"Everbody wanted to be Dale Earnhardt, well, so did Rusty": Kenny Wallace discusses tough love from oldest sibling that shaped his NASCAR journey
Kenny Wallace appeared on the Dale Jr. Download podcast and talked about Rusty Wallace’s unwavering determination for greatness. The 61-year-old said that his brother's tough love for him shaped his NASCAR journey.
Kenny Wallace is a former NASCAR driver who secured nine Xfinity Series victories. He is the younger brother of Rusty and Mike Wallace, with the former owning the bragging rights for winning a Cup Series championship title in 1989.
In the latest episode of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dale Jr. Download podcast, Kenny Wallace recalled the tough love his older brother had for him, which he later realized was for the better.
“Rusty would be so damn mean to me. But later on, I realized he meant good for me. I mean if it weren’t for Rusty, I would have never made it to NASCAR,” Wallace said.
While the former NASCAR driver was talking about Rusty Wallace’s ambition to be the top driver, Dale Jr. Download co-host Mike Davis chimed in and argued:
“It was ego. It was him and Earnhardt’s time. He wanted to be Earnhardt and this kid shows up and messes up what he had in mind.”
In response, the 61-year-old said:
“You got it. Everybody wanted to be Dale Sr… well, so did Rusty.”
Rusty Wallace entered as a rookie in NASCAR in 1984, competing against drivers like seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. for race wins. Jeff Gordon made it tougher for both drivers when he joined the stock car racing league in 1993.
At the conclusion of his career, Wallace amassed 55 race wins, including 25 victories on short tracks like Bristol Motor Speedway. The 1989 NASCAR champ is 11th on the all-time Cup Series race win list between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin.
Kenny Wallace recalled the time when a former NASCAR driver stood up for him from older brother Rusty
In a YouTube video posted by Kenny Wallace earlier this year, he shared the moment Rusty Wallace got mad at him on a plane ride along with Dick Trickle.
After Kenny Wallace busted out laughing, his older brother told him to “shut the f**k up with that laughing.” Trickle then stood up for Kenny and asked Rusty to stop talking to his younger brother that way.
Like Rusty, Trickle also encouraged Kenny to be a better NASCAR driver. The Missouri native recalled:
“It was Dick Trickle that said let Kenny be Kenny because you know there's all these people trying to change me... I wanted to win so bad that I was like yeah, you know and Trickle got it. So there was a couple of people that knew me good and they'd look at people and they go look, 'let Kenny be Kenny, and that's when he'll be at his best.'" [0:50]
Dick Trickle was a former NASCAR driver who won over 1,200 short-track races across several US-based racing series. He passed away at 71 and was honored by the league during the Charlotte All-Star race a day later in May 2013.