Rusty Wallace's background lends itself to a helping hand in the garage. Credit: Autostock

Wallace pays homage to career's most influential

So how long has Rusty Wallace been a Cup series fixture? Well, the Apple Macintosh was 26 days old.

In the ensuing 22 years, Wallace has been a front-runner, the series' point champion and an outspoken advocate of the current rules package.

As his "Last Call" tour continues, Wallace looks back at the people who helped him reach the pinnacle of his profession.

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The driver that Wallace credits most for helping his career is a SportsCenter punch line.

"The most influential person in my career, the No. 1, is Dick Trickle," Wallace said. "Dick is the fella who helped me get my cars handling, told me about competition, told me about a lot of things and helped me win the championship with ASA in 1983 that spring boarded me into Cup."

Wallace and Trickle often competed against each other on the Midwest tracks, and ironically the year that Wallace won the Cup series title -- 1989 -- was Trickle's first full season on the circuit.

"Bobby Allison helped me all the time," Wallace said "As I was coming into this division, I would talk to Bobby a lot."

Wallace penned the foreword to Bobby Allison: A Racer's Racer, the 1983 Cup champion's 2003 autobiography.

"I would call Bud Moore all the time," Wallace said of the former driver and car owner. "I'd say, 'Bud, you know I've got this chassis I'm taking to the racetrack. What do you think about this?'

"Those are three driver-mechanical guys that helped me a ton.

"Mark Martin and I have raced together forever," he added. "I think everywhere I won, he was always at. So Mark I've always enjoyed driving with; he was always a fun guy to drive with."

And while Trickle, Allison, Moore and Martin are recognizable names to most NASCAR fans, Pete Hamilton is a name that may surprise some as a major influence on Wallace.

"Pete Hamilton is the guy that I originally went to," Wallace said. "I went to Pensacola, Fla., to sit by him; I drove him crazy. 'Pete, please help me with my cars.'

Dick Trickle Credit: Chris Stanford/Getty Images

"Pete, back then, had just won the Daytona 500 [1970 and '71], and he was building the best short-track cars in America," he said. "Pete took me under his wing and said, 'OK, I want you to design this front end like this, and do this and you build the car like this.'

"He did that, and out of that design, that's the design I took to Milwaukee, Wis., and won three or four state fairs, won the 100-mile dirt race in Du Quoin, Ill., [in 1981] racing with A.J. Foyt, Don White, Roger McCluskey, and beat those guys with that design.

"I came right to Talladega, Ala., and that particular day, I'll never forget," Wallace said, "I sat on the pole at 202 mph and raced Richie Evans and Harry Gant to the start/finish line and won the race.

"Pete Hamilton is the one who helped me design that car. ... It was an unbelievably famous car, and I don't where that car is now. I wish I had that car, so I could restore it."

However, a lot has changed since then.

"I grew up my whole life developing my own cars, designing my own cars, talking to key people who knew that the heck they were talking about," Wallace lamented. "Nowadays it's just so much technology, and that's good I guess, but it's just made it so everybody can do it easier. ... And we did it the hard way, and I loved doing it the hard way.

"I am liking the new way -- I sit there and go through all the computer stuff and we simulate runs and all that -- but it wasn't like that before. And I've got to tell you, it was a lot more fun back then."

'THE WRONG WAY' "It's different nowadays. Everybody is out there for their own team and their own sponsor, and we're just doing what we've got to do. There are guys I like and guys I don't like, guys I respect. I respect everybody that respects the sport. I don't respect any of the cocky guys that come in, it's my way or the highway. Get out of the way, I'm the new hotshot guy. I took my bumps and bruises a lot in this sport, along with all the veterans that came on. I love the new stuff going on, as long as these guys have got the respect. That's all I ask for out of them.  "I did it all the wrong way, too. I came on and immediately started winning. I thought the best driver in the world was me and everybody else was in my way. I had that attitude and I got that straightened out real quick when I had Cale Yarborough and Davey Pearson looking me in the eyeball and Richard Petty wanting to kill me, I figured it out real quick that I'd better get some respect. Live and learn. I've been there.  "My all-time hero always will be Bobby Allison. He taught me so much stuff, and I've been on so many Miller Genuine Draft cruises with David Pearson running around in his shorts and gambling and having a blast. I love hanging out with those dudes. They're so cool. Some of the new stuff out there nowadays, it seems like we've forgotten and lost some of the respect from those guys.  "You could talk to them all the time. They were great to talk to. It's so high-pressure nowadays. You're running the damn race on a laptop computer nowadays. It's tough. It's different, but that's what you've got to do. That's the way the sport has changed."  -- Rusty Wallace

One thing that hasn't changed is that Wallace will speak his mind. He was an outspoken proponent of the new aero package -- shorter spoiler, softer tires -- and he remains convinced it's been good for the sport.

"I haven't complained about the rear spoiler because I was one of the guys and advocates trying to get it out there, trying to get it shorter," Wallace said. "We're all getting accustomed to it.

"The whole goal is to try to minimize some of these weird decisions going on. The tires would not wear out, they kept running and running and running and nobody could pass anybody. It got to where, 'Should you put tires on, should you not put tires on, should you put two tires on, should you just leave the tires on and stay out for fuel ... all kinds of things came into play.

"I just don't think that's what this sport was all built about. It was built about who had the fastest car, who could run side-by-side, the competition, the whole thing," he said. "It turned into a strategy sport -- and I was not liking that part. So I suggested that we'd get better racing with a softer tire and a shorter spoiler."

Through 11 races, a case can be made for that argument.

"A lot of the new, young drivers aren't liking it, but they're all starting to come around now," Wallace said. "I'm hearing 'em shut up a little bit, and saying, 'Hey, it's not too bad. It's pretty good.' And a lot of those guys that hated it are starting to have some success."

Wallace also mentioned close friend Don Prudhomme, a former NHRA Top Fuel champion, as a major influence during this final phase of his career.

"Don's a drag racer," Wallace said, "and he's one of my best friends. I talk to Don probably twice a week, at least.

"This retirement thing, stopping racing full time, him and I have talked about it all the time. Sometimes he interviews me, 'OK, what about this, what about that, whaddya think?'

"And he said, 'Kid, lemme tell you, all I can tell you is that you and I are tight. I've retired. I'm having the best time of my life.'

"We talk all the time about everything, and we could almost call him Dr. Phil, I guess."

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