Back behind the Wheel

Chicken Soup for the Soul: NASCAR

BY: Kay Presto

To race fans and television viewers, NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace is an upbeat, happy guy -- even boisterous, some people say. He's at his best when he's behind the wheel of his NASCAR Nationwide Series car.

I love to talk with Kenny. Whenever I interview him, it's a fun time. His answers are always punctuated with laughter. His stories are great, and depending on whom you ask, most of them are true. He loves to tease.

But Kenny gets serious when he tells the story of how that innate happiness was almost taken away from him, in his younger days as a NASCAR competitor. It was at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The year was 1991.

Kenny was the points leader in the Nationwide Series. He could actually feel that championship ring on his finger.

It was natural for him to feel that way. He has racing in his blood. His dad, Russ, was a famed dirt and asphalt race car driver. His two older brothers, Rusty and Mike, were successful drivers. In 1982, he won the first race he ever entered -- in the Illinois Street Stock Championship Series. In 1986, he was the Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year, finishing sixth in points. He was proving that he too had those winning racing genes in his body.

Now he wanted that Nationwide Series championship -- badly.

Chasing him in the points was Bobby Labonte. Kenny felt his championship chances were solid. He had an edge on Labonte by over 100 markers. There were only three races left in that season. His No. 36 mount, owned by Rusty's race team, performed flawlessly race after race. And then it happened ...

While charging down New Hampshire Motor Speedway's backstretch, his rear suspension broke and as he entered Turn 3, his car spun out. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with "positional vertigo;" there would be no more racing for now.

A sharp fear stabbed through Kenny's heart. His championship dreams had been cruelly snatched away. But what was worse, he was just 28 years old. Would he ever be able to race again?

Kenny says that at that moment, he thought his racing was over. It was the scariest time of his life, and there were days when he caught himself crying; he had grown up as a kid wanting desperately to win a championship. Not only wanting to win, but to be the best, like Richard Petty, or David Pearson.

Over the long winter months, his injury gradually healed, much to the amazement of the doctors. Cleared to get back behind the wheel, he returned to the Nationwide Series in 1992. But was he still capable of racing competitively?

It was the second race of the year, at Richmond International Raceway. The top three in points were Labonte, Harry Gant ... and Wallace. Kenny was running second, and Labonte held the lead. Kenny says he wanted to beat Labonte for that win, that it was a psychological thing with him.

He drove his car to Labonte's outside. Passed him clean. Suddenly, in a surprise move, Gant swept by them both and got the victory. Kenny finished second.

A few races later, Kenny was leading at Martinsville Speedway. To his intense pleasure, he drove his race car to victory. A new young driver, Jeff Gordon, approached him and congratulated him on a great race. Kenny says he thinks part of his recovery was not just that his brain was healing, but that he realized he could still compete.

So the fire of competition still burned in his heart. But a new uncharted territory lay ahead for him. ESPN Television tapped him to co-host a television show, RPM Tonight, every Monday night, which he did, until they stopped covering NASCAR.

When he was 36 years old, Kenny got another call, this time from SPEED TV. They wanted him as a color commentator for their new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage. Kenny had to decline. He was racing in the Cup Series, and did not want to quit. They hired Darrell Waltrip instead.

Kenny says he told SPEED he would call them back when he was ready. And six years later, he did just that.

These days Wallace has his perfect schedule. He's competing in the Nationwide Series and does his dirt car racing. He co-hosts not one, but two, television shows for SPEED. He laughs and says he's still a competitive race car driver, and he only has to put in three hours for TV on Sundays.

He is as popular as ever with his fans. He has received the Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver three times. When his Nationwide car could not be sponsored by the U.S. Border Patrol for the race being held at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, dedicated race fans quickly raised the money, and saw their names on his car at that race.

There's still no championship ring on his finger. Kenny still has that fire, but he's now more content. He and his wife, Kim -- his former high school sweetheart -- have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, even renewing their vows.

"I'm having a very good time in my life right now," he told me, flashing that impish grin of his.

And I know for sure that he means it.

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