Rusty Wallace
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace (born August 14, 1956 in Fenton, Missouri) is a retired professional NASCAR driver.
Wallace joined the Winston Cup circuit in 1984, winning Rookie of the Year honors. By 1989, Wallace had won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship, beating out close friend and fierce rival Dale Earnhardt by twelve points. Rusty's first win came on April 6, 1986, at Bristol Motor Speedway, this would also become the site of his 50th career NASCAR win. To date, Rusty had 55 NASCAR wins, good enough for 8th place on NASCAR's all-time wins list.
In the late 70's prior to joining the NASCAR circuit, Wallace made a name for himself racing around the Midwest winning a pair of local track championships and in 1979 he won United States Auto Club's (USAC) Rookie of the Year honors while competing against the likes of A.J. Foyt and other racing legends. Rusty won more than 200 short track races prior to joining NASCAR fulltime in 1984. In 1983 he won the American Speed Association (ASA) championship while competing against some of NASCAR's future stars like Mark Martin, 1992 NASCAR Champion Alan Kulwicki and Dick Trickle.
Off the track, Wallace is an avid pilot, owning several airplanes and a helicopter. He also owns and operates Rusty Wallace, Inc., which fields the #64 NASCAR Busch Series car driven by Jamie McMurray or Jeremy Mayfield. On August 30, 2004 Wallace announced that the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season would be his last as a full-time driver. However, he may continue to run a limited schedule after the 2005 season -- as semi-retirees Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte also have done.
Rusty's two brothers, Kenny and Mike, also currently race on the NASCAR circuit. Rusty and his wife Patti have three children -- Greg, Katie and Stephen and now live on a large ranch outside Charlotte, N.C.
Stephen is a race car driver and in 2004, at the age of 17, won one of the biggest short track races in the country, the Snowball Derby, in Pensacola, Florida, a race Rusty and Kenny both entered, but failed to win in their careers, and in 2005, shortly after turning 18, won the ARCA Hantz Group 200 at Michigan International Speedway in a Kodak sponsored Penske Racing Dodge.
Greg is the RWI public relations manager, but has also served internships at NASCAR while attending college when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He is a student at the Wake Forest University School of Law.
On January 25, 2006, it was announced that Rusty will cover auto racing events for ABC/ESPN, beginning with the IRL. He is expected to join the NASCAR broadcasting team for ABC/ESPN when the networks return to the sport in 2007. [1]