Coffee with Kenny is a video series created by the former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace. He shares personal stories from his career, behind-the-scenes insights, unfiltered opinions, and other news on social media platforms, including YouTube. The series has come to the spotlight, particularly for the way he films the videos, casually at his home with a coffee mug in hand.
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Appearing on The Late Lap recently, he detailed how he developed his affinity for coffee and how it subsequently led to the creation of the Coffee with Kenny series. Following a brief stint as a crew chief, Wallace started racing in NASCAR around 1989. The sanctioning body mandates drivers to get physicals every year before the beginning of the season.
He got into the habit, and in 2012, his doctor noted that his blood sugar levels were beginning to rise at an alarming rate. Warned that he might have to go on the pill if the same continued, he got in touch with the likes of Carl Edwards and Mark Martin to get some advice on proper eating habits. This led to cutting down on many foods that he had been consuming without limit until then.
He said, “I had to get rid of Coke and Pepsi. I had to get rid of sweet tea. I had to get rid of chicken nuggets and waffle fries. I had to get rid of fettuccine alfredo. I had to get rid of anything that was greasy or junk. So, when I got rid of all that stuff, here’s what I found. I found water, I found coffee. And my daughter taught me about half-sweet, half-unsweet tea.”
Rejoicing at the thought of finding coffee when he was 49 years old, Wallace continued to talk about how he couldn’t drink it black and had to resort to adding vanilla creamers. Anyhow, when COVID struck and everything came to a standstill, his daughters had bought him a jacket that read ‘Coffee with Kenny.’ This gift gave his YouTube manager a brilliant idea.
He narrated, “Charlie Marlo, my YouTube manager, called me and he said, ‘Let me start you a YouTube show.’ And I said, ‘No way.’ Then there it is. 100,000 subscribers later, he said, ‘Coffee with Kenny is our bread and butter. It’s just because when it started, I just didn’t care. I was just sitting on my couch. So that’s the whole story.”
The show has become hugely popular today for its authenticity. Wallace delivers raw and honest opinions that strike a chord with the core fans of the sport. He also tells stories from yesteryear that intrigue the modern-day fans. To no one’s surprise, the influence of his voice keeps growing with every episode he releases.
