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Rusty Wallace
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Russell William "Rusty" Wallace (born August 14, 1956) is a former NASCAR championhampion, NASCAR Nationwide Series car owner, and television broadcaster with ESPN and ESPN on ABC. 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 careerWallace was born in Fenton, Missouri. 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.
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Russell William "Rusty" Wallace (born August 14, 1956) is a former NASCAR championhampion, NASCAR Nationwide Series car owner, and television broadcaster with ESPN and ESPN on ABC. 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 careerWallace was born in Fenton, Missouri. 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 career1980 Rusty Wallace finished second in his first NASCAR race at Atlanta 500 in 1980 driving for Roger Penske in the #16 he started 7th. He made 1 more race in 1980 for Penske at the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC where he started 25th and finished 14th, 9 laps down
1981 Rusty drove 4 races in '81 2 for Ron Benfield in the #98 Levi Garrett Pontiac with the best finish of 21st. the other 2 races were for John Childs with the best finish of 6th in the #72 Childs Tire Buick.
1982 Rusty drove 3 races this year, all for John Childs in the #72 Southland Fire Equipment Buick with the best finish of 29th
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 top 5's and four top 10's.
1985 Wallace stayed with Cliff Stewart but this time in the #2 Alugard Pontiac, in 29 races, Rusty had 2 top 5's 8 top 10's.
1986 He switched teams to the #27 Alugard Pontiac for Raymond Beadle. Rusty's first win came on April 6, 1986, at Bristol Motor Speedway. He also won at Martinsville Sept. 21st In 1986 he had 2 wins, 4 top 5's and 16 top 10's in 29 races he finished 6th in the points, his first top 10 in points.
1987 reached a new sponsorship, and his early career is most remembered for his #27 Kodiak Pontiac. He got his 1st ever pole at Michigan June 28th 1987. he got 2 wins this year 1 at Watkins Glen, the other at Riverside. 9 top 5's and 16 top 10's in 29 races. He finished 5th in points.
1988 Rusty had his best year so far, he amassed 6 wins, including the final race ever at Riverside, Michigan, Charlotte, North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, and the finale at Atlanta, he won 4 out of the last 5 races of 1988 stats: 6 wins, 19 top 5's and 23 top 10's even with this record he finished 2nd to Bill Elliot 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 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. That association lasted one year, with Rusty having 18 wins with Beadle in.
In 1991 Wallace took the sponsorship with him to Roger Penske/Penske Racing, and he continued in the #2 MGD 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 airborned 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" or turn his car around and go 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 (4th and 19th).
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 Pontiac roots when he raced a Crawford-Pontiac sportscar, painted black and carrying the familiar stylised #2, also sponsored by Callaway Golf, in the 24 Hours of Daytona at Daytona, teamed with Danica Patrick and Allan McNish.
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 careerOn 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 will join the NASCAR broadcasting team for both networks when they start 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.
Car ownerHe also owns and operates Rusty Wallace, Inc., which fields the Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches / Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet #66 NASCAR Nationwide Series car driven by his son Steve Wallace and the #64 NASCAR Nationwide Series Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet driven by David Stremme.
FamilyRusty'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 SpeedwayIn late 2005 Rusty Wallace broke ground in Newton, Iowa on his "Signature Design Speedway". The Iowa Speedway had its first race on September 15th and will host many races in 2007 including an IRL race. The timing couldn't have come any better as Maytag closed down a couple months before the ground breaking, causing many jobs to close in Newton. The track is noted for its structural similarity to Richmond International Raceway, where Wallace has won 6 times.
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