Rusty wallace5/7/2023 I felt that if you didn’t understand the car, you couldn’t effectively tell your guys what it was doing.” I always took pride in understanding all aspects of my car. “I think a lot of people in the garage knew what a hands-on kind of driver I was. Knew what it took to make them work better. Wallace was unusual too in that he understood cars better than most drivers. I used to follow my Dad, Russ, to all of the local short tracks around St. “Racing is all I ever knew-all I ever wanted to do,” says Wallace, “from the time I was a little kid. So what drove Wallace to the success he achieved? The only two people to win more are David Pearson (17) and the King himself, Richard Petty, with 18. Not to mention Wallace won at least one race for 16 straight seasons. Let that sink in for a minute: The greatest NASCAR short-track driver of all time. And Number 1 all-time in short-track wins with 34. Number 3 in road course victories behind Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. (An honor he shares with fellow 2014 inductee Marshall Teague.) It’s just that when you look back on his career, you realize the things he accomplished are even greater than you remember. Hell, NASCAR voted him one of The 50 Greatest NASCAR Drivers of All Time during its 50th anniversary celebration. It’s not that anyone thinks the Missouri native was anything less than one of the greatest drivers of his generation. in even higher esteem than you already do.Įven possibly if your name happens to be Rusty Wallace Jr. That by the end of the little discussion we’re about to have, you’re going to hold one Russell William “Rusty” Wallace Jr. He is a highly accomplished pilot with over 10,000 flight hours and is an avid golfer.Make you a little wager. Rusty is married with three kids and currently resides in Cornelius, North Carolina. In 1989, Wallace won both the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship and the Winston All-Star Race. In 1988 he was voted the NMPA Driver of the Year, an award that he received again in 1993 along with being voted one of NASCAR′s 50 Greatest Drivers. In 1984 he was again named Rookie of this year, this time by Winston Cup. He was first named USAC Rookie of the Year in 1979, after winning 200 races between 19. Rusty Wallace has had an exciting career from the start. In the 2004 season, Rusty Wallace finished 16th in the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, and he started his 650th career race and his 650th consecutive race. Wallace also has joint ownership of Penske Racing South, the highly successful NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series team for which he drives. His first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Busch Series with driver Kenny Wallace in the early 1990′s was highly successful, and in 2005, he entered the Series with drivers Jamie McMurray and Jeremy Mayfield. In addition to being a driver, Rusty Wallace has entered the team ownership arena as well. He also ranks as one of the top five money winners in NASCAR history with over $43 million in career earnings. Having won 55 NASCAR Winston (Nextel) Cup races and with 36 Career Winston Cup Pole Positions, he is ranked the eighth all-time best NASCAR driver. Rusty Wallace is one of the greatest NASCAR drivers in history. Rusty is also the prime stakeholder of The Rusty Wallace Automotive Group in Tennessee.Īs a board member for The NASCAR Foundation-an organization that helps children play, learn and live-Rusty oversees the foundation’s development committee. Rusty is permanently honored at nine NASCAR tracks, and more than a dozen city, state, and county seats of government have declared race day as an official Rusty Wallace Day. He became the first driver in history to design a pro racing facility, The Iowa Speedway. Rusty’s firsthand experience with the world of racing has earned him acknowledgment as one of the world’s top authorities on NASCAR racing. He is one of only 20 people to achieve America’s racing halls of fame “triple crown” distinction. Rusty is a member of several halls of fame including National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. He has the third longest winning streak in racing history, winning at least one race in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series for 16 seasons in a row. When Rusty retired in 2005, he ranked as one of the top five earners in NASCAR’s history, making nearly $50 million during his career. A 55 time race winner and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, he is one of the greatest racecar drivers in America. Rusty Wallace, the legendary and now retired racecar driver, brought personality and charisma to the sport of auto racing that is unmatched in the history of the sport.
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