From thehotlap.com
April 1, 2008
NASCAR Nationwide Series Mike Wallace, driver of the #7 GEICO Toyota, has a long and storied history in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He is scheduled to start his 600th NASCAR sanctioned event next weekend in Texas, and this weekend his daughter, Chrissy, made her debut in the truck race at Martinsville; the same facility where 17 years ago, her father made his first Busch (Nationwide) Series racing start.
Wallace, along with brothers Rusty and Kenny, started racing part-time in their hometown of St. Louis. While his two brothers left to pursue racing full-time in North Carolina, Mike was still involved in the family vacuum and janitorial supply business. He was racing for fun…and doing well at it. In 1990 Wallace and his family made the difficult decision to give up the stability and security of their life in Missouri and go racing in North Carolina. His thoughts at the time, "If I don’t at least go there and try it-I’ll regret it forever. Then I’ll wonder …could I have done it, could I have won races."
After some initial success in ‘91’ in Nationwide at Martinsville and Atlanta in the ARCA series, by the next year, Wallace had no ride. The next two years proved difficult, but he knew "failure was not an option", the family business back in St. Louis had been sold, and he had to persevere. Getting rides here and there; in 1994 Wallace finally landed a Nationwide deal with Barry Owen and with Junie Donlevy’s Heilig Meyers ride on the Cup side. Winning races that year and the next, the future looked bright, but, both the small Cup and Nationwide team deals fell apart. An invitation from Ken Schrader to drive his truck in Milwaukee led the driver into the truck series, where he ran a top five his first race out. Moving to Ultra Motorsports, in 2000, Wallace won the inaugural truck race at Daytona. While scheduled to drive the Mopar Dodge in 2001, with the manufacturer’s re-entry into the truck series, Mike was instead pegged by owner Jim Smith to drive in the #7 Nationwide Cup car, a position vacated by Michael Waltrip.
After an up and down season, Wallace was asked by Penske racing to take over the #12 ride of Jeremy Mayfield for the last 8 races of the season. The team did well, and even ran second to Jeff Burton in Phoenix, but , unfortunately , after the delayed Loudon race which ran in November of that year, the #12 operation was shut down, and it was back to ground zero for Wallace. A lengthy period of racing here and there in the Nationwide and Cup series’ ensued, with Mike getting an introduction to the GEICO corporation and landing a ride with Fred Biagi in NASCAR’s second tier series. The team had a stellar victory at the 2004 Daytona Nationwide race , yet by the end of the year, the driver was once again without a ride.
Wallace raced for Phoenix racing in 2006, compiling 4 top 5 finishes. GEICO and Wallace were once again brought together by a mutual friend, and this time, Mike pitched a business proposal through Mike Wallace Racing for them to go racing with him for 3 years , allowing him to go where he chose. Last year, Wallace had a career best 11th place in the Nationwide season’s final standings, yet, for the first time in his career, Wallace had 0 top-10s in a season. To add to the frustration, in October, it was announced that Nationwide would be the primary sponsor of the series, and his sponsor, GEICO, was not grandfathered in after 7 years in the sport; but instead has a sunset provision which ensures they must exit the series by the end of 2009.
A meeting with the Germains, brokered by Mike Hillman Sr. has brought about the current relationship of the #7 GEICO Toyota Camry. Germain Racing has a proven history of success with the truck program and Todd Bodine, and Wallace feel s they can have a successful season in Nationwide and win races. The team is now in total performance race mode."Others say stick with it, let’s build a program. We don’t have time to build a program, we have to produce right now." This year 2 out of 6 races we’ve had a top 10-should have been 5, but we had some pit stop problems. "
At the end of last season, the team was able to pick up equipment as Robert Yates Racing disbanded its Nationwide program, and some of the crew that worked there have come over also. "That’s why I don’t consider this a "we’ve got to take time to build a team-everybody should have enough experience that we all know what to do and we all have to produce." "I’ve made a commitment to my sponsor that we will run competitively and put ourselves in a position where we could win races. That’s what we’ve got to do and we’re showing that we can get to that point with top 10’s."" I’m different than a lot of ‘kids’ in the sport today-I appreciate the opportunities I’ve had. I’ve been through the good stuff and been through the bad stuff. I like the good stuff way more."
What does Wallace get out of the sport these days? "The extreme desire and passion for racing-I know in my heart that on the right day and the right equipment, I can run as good as anybody. I can win races and I think it’s now the challenge. I love coming to the racetrack, I love climbing inside the race car. I don’t have any desire to be here to run 20th on back….I still have stuff to prove." "What’s missing today a little bit in some crewmembers in the sport is they are viewing it just as a job. It’s not just a job, it’s a passion, it’s a way of life." "There are thousands of people that would love to do what we’re doing. You’ve got to have a passion if you’re going to be any good at it and have any longevity- got to take the job out of it."
When it came to his daughter’s racing, Mike didn’t initially encourage her, and claims he tried to talk her out of it. "Chrissy has raced since she was 11-started in part because Steve was running in the Bandoleros, she saw him race, and said "Dad, I want to do that". She tested, ran good, it’s been part of her life ever since. Chrissy has done pretty good, finally a couple of years ago, I asked if she was really sure she wanted to give this a shot. But she said, "Dad, I want to race, okay…I don’t know how I’m going to make it, with your’s or somebody’s help. I just like racing, and I think I can be good at it." Last year it hit home for Mike the talent his daughter had for the sport, when Chrissy won late model races at Hickory Motor Speedway…the 1st female to win a feature event in the history of the track, and taking Rookie of the Year honors at the speedway in 2007. Since then, there has been a lot of interest from the media and racetracks courting her for appearances.. even before her first major NASCAR event. Her father recognizes the extra pressure for Chrissy "She has a tougher deal being a female in a male dominated sport-in which females in the past have not been that successful. She is handling it really cool. I’m not worried because it will work out one of two ways- she will do respectably well and race cars for a living, or not do well and get a normal job. But, at least she gets the opportunity to pursue the passion that she has right now…think how many people never get that." This weekend Chrissy qualified and competed in her first NASCAR sanctioned event in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville, finishing 18th in Germain Racing’s #03 GEICO/Mobil Devlac Toyota . Before the event she had just over 700 laps in a truck, between testing at Martinsville earlier this month and some seat time at Caraway, where Ron Hornaday lent a hand helping her work on braking and getting the feel of the truck." The Germains and Todd Bodine (driver of Germain Racing’s #30 truck) believe in her, everyone thinks it is a good deal."
As Chrissy moves forward in the pursuit of her dream, she will have the insight and experience of her father ‘s guidance. As he says "there are lots of trials and tribulations, but every business has that-everything in life. We’ve all been challenged, but, in the big challenge, you weigh the positive and the negatives, and the positives still outweigh the negatives. So, even though it has been challenging for myself, it has been rewarding at the same time. It makes me that much more determined" (TheHotLap.Com)
Mike Wallace NASCAR Nationwide Series Stats
Year Age Races Win T5 T10 Pole Laps Led Rank Av Start Av Finish Miles Run Earnings
1990 31 1 of 31 0 0 1 0 200 0 79 24 6 105.2 1,450.00
1991 32 9 of 31 0 1 2 0 1224 0 39 18.4 21.3 984.6 15,445.00
1992 33 17 of 31 0 1 3 0 2995 0 22 21.8 20.4 2374.1 39,979.00
1993 34 28 of 28 0 1 9 0 5425 0 12 20.5 16.4 4874 131,473.00
1994 35 22 of 28 3 6 9 0 3799 0 19 16 15.3 3671.3 157,735.00
1995 36 19 of 26 0 4 9 0 3341 148 20 13.1 15.2 3651.4 138,621.00
1996 37 17 of 26 0 2 5 0 2706 0 26 22.5 22.1 2762.1 77,260.00
1997 38 6 of 30 0 0 0 0 798 0 58 25.3 29.2 1136.9 43,855.00
1998 39 6 of 31 0 0 1 0 838 0 56 29 22.8 1241.5 55,829.00
1999 40 1 of 32 0 0 0 0 22 0 132 19 41 30 8,385.00
2000 41 8 of 32 0 0 0 0 1163 0 59 31.4 29.2 1344.8 80,810.00
2001 42 8 of 33 0 0 1 0 1398 0 50 30.4 26.8 1975 114,895.00
2002 43 17 of 34 0 0 0 0 2595 10 37 29 25 3512.6 238,745.00
2003 44 32 of 34 0 1 3 0 6025 0 13 21.6 18.1 7508.5 792,050.00
2004 45 34 of 34 1 1 4 0 6002 33 17 26.1 21 7435.9 960,326.00
2005 46 12 of 35 0 1 3 0 1946 5 40 27.7 20.1 2362.7 279,111.00
2006 47 23 of 35 0 2 3 0 4563 35 24 25.2 18.9 5259.4 755,183.00
2007 48 35 of 35 0 0 0 0 6155 34 11 28.8 22.7 8112.1 1,105,430.00
2008 49 6 of 6 0 0 2 0 1063 1 8 19.5 15.7 1594.8 194,222.00
Years 19 301 4 20 55 0 52258 266 20.2 20.2 59936.8 5,190,804.00