal: running fourth and run out of gas on the white-flag lap. Got to stop at Homestead. I was real happy at Homestead. I really have got an open mind. I'm old-school, no doubt about it. But I do get tired of being called old-school because I'm not as old-school as people think. I rely a lot on our engineers, like I never have in the past. Derek Stamets, our engineer, and I get along great. Larry and I get along great. I'm looking forward to this year's Daytona 500. I am really a new-age guy, and I use all the stuff. But I get labeled as old-school, and that's not really the fact.

Wallace and crew check out their setup. Credit: Autostock

At Homestead, we just flew all day long. The week before, we ran great at Atlanta, had a fifth or sixth at Phoenix. Bottom line is I'm real happy with my performance with the car. We've just got to close the deal.

The reason I'm retiring like I'm retiring is 'cause I don't want to be a driver out there running 30th or almost close to missing the race. I'm not going to put any knocks in Darrell Waltrip or anybody at all, but I want to go out kicking a-- and taking names. I'm still really respected on the racetrack. I think my competitors think I'm a good competitor, a fair driver, and that's it.

I wanted to do the tour. I really like what Richard Petty did. He made the fans happy, he made money, he was visible, and he did what he wanted. I'll do that.

Switching gears a little bit, I really enjoy television. I like doing that. I'll probably continue doing some of the stuff for Speed next year. I'm looking forward to maybe some commentating down the road, whether it's '06 or '07, and I really haven't talked to any of the networks yet. I'm real interested in that.

Q: This time last year, Larry was your new crew chief and a lot of people questioned that. I think one of the things that you had said was you were going to let Larry be Larry. Let him call the shots, and you were going to back off a little. Did that happen as much as you would like? Was it to your satisfaction?

Yeah. I really think Larry did a great job. I honestly right now as I am doing this interview can't think of anything that Larry did that I didn't appreciate. Some of the time, I might have questioned something, I was right in involved with the decision.

You know, they were trying to get me to pit the time before at Homestead. Not the last pit stop, but they wanted me to pit the time before. I said, "Guys, I'm not giving up this damn track position. I've helped us all year long. I was finally back to the front through cycles, we've got a fast car, and I don't want to give it up."

They told me, "We're going to run out of gas." I said, "Man, there's going to be so many caution flags that I know we can make enough up and make it." Finally, that last one came out, and I said, "Screw it, let's come in."

I probably made a mistake there. I probably overrode Larry on. He said, "let's put four on." I said, "No, two-tire me again. Two-tire me again, and we'll beat 'em out." Two tires worked really good the last time. So we two-tired it, went out, and the damn car pushed.

Greg Biffle and I pitted identical. Biffle put on four, I put on two, and he went right to the front and won the race. That's a huge mistake I made. I should have never done that because I could've went right to the front, too. We had an exceptional car that day. That was one of the times that I really -- I didn't really override Larry -- but I said, "Man, I really don't want to pit," and he said, "OK, we'll stay out then."

Roger (Penske)'s up on the radio, too, going, "Hey I think you ought to pit. I don't know. But I think you ought to pit."

I guess the thing I need to hear is, "Pit." It's really bad when you come on the radio with me and say, "What do you think?" I guess I need somebody with a sledge hammer saying, "Pit now," and if we make a mistake, well, we're all in the ditch together.

Q: You talked a little bit about Barry Dodson. Do you remember the first time you met him and how your relationship grew over the years?

Wallace waves to fans at Martinsville. Credit: Autostock

I do. Barry was watching me when I was driving the Cliff Stewart car. Cliff Stewart's the one who gave me my big break to get into Cup. Barry was watching what I was doing. We ran real good and kept having problems. He got a hold of me and said, "Hey, you want to try a shot at this car? Tim Richmond's getting ready to leave." I said, "Yeah, I'd love to."

He has been one of my biggest supporters and believers in me my whole life. To me in my heart, Barry's one of the most honest, finest individuals I've ever met in my life.

That guy would take a bullet for me. I've got so much confidence in him. That's the reason I'm letting him take my kid over and run him. Barry's the first guy I thought of when we started the team. I told him, "Barry, you and I aren't crew chiefs. This stuff is all new-age right now. You don't know that s---, and I don't know that stuff. I need you to help me get this team going on. I'm going to give the title of general manager to look after that stuff."

That's what he did. He got that whole team up and running, running like a greased wheel right now. It's going good. Blake Bainbridge, our crew chief, is such a new-age technology freak, and he's really, really good at it. Blake's got that whole thing under control and rolling right now.

So now it's time for Barry to move on to the next step, and the next step is going to be take my kid and make him a champion like you made me a champion.

Q: Do you see yourself in Stephen at all? Are you two alike as far as approach to racing, driving? Or is it too early to tell for him?

The way Steve drives ... Steve drives more aggressive than I drove. I'm telling you, Steve's like an early Earnhardt right now. I've taken more heat because of Stephen running into people and giving them the chrome horn.

His explanation is, "Dad, this guy keeps chopping me. I'll try to get underneath him, and he's cutting me off, he's running me into the infield." I told him, "Third strike and you're out, pal." He'll get mad and do stuff like that.

He runs them up, catches them and gets on their bumper, and then something's got to happen. He's not going to follow them. If he tries to pass them and they cut him off, he's not going to go for it.

He's rough around the edges right now, Stephen is. But the thing I like is he's really, really into the chassis. He's into building shocks, he's heli-arcing, welding, painting, setting the car up, driving the truck, loading the truck. He's got his little group of guys -- Jason Poole, Jeremy Pate and Barry Dodson -- and they've got it going on.

Now he's using all my exact slang. I'll listen to his interviews, and he'll say, "Yeah, boy, I had a great ol' hot rod tonight." That's been some slang term that's been stuck in my mind: "Yeah, I had a good ol' hot rod tonight. The boys did a good job." He'll use my same slang and terms. He's proud of his pop, no doubt about that. And we have a great time together.

Greg, he's totally different. He's totally into the business side. When I really have to confide and say, "What do you think?" -- I can say, "What do you think?" to anybody who works for me, and they'll give me an honest answer -- but Greg will give me another honest answer that's maybe looking from a different side of things. I have a great time working with Greg, too. Stephen, though, he's different.

Part 2: Wednesday, the conversation with Rusty Wallace continues, as Wallace talks about the controversy with Ryan Newman, possible replacements for Wallace at Penske Racing and more.