S3E5: Rusty Wallace

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About Our Guest

From RustyWallace.com:

For nearly 40 years, racing legend Rusty Wallace has delighted racing fans not only with his hard-nosed and aggressive approach to racing, but also with a personality and charisma that are unmatched in the sport.

Wallace—the 1989 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, 1984 Rookie of the Year and 55-time Cup Series race winner—will go into history as one of NASCAR’s finest drivers. For 16 straight seasons, Wallace won at least one race in NASCAR’s Cup Series, marking the third-longest such streak in history. At the time of his retirement in 2005, Wallace’s 55 victories marked the eighth-best all-time total and his nearly 20,000 laps led ranked seventh all-time.

Wallace’s on-track success was not limited just to NASCAR, however; he is also a former winner of the International Race of Champions (IROC). In 1991, he bested many of the world’s greatest drivers for the series title, becoming the only driver in history to win three of the series’ four events in a single season.

Rusty’s accomplishments both on and off the track have been widely recognized. He is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Hall of Fame and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

As one of the main protagonists during NASCAR’s meteoric commercial rise of the 1990s and 2000s, Wallace is often credited as being one of the catalysts behind the mainstream appeal the sport enjoys today. At the NASCAR awards ceremony in 2005, he was presented the NMPA Myers Brothers Award, given for outstanding lifetime contributions to the sport of stock car racing.

Wallace’s more recent undertakings have allowed him to continue putting his vast knowledge and charismatic personality to work. In 2006, he was named Lead Auto Racing Analyst for ABC and ESPN, providing analysis for the networks’ 2006 and 2007 broadcasts of the Indianapolis 500. He went on to headline the networks’ return to NASCAR in 2007 and maintained that role through their exit from the sport at the end of the 2014 season. Currently, Wallace serves as Lead Analyst for MRN Radio—the Voice of NASCAR—where he is heard on more than 700 affiliates nationwide, as well as on Sirius XM Radio.

In addition to his racing analysis, Wallace remains an active competitor, as owner of Rusty Wallace Racing, which has fielded entries in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Rusty is also active in other business pursuits. In 2005, he became the first driver in recent history to design a professional racing facility, when he inked the plans for the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway. The facility opened to rave reviews and currently hosts rounds of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the IRL Indycar Series.

Wallace is a sought-after public speaker and the principal stakeholder in the Rusty Wallace Automotive Group, a collection of eight automotive dealerships located in eastern Tennessee.

Aside from his business interests, Wallace is also a board member of The NASCAR Foundation—the sport’s foremost charity initiative. In that role, he serves on the foundation’s development committee, charged with fundraising for the foundation’s mission of helping children live, learn and play.

While he remains as intense as ever, Rusty Wallace’s hobbies include golf and flying—he is an avid pilot with nearly 12,000 flight hours. Wallace has three adult children and resides near Charlotte, NC with his wife, Patti.

Learn more about Rusty at RustyWallace.com and on Social Media

Episode transcript (generated by AI):

Voice over (male) (00:00):
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Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (00:06):
People of listening,

Voice over (male) (00:07):
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(00:28):
The American Hero Show featuring Travis Mills from generals to grandparents, superheroes, to superintendents, heroes come in all shapes and sizes. This is the American Hero Show.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (00:50):
Ladies and gentlemen, peoples of listening, we have a special guest today, this guest, Tim, I’m so far, I remember watching this man rip it up and just crush everybody. This was my first introduction to really NASCAR racing. This was the biggest name that I knew when we were joking around as kids who we wanted to be as race car drivers. This was my guy, and we don’t make this stuff up just for everybody out there knows. We don’t make this stuff up. It sounds good. He literally has a picture of him with the NASCAR shirt and this award-winning Champion Driver. Mr. Rusty Wallace, welcome to the American Hero Show. Sir, how are you? You champion? Thank

Rusty Wallace (01:32):
You very much. I appreciate it. Thanks for being so kind to me. That’s pretty cool. But no, I’m doing good. I’ve been messing around with a lot of motorcycles lately and my son is in the back along with his employees. We’re building High-end Harley Davidson bagger motorcycles right now, and I’ve been doing that of late. And also I do a lot of the broadcasting for the motor racing network to voice a nascar. So everything’s going well right now, but sounds like your show’s doing good also.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (01:59):
Yeah, we’ve been very fortunate to have people that want to know more about people that we talk to because we don’t classify American hero. Just as somebody that you would maybe normally think of like, oh, they’re putting that pedestal of a hero of, what am I trying to say, Tim? It’s everybody out there doing good things in the world, people that have had the influence on others and maybe inspired others to do something more than they maybe might have if that person had not been around. Yeah, I mean, I have so many questions by the way. So many questions. I think I’d like to start off with, it’s well documented that you always look for answers and you always went to the drivers that were very successful and you had them mentor you, and I was wondering if any of them out of the ones that you got to talk to, is there anything that stuck out that you still used to this day?

Rusty Wallace (02:48):
Well, I’d say that one of my mentors when I first started was a guy named Bobby Allison, and Bobby was just a multiple time winner in NASCAR and a car builder, a car designer. He had a lot of great ideas and Bobby was one of the guys that I always talked to about my car, how to get the car to run faster and things like that, and chassis setups because I found out that man, I had to control my own destiny. If I just countered on other people to do it all for me, I wasn’t going to go anywhere. And if I did, I was just going to be inconsistent. The other guy I dealt with a lot was followed by the name of Dick Trickle and Dick was a real short track racer with over a thousand wins in Wisconsin area and all through the Midwest, and he just taught me a ton. So between Trickle and between Bobby Allison, those two racers are the ones that just really helped me a ton.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (03:43):
That’s awesome. I personally have mentors in life as well. I started a restaurant, didn’t know what I was doing, but I luckily have a buddy that I went into business with who I was pretty smart about that kind of stuff. And any decision I make, I run by about three key people before I, and when I say key people, I don’t mean my wife because usually when I ask my wife if I do something, she says no. And then I got to go back and say, well, this person, this person, person said I can do it. And then the battle begins. The battle begins, which you always lose. Yes. Well maybe, but anyway, so rookie of the year in 84 is my timeline correct there? Yeah,

Rusty Wallace (04:22):
That’s right. On 1984. Yeah, I grew up the St. Louis, Missouri area and I did a lot of racing all through Midwest. And then I decided, I got picked up by a guy in NASCAR and Gatorade. Gatorade was a sponsor and a fellow by the name of Cliff Stewart. So I went to work for him driving the Gatorade car in 1984, and our first task was to try to win the rookie of the year, and so ran all year long and I was racing against a guy named Phil Parsons, and Phil had some better runs than I did occasionally, and I had some better runs than he did. But when it was all said and done, I was able to win the Rookie of year and a big award up in the Waldorf Astoria. I remember there was a neat, neat deal. So I was really excited about that.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (05:08):
Oh, that’s awesome. And then the Waldorf, that’s in New York, right? Is that the one that’s in New York right there?

Rusty Wallace (05:14):
Yes. Right up in it was, it’s shut down now. It’s hard to believe that place shut down. It was so iconic and we had so many NASCAR banquets there year after year after year. In fact, my entire career, up to the day I, my very first race, 1980, time to go to Waldorf in 1984, we were celebrated the banquet at the Waldorf. And then in 2005, the year that I quit driving full time, it was at the Waldorf. And since then they moved it to Las Vegas and now the banquet for NASCAR is being held in Nashville, Tennessee. So it’s been all over the place.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (05:48):
Yeah, that’s awesome. Now you only have one year to be rookie of the year, right? So you’re really capitalized. Yeah,

Rusty Wallace (05:55):
Well yeah, one year to be rookie of the year. That’s right. So I was able to capitalize. Yeah, it was a big deal for us. And in fact, this picture behind me off to right there, that was, I don’t know if you see guys see that or not. Yep, we can see it, but I know we’re just recording audio. But anyway, that was my champion, my rookie of the year

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (06:14):
Photo with the great hair,

Rusty Wallace (06:15):
And that was me driving a Gatorade car,

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (06:17):
Mustache looking big old

Rusty Wallace (06:18):
Hair man. I had hair

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (06:20):
Looking good. And then I did see that 88 was a rough year. 88 was the year that you finally were just like, you know what? Next year is my year. Can you talk us through what your mindset was? Because I mean it is pretty deflated. Yeah,

Rusty Wallace (06:33):
1988. 88 was a great year though with wins. I mean, we had six wins that year. It was racing Bill Elliot right to the very last and just couldn’t get it done. I just ran out of time and he beat me into points. He ran strong, but he outrun me. But I learned a lot that year. I said, you know what? I’m going to put so much more focus in trying to lead laps. I was always the guy that wanted to take care of my equipment, have it ready to go at the end of the race. And when I was there, I was ready to go. But the problem was is that there was a lot of points up for grab. If you lead the most laps and if you dominate, they would give you extra five points for this and extra five points for that.

(07:13):
Well, bottom line, I said, Mike, I’m telling you what man, 89, I’m just going to turn the wick up and just try to lead some more laps and win as many points as I can doing it that way. So you run the race back then if you win the race, you got 185 points I think, but then you get another five point bonus if you lead the most laps. So I tried all that stuff and it was all said and done at the end of the year, I had the most bonus points of anybody. I had 125 bonus points and get a load of this when it was all said and done. I only beat Earnhardt in 89 by I think it was 12 points. Wow. If I wouldn’t put that massive focus on trying to lead laps and do everything I possibly can and just forget about trying to save the car to the end, just go for it. I would’ve lost a championship. And that’s how I lost a year before because I didn’t put any focus in it. And if I would’ve, I would’ve probably been sitting here being an 89 and 89 and probably the 93 champions, so I could have had three or four championships if I’d have changed my strategy a little bit. But I screwed up at least we had fast cars and we won a bunch of races and I learned a lot.

Voice over (male) (08:26):
The conversation continues in moments. Do you know someone who’s motivated, helped or inspired you over the years? Nominate a hero to be featured on a future [email protected]. While there, learn more about the American Hero Show, brought to you by foundations investment advisors in benefit of the Travis Mills Foundation. The

Speaker 5 (08:47):
American Hero Show is brought to you by foundation’s, investment advisors, foundations helps pre-retirees and retirees manage risks in the new normal economy as a fiduciary. Foundations does not charge commissions and works with independent advisors nationwide. To request your complimentary customized financial plan, go to american hero show.com

Voice over (male) (09:09):
And now the conversation continues with Travis and Tim.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (09:14):
Hey Rusty. My friends and I sometimes joke, I was a baseball player my whole life played football and all that stuff. We grew up in Maine, so racing wasn’t that predominant. It was in our house because my dad would watch it every once in a while. But I always wondered how much of a win or championship season has to do with the car and how much of it has to do with the driver?

Rusty Wallace (09:35):
Yeah, that’s actually a great question because I talk about this often. I learned a long time ago through 89 N 90 after I won in 90, I’m sorry, after I won the championship in 89 and our team started getting a lot of phone calls from different owners and a lot of our team got pulled apart and a lot of ’em went for the money and instead of staying together as a group that was winning a lot of races, and I learned right then that there is no I in a race team, it’d be impossible for me to say, oh, I’m 70% the reason we’re winning and the engine’s 30% and the crew guys are 10 and all that stuff. It really is all of us working together to make it happen because if I come down pit road and they screw up the pit stop, we’re going to lose the race.

(10:29):
If I come down pit road and I’m speeding on pit road, we’re going to lose the race. If I decided I’m going to bomb that baby off into turn one on lap, one of a restart and it gets loose and I get up and tag the wall, we’re going to lose the race. So I had the engine guys that have a huge part, I got the crew guys making the pit stops, got a huge part. I got the assemblers putting the cars together back in the shop, a huge part, and it got me driving a car. So I get all the attention because I’m the driver, but I found out real quick, I can’t do it myself. And so I tell a lot of people all the time, and it’s a true story. They’re just no eye in a team. This really isn’t, I mean, the day that think maybe you’re minuscule better than the rest of your guys you’re working with, man doesn’t be the day you get your butt kicked. Lemme tell you that for sure.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (11:17):
I mean, what I’m hearing is you’re basically the Tom Brady of NASCAR because you understand that team is what gets you there. Tom Brady might be the face of the Patriots and now the Buccaneers, but he takes pay cuts, he brings people in that is going to be there for him. And the difference when he gets sacked and when another quarterback gets sacked is that his guys are running back, picking him up and apologizing, Hey, sorry that happened, Tom really feel bad. And the other guy’s just like, oh yeah, he just got smacked, whatever. Let’s get to the next play because when the leader cares, and that’s why I feel like you, I know you’re saying you’re one guy on the team, but you are the leader of the team. When the leader cares, good things happen. And is that something that, I mean you obviously learned it through your years in nascar, but is that something that one of your mentors told you as well? And then the second question on that is who did you mentor? Did you help anybody of the younger drivers coming in?

Rusty Wallace (12:11):
Okay, I had a self-learn. There’s no I in a team thing, and I mentioned 19 88, 19 89 because they were incredible years. My best year ever was 1993 when I won 10 races, but when I saw all these crew guys leaving to go for the money and thinking it was them, I remember him going out the door going, oh, these guys are going to fall flat in their face and this guy won’t fall flat in his face because he’s pretty smart guy and the role that he’s going to requires talent like him and he still has a lot of people backing him up. But I saw this happen and I said, man, I wish you guys well. I was internally saying that I wish you well, but man, I know your capabilities and I know you can’t do this yourself, and I know I can’t do this myself. That’s the reason when they left, we immediately tried to catch surrounding yourself with good people. So I learned that it just didn’t happen. I had to learn it. There was times when I thought, Hey man, the reason we’re winning these races is because of me and the reason we’re getting all this attention is because of me and all that stuff. Well, that quickly went away when I learned what was going on. And then after that I went to work with Team Penske and we started Team Penske back in 1990, actually December of 91.

(13:36):
And Roger Penske then became my mentor, not a team member, but became a mentor besides my father and him, Roger was one of the most successful owners in the country and still is one of the most successful business person in the world and still is. And man, when he speaks, I’m just a gigantic sponge. I’m just listening to all I possibly can. He’s got a unique ability to define really great drivers. He’s got a unique ability to make decisions on business stuff that I don’t see many people doing like he does. And so he always answers my questions, always is willing to help. Kind of reminds me, my wife says no a lot, just like you said, no, no, no. Hey, I can do this. No. And there’s been many things that I have went ahead and did when he said no, that have still worked out pretty good for me. And if I wouldn’t have done it, I wouldn’t have had it. So I listen, doesn’t mean I have to do everything. But a great mentor

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (14:41):
Rusty, a good buddy of mine that I actually work with now is heavily into main racing and Oxford Plane Speedway is probably the venue in southern Maine. But my buddy Rob, the question when I told him that we were interviewing you, I said, what would you ask a legend like this? And he said, tell me about the short track. Did you like the short track? Did you like Winston Cup? What was your favorite series?

Rusty Wallace (15:09):
Yeah, well, that’s a great question too. I grew up in a short tracks in Mid America, the little quarter mile racetracks and all through the Midwest and half mile racetracks, mostly half miles. I found myself racing on and back when I was driving in the series called the American Speed Association, and in the American Speed Association you had Mark Martin driving in that. You had Bobby Allison driving occasionally, you had the late Alan Kaki, which was a great driver, him doing that. And so then when I got my first opportunity and I was winning a bunch of those races and I won the title in 1983, the American Speed Association Championship. So when I was able to come to NASCAR and my very first win was in 1986 at a race called the Valley Dale 500 in Bristol, Tennessee, they said, my God, why’d that kid get around that racetrack so well?

(16:03):
And they kept asking me that. I said, well, it reminds me of one of the racetracks that I run on the short track series. It’s a place called Winchester, Indiana, and it was one of our biggest races. The Winchester race for the series I ran in the American Speed Association was like our Daytona 500. It was a real big, big race. And so when I won Bristol, it made sense to me that I won my first race on a short track because I grew up in the short tracks and then I wanted to win more and more and more. And when it was all said and done, I think I ended up winning probably more short track races than anybody in NASCAR during the period that I raced in nascar. So they always called me the short track kid, always. I got a nickname that’s a short track guy. They actually kept saying NASCAR is Short track king, because I was always winning all these short tracks. When I would get my butt kicked that day call, I’d get my butt kicked to tell today I would get overhauled to Charlotte, North Carolina. But then I started getting better and better those bigger racetracks too. But man down deep in my heart, I always loved them short tracks because that’s where I cut my teeth and grew up.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (17:10):
And what happened after you won your first race? I heard a story. Oh,

Rusty Wallace (17:14):
After I won my first race.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (17:17):
What did you do to the car after that first

Rusty Wallace (17:19):
Talk about what happened was I got so doggone excited about winning the first race that we drank a lot of Miller Light Man. And that next day I got sick as hell and I was in bed all day long, and then I ended up getting the flu at the same time, and so I didn’t get to enjoy anything. I remember riding home with a buddy of mine in a Pontiac Trans Am from Bristol, Tennessee going straight to the house and just feeling like crap all day that night the next day. It was terrible. I never was able to jump out and just feel like a million dollars because I got sick. But that’s about it. That was my very first race, 1986, first win. I mean,

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (18:00):
And you wanted to keep that winning feeling. I’m surprised that you wanted to relive that every time you won, if that’s how it No, I’m kidding. Tim shot with a bit. He has notes and lists and things like that. Tim, what else you got here? Well, I got a question for you because when I feel like you and Dale Earnhardt really kind of brought racing to, I want to say mainstream, but I don’t know if that’s the right word, but it brought it to people like my brother who is as far away from racing as you possibly can imagine, but all of a sudden he started watching racing and going to races at Loudon, New Hampshire and stuff like that. Do you feel like you had something to do with that? Maybe you and Earnhardt had something to do with that? I

Rusty Wallace (18:45):
Think so. I mean, I’m not going to ignore that. That’s one thing I’m pretty Dogg I’m proud of. I mean, I still think he was probably the best driver, if not one of the best. I mean, you sure can’t say that Dale Earnhardt’s better than kill Yarborough. He’s better than Richard Petty. You could say he’s one of the kings of the sport. That’s the way I look at Earnhardt. But Yarborough wasn’t racing when I got deep into my career, and neither was Bobby. Allison was out of it by then and injured, couldn’t drive any longer. And then you had the king, he got out of it, Richard Petty. So it was basically Ian Earnhardt going at it. And sure he had great drivers like Dale Earnhardt, I mean the Dale Jarrett and you had Bobby Lenny and you had guys like that. But for whatever reason, I found myself in Earnhardt winning all the races.

(19:32):
I was winning a ton of short track races, man, I won Atlanta, I won Michigan, I won Charlotte nine times at Bristol. And so we’re really getting it done. And in the nineties, it’s almost like a 10 year run. I mean, let’s call it, we can actually start in 1988 with those six wins and then 89 with another six wins, then start in Team Penske right after that and starting to win again and go to the 1993 season with 10 wins. And it just kept going all through the nineties and into 2000. I remember I got a big trophy by my office here where I won, I think it was 10 or 12 poll positions in 2000. So it had a good 12 year run and the whole time it’s Earnhardt was there all the time. I found myself constantly racing him back and forth.

(20:24):
So it was a good 12 year run and just racing the hell out of Earnhardt like crazy. We became really good friends too. We vacationed a little bit. We all liked hanging out in boats and we would go down to Bahamas, our families would together. And I’ll never forget, he took my son, Steven and Greg actually out into his farm and set up a bunch of bags with guns. We were doing target practice and shooting like crazy out there. He was always building these trick rifles and stuff. Earnhardt was, and he’d always want us to come out there and shoot ’em. And so he’s the one that actually taught my kids how to shoot and taught me how to shoot a little bit. So we had a good time and he was always with all those camo guys or all his sponsors and stuff. But we had fun on and off the racetrack. But I’ll tell you what, man, when I got on the racetrack, that guy treated me like he never knew me. I felt like he was always after my money, always one of my toughest competitors, but one of my best friends also. And I sure do miss him a lot.

Voice over (male) (21:26):
The conversation continues in moments.

Speaker 5 (21:29):
The American Hero Show is brought to you by foundation’s, investment advisors, benefiting the Travis Mills Foundation. You’ve worked your entire life and now is the time to plan for the unknown. Just like what happened to Travis, you never know what life might throw at you and things can change quickly even if you have a plan. Sometimes things happen that you can’t plan for. Foundation’s, investment advisors helps pre-retirees and retirees manage risks in the new normal economy as a fiduciary. Foundations does not charge commissions and works with independent advisors nationwide. To request your complimentary customized financial plan, go to american hero show.com

Voice over (male) (22:09):
And now the conversation continues with Travis and Tim.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (22:13):
Now, is there anybody that you wouldn’t talk bad about, obviously because I’d be wrong, but any rivalries that you had that people maybe didn’t know about, people that you just love to beat?

Rusty Wallace (22:27):
No, I mean I love to beat Earnhardt because he was the best and I always wanted to be the best, that’s for sure.

(22:33):
I guess one thing that I regret is that we started the second team with Team Penske and my teammate was Ryan Newman and him and I just never could hit it off. Our age different was a lot. Our interests were a lot different and we just could not, I always said a team, no, I and a team, I never could get on the same page. We never could work together. And we found ourself operating two separate teams of Team Penske and it was bad and I didn’t like that. And I look back at the career wished there were some things I could do to make that better. And I really thought about what I could do still to this day. And I don’t know if I could have done much different and I wished I could had a successful two car team. But I remember talking to Earnhardt and that’s when he started the second team with Richard Childress and they brought Mike Skinner in.

(23:33):
And Mike’s a great guy. He’s a good buddy of mine, he’s a fantastic driver. But back then he was just kind of getting going, just getting his sea legs underneath him so to speak. And I remember Earnhardt telling me, he said, man, this second card team is killing me. I said, why? He said, I just find myself always helping my teammate to get him going. He’s not better than me and I need somebody is equal with me or better to help the team grow. And he’s a young guy coming on and I found myself just turning around, going backwards, always trying to help him, always helping him. And so I think it’s actually taken away from my effort spending a lot of my effort trying to help him. But then Mike learned real quick and Mike started winning a lot of truck races and winning some cup races and it came on. But there’s pluses and minuses about having a teammate. Yeah, but back to your original question, I mean that’s one thing I regret was wished I could have done a better job at that.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (24:31):
Yeah. Was there anybody that came in that was young that wanted to learn you did that you did actually get to mentor?

Rusty Wallace (24:38):
Not really, not really. I had a lot of young kids all always walk up to me say, Mr. Wallace, what would you do here? And you’re getting old when they call you Mr. Wallace, they don’t probably, or hey bro, or Hey, what’s going on, man, Mr. Wallace, how would you enter? Turn one of Bristol. I’m having a tough term getting off a turn two, I’m having a tough time here and I’m having, what can you help me with sir? And every time they ask me, I tell ’em the truth. I don’t say, Hey man, that’s top secret. I can’t tell you. I always told those kids everything they wanted to know because down deep in me, I know it would help them, but I still don’t think they could do it the way I was doing it. You can tell ’em anything you want and what seems to happen with me at least I tell everybody this stuff and they believe you, but a little bit don’t believe you end up only using 70% of what you tell ’em anyway.

(25:27):
So I still got 30% on ’em, so I don’t mind helping people. I just know they’re not going to use the whole thing. I never Earnhardt, I went to Dan Bristol and I won like six races. I remember he calls me one time and he says, man, look, I’ve been down on my looking, but I want you to help me at this Bristol thing. Do you know that I gave him my exact race set up? I had that much confidence that I love Bristol so much. I gave him my identical setup. He took us to his team and the team didn’t believe it and only put like 70% in it. I still kicked his ass that night.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (26:03):
I’m sure you’ve heard about it.

Rusty Wallace (26:05):
He had my entire setup but didn’t use it because the team guy said, there’s no way he’s going to give you that. And I gave it to him. He was a friend of mine and I had it memorized. I’ll never forget, I had a 1400 pound left front spring. I had a 17 right front. I had an inch and three 16 sway bar. I had a three 50 left rear spring, I had a 400. Right? Can you believe that I’m remembering those numbers right now because that was the setup I used at that track that was so good for me. It changed a lot, but I gave ’em that whole damn thing and then they didn’t use it. And I said, all right, there you go.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (26:37):
How different is racing? Really the question is how much harder or easier is to get to the top where you were now versus when you were coming up through the eighties and nineties.

Rusty Wallace (26:49):
It’s actually harder right now because these drivers have got so much instrumentation and so much simulation they can use. And so I find all these cars, they’re so close together now in speed, it’s unreal. And it’s because now NASCAR’s made the car absolutely identical. I mean, if NASCAR finds anything on the car that’s a little bit different than another car, they’ll throw you out of the sport, they’ll find you, they’ll do all this stuff. You got to buy right now at this brand new car. You got to buy every single part through a NASCAR distributor and you have to assemble that car just like NASCAR says to now, look, you can adjust your shocks, you can adjust your own springs, you can adjust your own tire pressure. And those little three or four things that it’s mentioned are huge deals. But so now you got the car, but now they got this simulation and so they’re constantly simulating everything and they got these big simulators where the drivers are actually sitting and drive these races on the video.

(27:49):
Now they don’t have much movement. And I still hear they say, Hey, I think it helps the simulation or sitting in a racing simulator. I think it helps, but there’s nothing like that when gets sitting in a real car. What I’m about to tell you is that with all these tools I got now, it’s made these drivers so close together in competition that just one little tiny thing separates ’em. And you’ll go, I was in Darlington, South Carolina a couple days ago for the Southern 500, and here I am dating myself on this interview, but for the Southern 500 and I see this guy just dominating and all of a sudden he makes one pit stop and he falls back to seventh and he almost gets la. He goes from being a fastest car to the worst car, and you go from hero to hobo and nothing flat now.

(28:38):
So it’s tougher. But I honestly think, man, I wouldn’t give my career my era up for nothing because I was able to make our own decisions. We had a lot of seat of to pants decisions. I’d come down Pit Road and say, Hey man, change our right front spring, change your Ameri pressure, do this or do that. And when we take the car and tweak the body and make it a little bit different, but we still fit the rules and the templates and you see the cars go by and they all look different, but they all fit the templates and they were all said they were legal and they were most of ’em, but a lot of guys are just better changing things. But nowadays you don’t see that. But I had so damn much more fun back then than I’m actually having right now.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (29:20):
What was your favorite number? What was your favorite car number or maybe favorite car? I know we were in short time here, Travis, but No, I had a question too, but I’m going to hold it. Tim. My

Rusty Wallace (29:30):
Car number I first started racing was number 66 and I held number 66 all the way through my American Speed Association days. And then my son picked that number up and he started racing with number 66 before he gave it up. Nice. But I won my title with number 27, but the whole world knows me driving a two car. They all know me with two. Yeah, they used to just nickname me. The Deuce here comes the Deuce.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (29:56):
That’s

Rusty Wallace (29:56):
Right. It’s always number two, but I started with 66.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (30:00):
That’s awesome. Now as we wrap up, and this has been awesome, having you share memories of you and Earnhardt and tell us about how you came up and everything like that through the circuit. My dad says NASCAR was way better by the way, in the eighties and nineties and early two thousands. It was just a lot more fun, a lot more exciting I guess you could say with all the restrictor plates and things like that, that they limit how hard the drivers can drive now, which is safer, which is good, which is good. But looking back on your whole entire career as well as now building motorcycles and doing all that, what’s the one gem or the one bit of advice you can give all the people that are listening to the podcast that something you’ve learned over the years or something that you wish you would’ve thought of when you were younger, something they can take away with them for the end of this episode, sir,

Rusty Wallace (30:49):
This gets back. That question gets back to me thinking about Roger Penske because he’s been a mentor and he said, rusty, you’re not going to be able to drive these cars forever. You better start thinking down the road. I said, okay, I will. What do you think I should do? He said, I think you need to get in the car business. You’re a car guy. I got a lot of car experience. We can try to help you. I said, all right. So I got a phone call from a guy in Morristown, Tennessee with a Pontiac store. I ended up getting a Pontiac dealership, and now fast forward it along, I don’t drive any longer. He was right. It was time to start thinking about life after racing. And right now I’ve got eight car dealerships. They’re all around Knoxville, Tennessee, and most of our dealerships are number one in Tennessee right now.

(31:33):
So I’m glad I listened to him. I was able to keep my lifestyle going and have life after racing. And the fun thing is I’m still in racing with doing radio with nascar, and basically my title for NASCAR now is their ambassador. So I’m a NASCAR ambassador and a NASCAR announcer. So if I wouldn’t have listened to Roger, I’d have probably just kept on racing, kept on racing, kept on doing racing things. And unfortunately, there’s some friends of mine out there that are in dire straits financially because they just thought they could race forever. And now a lot of their racing jobs have dried up and they find yourself struggling. And so I’m glad I didn’t do that. I’m glad I said, Hey, I got to make something on my life besides being a race car driver.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (32:18):
That’s great advice. You got to diversify your portfolio for me. I thought I was going to be the military 20 years. Yeah, I was going to be in the military 20 years, retire out, high school teacher, football coach. And then year six I got hit by a bomb and I lost both arms and legs and didn’t really know what I was going to do. But through dedication of working out my wife and my daughter at the time who was six months old, support and wonderful family and friends, I’ve been able to build a foundation, own a few businesses now do a podcast. And the only difference with you and me, I think when we talk about looking past what our careers were, you had the chance to kind of build it up. And I just kind of got thrown into mine. But it’s great advice. It’s something I still use to this day, and I look at every opportunity a little bit different than I probably would’ve if I would’ve been injured. So I mean, I just appreciate your time. Congratulations. Thanks. Thank you.

Rusty Wallace (33:10):
Congratulations on what you’re able to do and make happen, but as we get ready to wrap up, there’s one thing that’s really impossible to deny, man. If you wrap yourself around people that are smart or smarter than you go a long way, you got to wrap your stick. You got to wrap yourself around the right people, just have cool people around you that are smart people and have common sense. And that’s what I try to do. If I wrap myself around a not so good character, I’ll become not so good myself. So I don’t want that to happen.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (33:44):
Absolutely. Absolutely, Tim. That’s why you have me around, right? Yes, Tim. That’s exactly what, no, rusty, you’re awesome to listen to in races. Like I said before, I grew up knowing you as kind of the pinnacle of racing in my younger days, so thank you for that. But also, you’re a great announcer. You’re pretty good at that. Did you know you’re going to be that good?

Rusty Wallace (34:09):
I don’t know. I enjoy sharing the stories of nascar. I’ve always enjoyed. I’ve been so blessed and happy with this career I’ve had with nascar. It’s really made me what I was able to get and what I am now. But I like to share those stories with everybody. I like to educate ’em, Hey, rusty, why do you do this? Hey Rusty, why do you do that? Hey, rusty, why is the cars doing this? Why are they doing that? I just like to tell the damn story and educate people so they get it. I got so tired of hearing people go, man, I don’t get that support. All you do is just ride drive around the circle. I wanted to educate ’em. So that’s not what it really is. And by gosh, how they ever get time to go to a racetrack where they actually smell everything going on and see it and hear it, feel it, they really get turned off. And so I really love that too. But I think being a broadcaster, I’m able to do that.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (34:57):
Oh, absolutely. You paint the picture and let people know how exciting it is. I was at Miami at Homestead last year, two years ago, probably now, and we had a Travis Mills Foundation car actually racing in the NASCAR race that day. And on TV it looks like, oh, I can read all those cars. I can see it. But you try looking straight out and they’re just a blur ripping by you. I mean, just nothing quite like that feeling. Our guy did get last place, but it’s okay because every time he got lapped, he was on the tv That’s right. With the Travis Mills Foundation logo. So that felt pretty good

Rusty Wallace (35:30):
Because the camera was on the car leading and they saw your car. Yep,

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (35:34):
That’s right. Yep. And I told Driver, I said, every time you get lapped, I said, you make sure you get in his way just a little bit to make sure you get that camera time. That’s what matters. But no, I’m kidding. But anyway, Mr. Wallace, I really appreciate your time. Thanks for everything, and I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day. You champion among champions.

Rusty Wallace (35:53):
Well, thank you very much, guys. It was great being on your show, and I wish you well, and it was fun talking to you.

Travis Mills and Tim Eisenhart (35:58):
Well, Tim, look at us. Look at us season three. I know. Season three is exciting. It’s very exciting. I mean, rusty was fantastic. Rusty Wallace is who I’m talking about. Obviously if you just listened to this whole episode, you would know that Cup Champion. Yes. Legend nine was his best year the year that Kelsey was born. So it’s one of my favorite years year I graduated high school. Yes, I didn’t want to say that, but I did know that. I remember when he won, how big a deal that was for him. I know. It was really cool. It’s cool to watch. I’m always impressed with you. So how was the Great Depression too? That’s hurtful what you just said there, because No, I just meant you weren’t, I don’t know. I don’t know why you got with the less hair. I think you got less hair than I do, and you’re making fun of me for being born in 71.

(36:39):
You got more arms and legs than I lot. And the Great Depression was in 29 turd. Thanks a lot. I didn’t say you graduated. I just thought you were born Anyw. Who? I love Travis. I love him. So Rusty Wallace, what a great guy really was. We talked about team and about the value of learning from people that are more knowledgeable and being in a room. And that’s like what everybody, they kind of talk about. They talk about do not be the smartest person in the room. If you are, you’re in the wrong room. And luckily, I have no problem with that wherever I go, which is nice. But no, I mean season three is here. I mean, I want to encourage all of the peoples of listening to check out all the podcasts now that we have two seasons out, plus starting our third one.

(37:16):
And just grateful to have you as my co-host here every day that I have the opportunity to sit next to you. I feel lucky. Stop it. Make me cry. Lucky on me. No, I’m not going to sing to you. No, no, I think you’re great. I think you’re great. No, I think you’re great. I think you’re great. I think you’re greater. Anyway, so to all the peoples listening, thank you for tuning into this episode of The American Hero Show with Rusty Wallace. Hope you guys had a great time. Like, comment, share, tell your friends. And if you don’t, I will cut you. You can also find [email protected]. Yes. Right. And if you want to get to the Travis Mills Foundation, how do we get there? well.org. Travis Mills Foundation. Oh, is that what it Yeah, literally. You were you. So close. That’s amazing. So close. But anyway. Alright, are you champions? Winners and champions, again, thank you so much, Tim. It’s been a pleasure to you as well. Champion

Voice over (male) (38:15):
Four more on how you can help our country’s heroes. Go to American Hero show.com.