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Mike Wallace making his own mark
Posted: Wednesday July 14, 1999 06:12 PM
NAZARETH, Pa. (AP) -- Mike Wallace has driven just about every kind of race vehicle with four wheels during his long career. His newest means of travel is a pickup truck. The 40-year-old driver, the middle brother of a famous racing family, will showcase his talents Sunday at Nazareth Speedway in the NAPA AutoCare 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. "I enjoy going to Nazareth," said Wallace, who likes the track's quirks but believes the layout makes it difficult to prepare for a race. "To me, it's an oval road course. But I wish we could decide how many turns there are. Some guys say they set up for four. I find five. The book says three. In any case, it's a driver's race track. It's a lot more fun than those plain vanilla places." Wallace's older brother, Rusty Wallace, is one of the most popular and successful drivers on the Winston Cup circuit, NASCAR's premier stock car series. The youngest, Kenny, is a rising star on the Winston Cup and Busch series. Mike Wallace has done it all in racing. He's a veteran of Winston Cup, Busch, Winston, Winston West and ARCA stock car competition, and now is in his third full season as a Craftsman Truck Series driver. "I never let rust gather on my pedal foot," Wallace said. "If I get a chance to drive something competitive, I'll give it a shot." Wallace, a St. Louis native, will drive Jim Smith's No. 2 ASE Racing Ford F-150 pickup in Sunday's race. He was having a breakthrough season until an accident Saturday night left him with an 18th-place finish in Nashville, Tenn. He is eighth in the point standings, which are led by Jack Sprague. Through 14 events, Wallace has two victories, six top-five finishes and seven top-10s. Before joining Smith's team this season, Wallace's best finish was second in 43 starts for Ken Schrader's team. "The only thing missing now is consistency," Wallace said. "We've won races. We haven't won any poles. We're more of a top-five or top-10 truck every week, but there are weeks we aren't showing that. We've just got to make it work." Wallace finished 22nd at Nazareth last year in a race won by Ron Hornaday. The engine on Wallace's Chevy truck expired on lap 174. He finished 13th in the 1998 standings. Wallace's crew chief, Tim Kohuth, is an Allentown native, while crewman Kevin Collins is from Wind Gap. In the 1998 truck race at Nazareth, their truck won the pole with Mike Bliss driving. Wallace has learned to live in the shadow of brother Rusty, 43, the 1989 Winston Cup champion. "Yep, being a Wallace has meant being Rusty's brother for as long as I can remember," Mike Wallace said. "I've never not been Rusty's brother in racing. I learned to live with it. After all, what's the big deal? He's a terrific guy and a terrific race car driver." Sometimes, the Wallace name helps him on the track. Other times, it hurts. "There are certain people who don't like Rusty, and it transfers," Wallace said. "Kenny and I have said it often: When something happens involving Rusty in a race one week, we know we're going to get it from the fans the next week." While Mike Wallace doesn't have the same recognition as his older brother, he does have 15 career victories in major racing divisions. "That's a lot of races," he said. "Some guys have been in it as long as me and are still looking for their first win. But Rusty has those 40-some Winston Cup wins that everybody measures you by." Mike Wallace, a part-timer on the Winston Cup circuit, plans to try to qualify for the Brickyard 400 Aug. 7 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He's hired veteran Winston Cup crew chief Tim Brewer to prepare a car.
Nazareth Speedway action starts Friday with the NASCAR
Featherlite Modified Tour 100, postponed from May. Friday also
features practice for the U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown and Coors
Silver Bullet champ cars.
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