Latest Wallace hoping to break female stereotypes

As a teenager with braces on her teeth and rubber bands tying back her blonde hair, Chrissy Wallace told all the boys she one day would be a NASCAR driver.

One day is now.

The 20-year-old Wallace, a daughter and niece in the popular Wallace family of racers, is set to make her NASCAR debut March 29 in the Craftsman Truck Series Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway.

Mike Wallace watches out for his daugher from the spotter's stand.

Tapped to drive for a championship-caliber team, Wallace said she will drive five Truck races and five ARCA races for Germain Racing, which also fields trucks for drivers Todd Bodine and Justin Marks.

On top of that, Wallace will continue racing Late Model events around the Carolina tracks where she has found Victory Lane four times and was named most popular driver at Hickory Speedway, making her the first female to win in a Late Model stock car at the track in its 57-year history.

Preparing to leave this week for the upcoming Truck test at Martinsville, Wallace said talks to join the Germain family and Toyota began at the end of last season. However, her young-but-tough heart was guarded.

Wallace knows she is competing in a male-dominated sport where in recent years there has been public opposition to females racing on the track. Not only that, she's grown accustomed to empty promises; opportunities have been served only to be taken away days later.

"But I knew with the Germain family, they stick by their word ... if they say they are going to do something they do it," Wallace said.

More than that, she trusts the same family the employees her father, Nationwide Series driver Mike Wallace, who pilots the No. 7 Camry. The venture will make Mike and Chrissy the first father-daughter duo racing for the same team in NASCAR.

"My dad is my spotter for my races and he will spot for me in Martinsville so I'm extremely excited, he's like my coach and my dad," Wallace said. "We are close because of racing and we can pretty much talk about anything."

The two don't go dress shopping, but nevertheless, the bond is strong.

Wallace has proven she can produce results in smaller series; she's won at least 40 features in Legends cars.

Now it is time for her to produce results in NASCAR and poor equipment won't be an excuse she can point to if the results do not come. Toyota, with Germain Racing, is funding Wallace as part of the manufacturer's diversity initiative.

The diversity initiative is not to be confused with Drive for Diversity, a program in which NASCAR provides financial assistance to minorities for on-track endeavors. Wallace said she was not offered support from the program.

Nevertheless, she is more than pleased to carry the torch for females in NASCAR, a sport that in 60 years has failed to produce a successful female in its premier series. She said it is because traditional, and even archaic, mentalities are hard to reverse.

"I feel more accepted especially here lately, because I proved my point by winning," she said. "But guys have it stuck in their heads that females don't need to be out here. The phrase 'never a successful female' is stuck in owners minds and some have said we don't run well and look like idiots, but if you don't take the chance you'll never know."

Her chance to prove the "guys" wrong is here and Wallace knows the chance is a good one.

From Martinsville, Wallace will look to be approved to run on larger tracks and eventually superspeedways.

Meanwhile, she'll concentrate on merely being a Wallace; spending time at home with her family while at the same time always being ready to go racing.