Rusty Wallace has 55 Cup Series victories. Credit: Autostock

10 Questions: Rusty
Former Cup champion covers everything from dogs to pasta
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
August 16, 2005
05:35 PM EDT (21:35 GMT)


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- While enjoying his final Nextel Cup season and his "Last Call Tour," former Cup champion Rusty Wallace hasn't forgotten what it means to be competitive.

The 1989 series champion has had great success at Michigan International Speedway, the site of Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400, and would like nothing better than to achieve his sixth career victory there.

During a break in preparation for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Wallace sat down to answer 10 questions not necessarily related to his racing career.


Rusty Wallace just before the 1990 First Union 400. Credit: Jim Gund/Getty Images

1. What's your dream vehicle that you don't already own?

Wallace: My dream vehicle would probably be an F40 or an F50 Ferrari. I just like the way that they look, with the big wing on the back of them and I think it's a hot looking car.

Q: Have you had an opportunity to drive one of those?

Wallace: No I haven't, although I can if I want to -- though it's another one of those deals with the schedule being so bad that I haven't had the time to go out and enjoy myself.

Roger Penske has got a beautiful F50 that he has offered to let me drive any time I want.

2. If time on the road weren't an issue, what would be your ideal pet?

Wallace: I have the ideal pet. It's a little Chihuahua that looks like the Taco Bell dog. We had him forever.

His name is Miller and I think he's the ideal pet. He sleeps with me and Patti in the bed most every single night and he's an awesome pet.

I should start taking him on the road with me, more -- because he's just a fun dude.

Q: I was going to say, is he much of a road dog?

Wallace: He's made a couple trips and he makes for the perfect dog. He's just absolutely awesome. I can't think of anything bad about Miller, except he's getting old and he's starting to act weird.

Q: He's in good company there, I'd say (laughing).

Wallace: Yeah, right (laughing).

3. What's your biggest pet peeve while driving on the road?

Wallace: My pet peeve driving on the road is people that sightsee and drive under the speed limit and they don't know what's behind them when you're trying to get by.

I can't stand when I'm trying to get out of the racetracks and I'm driving the vehicle, the Durango or whatever I'm getting out of the tracks, and people are just looking all over the place, or they're on their cell phones.

They're driving over the curbs and bouncing all over the road and just not paying attention.

Q: Have you found any good solutions to that?

Wallace: Honk the horn and hit 'em in the *** (laughing).

4. You've had a lot of years in racing and a lot of series you've raced in, so what's your worst hotel experience?

Wallace: Well, let me think. God, I've got to think on that one for a second because I can't remember.

Worst hotel experiences are always ... Oh gosh, I don't know -- we're going to have to move on.

5. What's your favorite food?

Wallace: My favorite food is Italian, for sure. I'm a big fan of pasta and spaghetti and that type of stuff. I just love pasta.

Q: That's pre-event weekend loading up on carbohydrates, right?

Wallace: Well, sometimes. It just depends on how convenient it is, you know? Like, this weekend here at Daytona I'm staying at the racetrack.

I don't like staying at the racetracks. I don't like staying in these buses. Everybody thinks I'm nuts and I should love that, but I like staying in some nice hotels.

Usually when I come to Daytona for the race I charter a boat and I stay on the boat for two weeks, which is a great way to get away from the track and just relax and breathe a little bit.

But when you're in the bus all you got is ham sandwiches and you've got to get somebody to run out and grab you something from the transporter or stuff like that.

Q: Out on the road, what's your favorite place for Italian?

Wallace: My favorite place for Italian is (outside) Atlanta. It's in Peachtree City, right up the street (from Atlanta Motor Speedway) and I can't actually remember the name of it.

I would say, though, the finest food I've ever had in my life is in Carmel (by the Sea), Calif., at a little place called da Giovanni's. I was there last week and I got the opportunity to golf at Pebble Beach and Patti and I went down there.

We frequent the place and when we show up it's just fabulous.

6. If you had to choose, would it be being honest, or being nice?

Wallace: I don't think you can separate them, but that's a tough question.

I try to be nice to everybody, and I try to be honest to everybody. I tend to be both. I think it would be suicidal to split those two apart.

7. I've had this conversation with your brothers -- so what's your fondest childhood memory?

Wallace: Oh, gosh. I think some of my favorite childhood memories are some of the stunts that Kenny did and some of the stories he told.

For Christmas this year, me, Mike and Kenny and the family -- he gave us a CD, and I can't believe he made this thing.

He went back and got these old Super 8 films that my mother had, forever and ever and he took them over to NASCAR Images, I think and edited them all together and presented it to us.

Oh, my God was it funny. Kenny was always a source of entertainment.

I remember me and Mike getting in an argument and getting in a fight so damned bad that mom and dad just threw us both on the ground and soaked us down with a water hose (laughing).

Q: About how old were you, then? I'm almost afraid to ask.

Wallace: That would have been back in about 1965 or something like that -- '66 or '67. When we lived in Rolla, Mo. We were little pups back then.

8. Politically correct is OK here, but what would your dream date be? Where and with whom?

Wallace: Let me tell you what -- I am having my dream date with my wife, man. Whenever I get home -- we've got a great home and I enjoy being there.

I told her just the other day that we've been on the road so much that when I get to this house I love it so much that I feel like I'm on vacation.

I get there and she's got the candles burning and she's got a great dinner going on -- we got awesome music playing -- and we just sit outside on the deck and put our arms around each other and have a bitching time.


Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers
Rusty Wallace's Cup career

Starts - 692
Wins - 55
Top-5s - 199
Top-10s - 344
Poles - 36
Avg. Start - 13.2
Avg. Finish - 14.4

Q: I remember when that house was being planned, and then built -- so that settling in process was fine, what with your busy schedule?

Wallace: Yeah, we've had a lot of help and it's turned out great. We're really, really enjoying it and it's like a vacation whenever I get to that home.

9. Racing and pranks seem to go hand in hand, and I almost cringe when I think back to ASA and Dick Trickle and some of those guys -- so what's your worst prank, either perpetrated by you, or done to you?

Wallace: Whoa-man. I know it sounds that way and I'm trying to think, because I've had a pretty simple life here, of late.

I think probably the worst prank that I've had played on me -- I haven't played one on anybody lately that I could remember that's even worth talking about -- but the worst one I've had played on me in a long time was one that Bill France played on me.

It was at Talladega one time, when the race got rained out on a Sunday and I had qualified fourth. He called me in on Monday morning and said, "You've got to start at the tail of the field because you missed the drivers' meeting."

I said, "I was at the drivers' meeting." And he said, "No, we had another one."

I said, "No, you didn't" and he said, "Yes, I did."

He screamed at me and I got so mad, I couldn't control myself. I had a full cup of coffee and I jumped up and threw the full cup of coffee against the wall inside the NASCAR red hauler -- and I went flying out the door.

They came and tackled me down on the ground and said, "We don't need anybody this crazy getting out on the racetrack." Then he turned around and grabbed me and said, "April Fool's."

It was April first (laughing).

Bill France said, "Go get the craziest son of a bitch out there, who's going to go crazy -- go get somebody we know is going to go nuts."

And they said, "Go get Rusty." Well, they brought me in, and I did (laughing).

Q: Being a veteran now is nice -- you don't have to worry about anything like that, do you?

Wallace: Not yet, I don't. I'm sure something is going to happen here, soon. But not yet, I don't have to (laughing).

10. What would you consider your "Welcome to NASCAR" moment?

Wallace: The welcome to NASCAR moment for me would have been when I won my first race in Bristol, Tenn., in 1986 -- and I won it in pretty dominating fashion.

And then, even to myself, I think a lot of people thought it was a fluke. But then four weeks later I came back and I won Martinsville.

And then, when I won Martinsville, it was my second win of the year, and I think that was finally my welcome to NASCAR.

That was my big deal because that was when Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison and Richard Petty -- all the greats -- were running. I got to run against some great drivers and I was able to win two (races) within five weeks.

That win at Martinsville was when I thought, "Hey, I've been accepted and I've paid my dues now," because everybody always told me, "You've got to pay your dues, pay your dues and take your lumps and go through the ups and downs in the sport."

I was 28 years old when I got into NASCAR (Cup). So I paid my dues for a long time in ASA. I won 200 of those races and won USAC Rookie of the Year, I raced against A.J. Foyt and won on dirt tracks and everything.

But when I got into NASCAR, I got out there and literally felt like I didn't know what the hell I was doing because the competition was so tough.

So I took a lot more bumps, then -- but finally when I got with the Blue Max team and won that second race in '86 -- that was the deal.