Columnist Rusty Wallace: Another Wallace is being groomed for racing

Rusty Wallace

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 10:26 a.m.

Rusty Wallace, driver of the Miller Lite Team Penske Ford Taurus, is writing a daily column exclusively for the Las Vegas Sun in conjunction with Sunday's CarsDirect.com 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

OK, I'll admit it: I have a plan for my future in racing. I've done a lot of thinking about it, but little talking about it. And, as far as I know, this is the first thing written about it.

It's my plan for the future in the sport of NASCAR Winston Cup racing and it involves my 12-year-old son, Stephen. Steve's gonna be the third generation of racers in my family, no doubt about that.

For those of you not familiar with my background, I'm a second-generation racer. My dad was a champion driver on the short tracks back in and around St. Louis, where we all grew up. Russ Wallace was a name they all associated with winning races and track championships.

I grew up around the sport. We all ate, breathed and lived stock-car racing. I started helping my dad when I was in junior high and started racing myself when I was 17. I guess it was only natural for my brothers, Mike and Kenny, to follow me into the sport, too. Today, mom and dad are about our biggest supporters out there.

I can identify with my mom and dad better than I ever thought I could. Even though there's a generation difference in age, there's no generation gap at all when it comes to what I'm seeing now in my own son.

My dad taught me to learn everything about racing from the ground up. Know all the inner-workings of everything involved. Know how to tear it down and put it back together again.

Anyhow, that leads me back to discussing my future plan in racing and Steve's gonna be a big part of it. No, I'm not ready to hang up my helmet and, to tell you the truth, I don't know if that won't still be the case five, seven or even 10 years from now. My game plan, as far as that goes, is to keep on competing as long as I'm competitive. Winning races, winning poles, leading the races -- being up front and considered a threat every time they throw the green flag.

But I know that I'm human and the day will come when it's time to put some other young hot-shot in the race car. Right now, I'm convinced that Steve's gonna be a hot-shot driver in the long run. The big question is where he's going to be in his development when it's time for me to hang it up. I was 23 when I ran my first Winston Cup race and was 27 before I got going full time in the sport.

I've gotta brag on Stephen like the proud dad I am. Steve's already won 56 races in the Bandelero cars. He won the Summer Shootout Series at Charlotte last season. He'll be running the Bandeleros again this year, then we'll probably move him into the Legends cars for a year or two.

He'll run a late model at some local tracks and then we'll send him on the road for a year or two in ASA or Remax, which is the old ARTGO division. We'll probably then go to Busch Grand National for a year or two and maybe do the deal on our own out of the shop we have built at RWI (Rusty Wallace, Inc.) in Mooresville, N.C.

Of course, the proud papa -- me -- will be listed as the official car owner. And, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Greg, my older son who's a business whiz, is the guy really running the whole deal. Then, who knows? Steve may some day be the driver of the No. 2 car at Penske South.

The thing is, there's something special about this kid. I know that all fathers think all their kids are special and they're supposed to. But with Steve, he asks me questions about air pressures and all kinds of chassis stuff and then gives me his answers before I have the chance to say anything back. And, believe it or not, his answers are identical to what I would come up with to tell him.

It's scary ... he reminds me of me. But, my dad tells me that's not all bad. It was the same deal about 25 years ago and he knows exactly what I'm going through.