American racing driver (born 1956)
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. For the accolades over the course of his successful career, Wallace has been inducted in the NASCAR Hall of Fame (2013), the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2013), the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2014) and the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame (2010).
Racing career.
Early career.
Prior to joining the NASCAR circuit, Wallace made a name for himself racing around in Florida, winning a pair of local track championships and more than 200 short track races. In 1979, he won the United States Auto Club's (USAC) Stock Car Rookie of the Year honors, finishing third in points behind A. J. Foyt and Bay Darnell. In 1981, he finished second in the USAC Stock Cars championship standings, behind Joe Ruttman.
In 1983, he won the American Speed Association (ASA) championship while also competing against some of NASCAR's future stars like Mark Martin, Alan Kulwicki, and Dick Trickle.
NASCAR career.
In 1980, Wallace made his NASCAR debut at Atlanta, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet for Roger Penske. He ended up finishing second in the race after qualifying seventh. He made nine NASCAR appearances over the next three years, finishing inside the Top 10 in only one more race. In 1984, Wallace joined the Winston Cup circuit full-time, winning NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors and finishing 14th in the final points standings. He drove the No. 88 Gatorade-sponsored Pontiac for Cliff Stewart with a best finish of fourth, along with two fifth-place finishes and four further Top 10s. Wallace stayed with Cliff Stewart for 1985 but this time, he drove the No. 2 Alugard-sponsored Pontiac. In 29 races, Wallace had two Top 5s and eight Top 10s.
Blue Max Racing.
In 1986, Wallace switched teams to the No. 27 Alugard-sponsored Pontiac for Raymond Beadle's Blue Max Racing team. His first win came at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 6, 1986. He also won at Martinsville on September 21. He finished the year with two wins, four Top 5s, and 16 Top 10s in 29 races. He finished sixth in the points, making this his first Top 10 finish in the standings. In 1987, Wallace gained sponsorship from Kodiak tobacco, establishing the No. 27 Kodiak-sponsored Pontiac livery his early career is most remembered for. He scored victories at Watkins Glen and Riverside, as well as his first series pole at Michigan in June. These results were backed up with nine Top 5s and 16 Top 10s in 29 races. He finished fifth in the final points standings.
During a practice session at Bristol on August 27, 1988, Wallace's car lost control and slammed on the turn 4 wall before barrel rolling five times on the straightaway. It took rescue officials - including Jerry Punch - 15 minutes to extract him from the wrecked car. According to Wallace, he nearly choked to death from a ham sandwich he ate before practice. Despite this near-death experience, Wallace developed his career further in 1988, scoring six victories (including four of the final five races of the year). His wins were at Michigan, Charlotte, North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, the final race ever run at Riverside, and the season finale at Atlanta. With these six wins as well as 19 Top 5s and four further Top 10s, he finished second 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 to beat out close friend and fierce rival Dale Earnhardt (the race winner) by 12 points. Wallace also won The Winston in a 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 tied specifically to Wallace, meaning it went to whichever team Wallace went. The 1989 championship year was reportedly marked with acrimony between him and Beadle. However, Wallace was stuck with the team for 1990 due to his contract. Rusty won 18 races for Beadle.
Penske Racing.
In 1991, Wallace took the Miller sponsorship with him to Penske Racing, and he continued in the No. 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 Wallace in a car which arguably was his best known chassis for his career, one affectionately known as "Midnight" after the win. With this nickname, the car raced for six seasons, carrying various race wins before being taken out of the fleet in 1997.
The 1993 season 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 won the second race of the season on February 28, 1993, at North Carolina Motor Speedway. The season was also a sad one, as Wallace's friend and reigning NASCAR Champion Alan Kulwicki was killed flying into Bristol in April 1993. Because of this, when Wallace won the race at Bristol, 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. In every race Wallace won that year he performed a "Kulwicki victory lap". He won all three races in April (Bristol on April 4, North Wilkesboro on April 18, and Martinsville on April 25). Also, he won the first ever race at the New Hampshire Speedway, starting 33rd, on July 11.
In 1993, 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 10 races of the season.
Penske switched to Fords in 1994. In 1996, sponsorship changed from Miller Genuine Draft to Miller beer sponsorship. At the end of the 1996 season, NASCAR hosted its first of three exhibition races in Japan, the first of two at Suzuka. Wallace was the winner of that first race.
In 1997, Miller changed the team's 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 2000, he secured his 50th career win at Bristol, becoming the 10th driver in NASCAR to win 50+ races. He is also the only driver in NASCAR history to win his 1st and 50th career victories at the same track, and in the same race. He would also score 3 more wins at Pocono, Michigan, and the night race at Bristol (season sweep at Bristol). He finished seventh in the final points standings after some inconsistency in the championship race. The next year, he won at California for his 54th career win. He won on what would have been Dale Earnhardt's 50th birthday and paid tribute to him with an Earnhardt flag. Wallace almost won the 2002 Sharpie 500 after being bumped out of the way by his rival Jeff Gordon.
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 broadcasting contract at the time prevented him from doing so. Kurt Busch would replace Wallace in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in 2006–2010. In 2011, Brad Keselowski began driving the number 2.
In 2006, Wallace returned to his General Motors roots when he raced a Crawford-Pontiac sportscar, painted black and carrying the familiar stylized No. 2. The car was sponsored by Callaway Golf, in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, teamed with Danica Patrick and Allan McNish, In 2008, his Nationwide Series cars switched from Dodge to Chevrolet.
Rusty Wallace finished his career with the 1989 Winston Cup Championship, 36 career poles, and 55 career wins. As of 2022, the 55 wins is 11th on NASCAR's all-time wins list. They include victories at Charlotte as well as the series' last three road courses (Riverside, Infineon and Watkins Glen), but none at Daytona, Darlington, Indianapolis, or Talladega. He has the most short track wins in NASCAR history with 34, and therefore he is considered among the best short track drivers in NASCAR history. He retired after the 2005 season with a 14.4 career average finish.
In 2014, Wallace ran at Daytona for testing before the 2014 Daytona 500 as part of a promotion for Miller Lite's 40th anniversary, marking the first time a NASCAR Hall of Famer has driven in a NASCAR test. When asked about the testing, Wallace stated, "It all started at Homestead. I was standing between the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and 2 (Brad Keselowski) cars joking around and those guys were egging me on to get back in a car and when Brad got wind of it, he called me up two weeks later and was serious about it and Roger (Penske) was all for it. Everyone in the world has been on me to test. 'Why haven't you been back in a car?' This here kind of got me."
Major crashes.
Wallace's legacy, besides being a close rival of Dale Earnhardt, was a number of severe wrecks he endured, especially at restrictor plate racetracks. The first one happened in 1983, when Wallace was attempting the Daytona 500 through the Gatorade Twin 125's. He was tapped by Rick Wilson, got airborne, and went on a spectacular series of flips that left him hospitalized. His next flip came at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1988. What started it was unclear, but Wallace somehow managed to climb the wall and did a barrel roll. The roof of his car caved in. ESPN commentator Dr. Jerry Punch was the first responder, and possibly saved his life. In 1993, Wallace had two massive flips – both at plate tracks. The first was at the 1993 Daytona 500, where he was tapped by the crashing cars of Michael Waltrip and Derrike Cope, and barrel rolled multiple times in the grass on the back straightaway several feet in the air. Months later, at Talladega, racing to the checkered flag, Wallace was tagged from behind by Dale Earnhardt, turned backwards, and flew into the air before violently flipping in the grass past the start-finish line, breaking a wrist (the area where Wallace's car wrecked has since been paved over). Earnhardt was visibly shaken by the incident and did make sure Wallace was okay by checking on him after the race had concluded. Wallace finished 80 points behind Earnhardt in the final points for 1993. He also had an airborne crash in his last Gatorade Twin in 2005 when Dave Blaney clipped his right rear tire and sent his car off the ground. The car never turned over though.
Other racing.
On April 1, 2015, Wallace tested a Stadium Super Truck owned by former NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, and the following day, he announced he would race in the series' X Games round in Austin. After finishing last in his heat race, he was relegated to the last-chance qualifier. During the LCQ, Wallace rolled his truck, but continued running; he finished sixth in the event but failed to qualify for the feature.
In 2016, Wallace competed in the Ferrari Finali Mondiali at Daytona. Driving for "Ferrari of Houston", Wallace finished tenth overall and third in the Professional, North America class.
Broadcast career.
On January 25, 2006, it was