Rusty Wallace grew up in a tough part of St. Louis and learned at an early age not to take crap from anyone or let anyone scare you. He lived by that rule until one day when he had a confrontation with then-NASCAR Chairman Bill France Jr.
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During the 1989 NASCAR Busch Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Wallace was battling with Dale Jarrett late in the race when Jarrett lost control of his car in the closing laps and crashed.
“From the cameras, it looked like I wrecked Dale Jarrett on purpose, and I didn’t,” Wallace insisted to younger brother Kenny Wallace on this week’s Kenny Wallace podcast.
As Jarrett spun around, Wallace thought he had the win sewn up, only to watch Darrell Waltrip sneak by on the low side and drive into victory lane.
But losing to Waltrip wasn’t Wallace’s biggest problem. After pulling into the garage, he was summoned into France’s office after the race.
Suffice to say, France was livid, and Wallace called it “the scariest moment of my life.”
“I’m kicking you out (of NASCAR) for life, and your day is over,” a seething France said to Wallace. “Your racing history is done. You need to load your chicken ass up and go back to St. Louis.”
Wallace admitted, “(France’s reaction) freaked me completely out. I got my family, I got everybody, and (France) just kicked me completely out of NASCAR.”
But despite all his bluster, France was known to be a fair man, usually. He then accompanied Wallace up to the press box to review the CBS race films.
“We’re going to replay this race, and if I see what I think I saw, you’re kicked out of NASCAR for life,” Wallace said. “I go up in there, they run these tapes, and it’s me and (team owner) Raymond Beetle, (crew chief) Barry Dodson, and (chief engine builder) Harold Elliott.
“We’re up in there, and here it shows both of us (Wallace and Jarrett) go side by side. It shows Dale goes sideways. … (But) it never shows me touch him. Bill’s Smoking a cigarette like crazy. He said, ‘Well, I don’t see nothing here. And he looks at me and goes, ‘What do you got to say for yourself?’”
Instead of saying, “Thank you, Mr. France” or “I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, respectfully, Mr. France,” Rusty’s St. Louis upbringing just instantly came out of him.
Without missing a beat, Wallace said something that maybe only one or two other drivers in history ever could get away with in France.
“I think you owe me an apology,” Wallace smack-talked back to France, momentarily leaving NASCAR’s boss stunned and without a comeback.
Without much of a comeback, France was left to just mutter a few words, “Get the hell out of here.”
Even though that incident was in a Busch Series race, it set the tone for Wallace in the Winston Cup Series that season.
While Waltrip won the season-opening Daytona 500 — the only time he captured the Great American Race in his career — after losing the 1988 Cup title to Bill Elliott by a mere 24 points, Wallace roared back in ’89 to earn his only career Cup championship, finishing ahead of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Mark Martin.
