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Rusty Wallace
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Russell William "Rusty" Wallace (born August 14, 1956) is a former NASCAR champion, NASCAR Nationwide Series car owner, and television broadcaster with ESPN and ESPN on ABC and co-host of NASCAR Angels. Wallace had his first live broadcast of the Indy 500 on May 28, 2006. Wallace appeared in the 1990 film Days of Thunder.
ace was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In the late '70s, prior to joining the NASCAR circuit, Wallace made a name for himself racing around the Midwest winning a pair of local track championships.
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Encyclopedia
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace (born August 14, 1956) is a former NASCAR champion, NASCAR Nationwide Series car owner, and television broadcaster with ESPN and ESPN on ABC and co-host of NASCAR Angels. Wallace had his first live broadcast of the Indy 500 on May 28, 2006. Wallace appeared in the 1990 film Days of Thunder.
Early racing career
Wallace was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In the late '70s, prior to joining the NASCAR circuit, Wallace made a name for himself racing around the Midwest winning a pair of local track championships. Rusty won more than 200 short track races. In 1979 he won United States Auto Club's (USAC) Stock Car Rookie of the Year honors, finishing third in the points behind A.J. Foyt and Bay Darnell. He finished second in USAC Stock Car in 1981 behind Joe Ruttman.
In 1983 he won the American Speed Association (ASA) championship while competing against some of NASCAR's future stars like Mark Martin, 1992 NASCAR Champion Alan Kulwicki and Dick Trickle.
NASCAR career
Wallace finished second in his first NASCAR race at Atlanta 500 in 1980, having started 7th, driving for Roger Penske in the #16. He made nine further NASCAR appearances over the next three years, although he didn't score any further top 10 finishes until he went fullt-time in 1984. Wallace joined the Winston Cup circuit full-time in 1984, winning NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors and finishing 14th in the final points standings. He raced in the #88 Gatorade Pontiac for Cliff Stewart with the best finish of 4th in 30 races, along with two 5th places and four further top 10's. Wallace stayed with Cliff Stewart for 1985, but this time in the #2 Alugard Pontiac. In 29 races, Rusty had 2 top 5's 8 top 10's.
For 1986 he switched teams to the #27 Alugard Pontiac for Raymond Beadle's Blue Max Racing team. Rusty's first win came on April 6, 1986, at Bristol Motor Speedway . He also won at Martinsville on September 21st. He finished the year with 2 wins, 4 top 5's and 16 top 10's in 29 races. Wallace finished 6th in the points, his first top 10 in the standings.
For 1987 Wallace gained sponsorship from Kodiak, establishing the #27 Kodiak Pontiac livery his early career is most remembered for. He took victories at Watkins Glen and Riverside, as well first series pole at Michigan in June. These results were backed up with 9 top 5's and 16 top 10's in 29 races. He finished 5th in points.
Wallace developed his career further in 1988, scoring six victories including four of the final five races of the year. His wins came at Michigan, Charlotte, North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, the final race ever at Riverside, and the season finale at Atlanta. With these 6 wins as well as 19 top 5's four further top 10's, he finished 2nd to Bill Elliott by 24 points.
In 1989, Wallace won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship,with crew chief Barry Dodson, by finishing 15th at the Atlanta Journal 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, to beating out close friend and fierce rival Dale Earnhardt who won the race, by twelve points. Wallace also won The Winston in controversial fashion, by spinning out Darrell Waltrip on the last lap.
In 1990, Raymond Beadle switched sponsors, to Miller Genuine Draft. The four-year sponsorship deal was specifically tied to Rusty Wallace, meaning it went where the 1989 champ went.. The 1989 championship year was reportedly marked with acrimony between Wallace and Beadle. However, Wallace was stuck with the team for 1990 due to his contract. Rusty had 18 wins for Beadle.
In 1991 Wallace took the Miller sponsorship with him to Penske Racing, and he continued in the #2 Miller Genuine Draft Pontiac. He also won the 1991 IROC championship.
While 1992 only carried him one win, the win at the Miller 400 was satisfying; it was the first win for Rusty in a car which arguably was Rusty's best known chassis for his career, one affectionately known as "Midnight" after the win. "Midnight" would be raced for six seasons, carrying various race wins, before being retired in 1997.
1993 was arguably his most successful season despite two major accidents at Daytona and Talladega in which his car went airborne and flipped several times. He had already won the 2nd race of the season Feb 28th 1993 at North Carolina Motor Speedway(Rockingham closed in 2005) but also a sad one as his friend and reigning Nascar Champion Alan Kulwicki was killed flying into Bristol Speedway in April 1993, because of this Rusty won the race at Bristol and in respect to Alan Kulwicki he did a "Polish victory lap" - turning his car around and driving around the track the wrong way, as made famous by Kulwicki. Every race Rusty won that year he did a "Kulwicki victory lap" He won all 3 races in April (Bristol 4/4/93, North Wilkesboro 4/18/93(Track closed in 1996) and Martinsville 4/25/93 also he won the first ever race at the New Hampshire Speedway starting 33rd on July 11th. He won 10 of the 30 races, but finished second in the final points standings, 80 points behind Earnhardt. He ended the season strong, finishing in the Top-3 in all but two of the final ten races of the season.
Penske switched to Ford in 1994.
In 1997, Miller changed the teams sponsorship to Miller Lite, replacing the black and gold with a blue and white scheme.
In 1998, Wallace won the Bud Shootout at Daytona, A non-points race for the previous years pole winners and past winners of the race. It was the first win for Ford's new Taurus, and Wallace's only victory at NASCAR's premier track (as well as his only victory in any restrictor plate race) in a Cup car
In 2003, Penske Racing switched to Dodge, and appropriately, in 2004, Wallace won his 55th, and final, race on a short track: the 2004 spring Martinsville Speedway race. It was also the last win for the track under the ownership of the H. Clay Earles Trust; the death of Mary Weatherford (matriarch of the trust) forced the Trust to sell the track a month later.
On August 30, 2004 Wallace announced that the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season would be his last as a full-time driver. Although at the time the possibility remained that he may have continued to run a limited schedule after the 2005 season -- as semi-retirees Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte also have done, Wallace's current broadcasting contract forbids him from doing so.
In 2006, Wallace returned to his General Motors roots when he raced a Crawford-Pontiac sportscar, painted black and carrying the familiar stylised #2. The car was sponsored by Callaway Golf, in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, teamed with Danica Patrick and Allan McNish; in 2008, his NASCAR Nationwide Series cars witched from Dodge to Chevrolet.
To date, Rusty had 55 NASCAR wins, which is tied for 8th on NASCAR's all-time wins list. He retired after the 2005 season with a 14.4 career average finish.
Sprint Cup Statistics
| Year | Starts | Wins | Top Fives | Top Tens | Poles | Rank |
|---|
| 2005 | 36 | 0 | 8 | 17 | 0 | 8th | | Totals | 706 | 55 | 202 | 349 | 36 | - |
Broadcast career
On January 25, 2006, it was announced that Rusty would cover auto racing events for ESPN and ABC. Despite Rusty's lack of open-wheel racing experience, his assignments began with the IndyCar Series and included the Indianapolis 500 (in a perhaps forgivable lapse, he described a thrilling battle on the last lap as "The most exciting Daytona 500 ever!"). He joined the NASCAR broadcasting team for both networks when they started coverage of the sport in 2007. He signed a six year deal with ESPN in 2006. Rusty also returned to commentate for the 2007 Indy 500. He also co-hosts the syndicated program, NASCAR Angels with Shannon Wiseman.
Car owner
He also owns and operates Rusty Wallace Racing, which fields the #62 South Point Chevrolet Impala SS driven by Brendan Gaughan and the #66 5 Hour Energy/Fi-Delis/Jimmy John's Chevrolet Impala SS driven by Wallace's son Steven Wallace (racer).
Family
Rusty's two brothers, Kenny and Mike, who are from Missouri, also currently race on the NASCAR circuit. Rusty and his wife Patti have three children -- Greg, Katie, and Steven and now live on a large ranch outside Charlotte, N.C. Steven races in the Nationwide Series.
Off the track, Wallace is an avid pilot, owning several airplanes and a helicopter.
Iowa Speedway
In late 2005, Rusty Wallace broke ground on his "Signature Design Speedway" in Newton, Iowa. The Iowa Speedway had its first race on September 15, 2007 and hosted many races in 2007 including an IRL race. The timing couldn't have been any better as the Maytag manufacturing plant in Newton closed a few months before the ground breaking, resulting in many jobs in Newton being lost. The track is noted for its structural similarity to Richmond International Raceway, where Wallace has won six times. The Iowa Speedway will host its first NASCAR Nationwide Series race in 2009.
Trivia
- Rusty & his brothers all appeared in the Electronic Arts video game "NASCAR Rumble". Mike was featured as a Craftsman Truck Series driver, driving the #2 ASE Dodge (no specific car makes for the Trucks; the real truck was a Dodge at the time), Kenny was featured in the game driving the #55 Square D Chevrolet (although the game's commerial showed him driving the #81 Square D Ford) & Rusty was featured in the game driving his #2 Ford, with the exception that the Miller Lite stickers are replaced by Penske Racing stickers similar to current Penske Championship Racing driver David Stremme, whose sponsor is censored by NASCAR's ban on wireless telephone advertising. All publishers of NASCAR titles are prohibited from carrying alcohol or tobacco advertising on their cars.
- The #62 South Point Chevrolet Impala SS driven by Brendan Gaughan in 2009 on the NASCAR Nationwide Series intentionally carries a black and gold paint scheme reminiscent of Wallace's legendary "Midnight" car.
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