Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Ed Rensi Ran McDonald's & NASCAR Teams!
Transcript
- 0:00Barack Obama said that the said that the military was racist and
- 0:06we couldn't have this. And 90% of the guys that were in
- 0:09the Marine Corps that came to my race team were black.
- 0:12I'm like, what the Hell's he talking about?
- 0:14He had no idea who his audience is.
- 0:17But that was the beginning of the end for me.
- 0:19I thought, this is anytime you get politics into sports, you
- 0:22got a problem. My whole family were Democrats.
- 0:25They were coal miners. They were secretaries.
- 0:29My dad was a lifelong Democrat. He was a central committee man.
- 0:32My mother was a Democrat. Everybody in my family, coal
- 0:35miners, steel mill workers, union guys, all were members of
- 0:40unions. I grew up as a Democrat.
- 0:43That day when Obama did that, I became a Republican.
- 0:46I said never again can the president of the United States
- 0:50take control of my fund because he doesn't know what he's
- 0:56talking about. Call a NASCAR racist.
- 0:59It's the Kenny Wallace conversation brought to you by
- 1:02Jags. Hello everyone and welcome back
- 1:05to Kenny conversation brought to you by Jags, the leader in high
- 1:10performance aftermarket car parts.
- 1:13Remember to go to jags.com for everything you need to fix your
- 1:18hot rod up or just your everyday vehicle.
- 1:22Well, I am really honored to have my dear friend, Great
- 1:27American businessman Ed Renzi. Ed, how are you doing?
- 1:31I'm doing. Fantastic.
- 1:33And I'm doing really great. Good to see you.
- 1:35It's good to see my long lost friend.
- 1:38I drove for Ed, Renzi and NASCAR.
- 1:40But listen, Ed, before we get going, I want to do you a solid.
- 1:44I want to introduce you the way it ought to be.
- 1:47So just give me a minute, Ed. I want to tell everybody how
- 1:52great you are, The man you're looking at right now, Ed Renzi
- 1:56is the retired president and CEO of McDonald's USA.
- 2:01Yes, McDonald's, where he spent nearly his entire professional
- 2:07career. He started as a grill cook in
- 2:091966 in Columbus, OH, became the president of McDonald's in 1984
- 2:19and the CEO in 1991. Now, Ed, I really like what I'm
- 2:23going to say next and and your fans are going to love this.
- 2:27In his time at McDonald's, he spearheaded these legendary food
- 2:31enhancements of the breakfast menu, the drive through concept
- 2:37at McDonald's and developed the Chicken Mcnuggets, the Mcrib
- 2:42Sandwich, the Extra Value Meal and the Great Ronald McDonald
- 2:49House. And as President of McDonald's,
- 2:51I'm going to repeat this as the president of McDonald's Ed sales
- 2:57and number of restaurants roughly doubled.
- 3:00And you've done it all, buddy. Tell me about what I just said
- 3:03about you. What's that make you think when
- 3:06I introduce you like that? Well, it's not unlike racing.
- 3:11I wish I could claim credit for all of those great things that
- 3:14happened at McDonald's, but I had a magnificent team around
- 3:17me. Nobody, no singular person at
- 3:20McDonald's ever really had the ability to do anything by
- 3:25themselves. It was a team effort all the
- 3:27way. And just like you got a front
- 3:29tire changer and a back tire changer.
- 3:31We had grilled people, we had equipment engineering people, we
- 3:34had product development. Our chef, Chef Renee Ren was a
- 3:37French trained chef, five star Michelin guy and he was working
- 3:42for McDonald's. Ray Kroc found him at the
- 3:44Whitehall restaurant in Chicago and brought him into McDonald's
- 3:48and Ray Kroc was a genius. So it wasn't about me.
- 3:50I I had a great foundation, a great legacy and I just got the
- 3:54build on it a little bit. The one thing I was pretty good
- 3:56at was leading people and challenging them to be better
- 4:00tomorrow than they are today. So if I had any attribute worth
- 4:05talking about is that I love people.
- 4:07I love the potential of people and I think without people our
- 4:10world is a very sad place. Ed, we're we're going to get to
- 4:14racing in a little bit because you were a NASCAR car owner.
- 4:18I drove the Lance snack car for you.
- 4:21But please allow me everybody. I'm very interested in Ed
- 4:25running to McDonald's for quite a while.
- 4:27You you mentioned just now that Ray Kroc, you know the man that
- 4:33really distributed the the the restaurants all over the world,
- 4:38he had a chef. It is this tell me this concept
- 4:42you said he he got a chef. Is this how you all developed
- 4:46the McDonald's menu? Well, you know the McDonald's
- 4:50brothers, Dick and Maurice McDonald's out of California?
- 4:54They were actually from New England originally.
- 4:57Oh, wow. Mac was Mack was a foodie and
- 5:03Dick was an engineer. And Dick came up with a speedy
- 5:07concept for industrializing, cooking hamburgers.
- 5:12There's a big, long story there about them having a hot dog
- 5:15stand at the Hollywood studio, and everybody kept asking for
- 5:18hamburgers, and that's why they got in the hamburger business.
- 5:21So that was the genesis of it. But the hamburger was a very
- 5:24simple thing. It was a toasted bun, 14% sugar.
- 5:28The rest was flour, good flour and what have you, and a small
- 5:31hamburger. It was affordable.
- 5:33It was $0.15 and there were people selling hamburgers at
- 5:36that time for 9:10 and 11:00 cents.
- 5:39So back when I think about this, a coke of fry and A and a
- 5:44hamburger, it was less than a dollar.
- 5:47I think it was $0.07 and today it's so much higher than that.
- 5:52But you know, Ray Kroc was a visionary.
- 5:55He, they called him Danny Dreamer and he was, he was
- 5:59trying to make a fortune a million different ways.
- 6:02He was a marketing guy. He was really great with me.
- 6:05He was a wonderful man. He had his piccadillos like
- 6:08everybody else does, and he was selling milkshake machines.
- 6:13And his secretary, Jim Martino called him from Prince Castle
- 6:17and said, hey, these guys are buying five of these machines in
- 6:19California. So Ray was in, I think he was in
- 6:23Saint Louis doing something, I don't even know what.
- 6:27He was working for a Lily Tulip Cup company.
- 6:31And so he drove straight to California and sat on a picnic
- 6:35table outside of their restaurant for a couple of days,
- 6:38watching what was going on and trying to figure out why they
- 6:40were buying all these milkshake machines.
- 6:43That was because they were selling a ton of milkshakes.
- 6:46So ultimately he wanted to sell milkshake machines, but he
- 6:50decided maybe he'd be better to sell McDonald's franchise.
- 6:53So he struck a deal with them to franchise the concept and then
- 6:57ultimately end up buying a company from him that was in I
- 7:00think 1954 or five somewhere in that neighborhood.
- 7:05And I had the good fortune of working with Ray right up to the
- 7:08day he died. In fact, I visited him at
- 7:10Scripps Hospital in San Diego just before he passed away.
- 7:14And it was interesting. He was laying there quite I'll
- 7:17in his 80s. And I said, Ray, is there
- 7:20anything I can get for you? He said you had like to have an
- 7:22ice cream cone because he, he invented the twin twist after
- 7:26the Triple Ripple ice cream. So I called Steve Zadonik, who
- 7:30was our vice president in San Diego, and I said, dude, you got
- 7:34to get me some ice cream cones and get him over here in a
- 7:36hurry. So he came over, he had three
- 7:38ice cream cones and Ray had one. I had one and Steve had one.
- 7:42The doctor walked in and said you're going to kill him feeding
- 7:44that stuff. I said he's about dead anyway.
- 7:47What the hell difference. Oh my whore.
- 7:50I thought everybody was going to shit, but I said that.
- 7:54But he was a wonderful man. I just one last story about Ray.
- 7:57He visited me in Washington DC when I was running the franchise
- 8:01organization there way back in the 70s.
- 8:05And Ray said, Ed, you own a home and I said no, I can't afford to
- 8:09buy a house. He said buy a house is the most
- 8:11important thing you can do to secure your long term financial
- 8:14future. And I said OK, as soon as I get
- 8:17the money, I'll do that. And then on his birthday he sent
- 8:20me shares of McDonald's stock as his birthday gift to me.
- 8:26If you can believe that. Wow.
- 8:28And this was in October, I believe it was.
- 8:31And he said, here's your down payment on the House.
- 8:34Make sure we grow McDonald's so this stock gets more valuable.
- 8:38That's incredible. That's the level of generosity
- 8:40that man had. He was one of the kindest men
- 8:43I've ever met in my life. But he was tough as nails when
- 8:46it came to getting what he wanted and I had the good
- 8:48fortune working with. He might have totally passed
- 8:50away. And he got me involved in
- 8:52projects that were just amazing. You know, I had he one day he
- 8:56came to work and said I want to get a peanut butter and Jelly
- 8:58sandwich bar for breakfast. And I said peanut butter and
- 9:03Jelly. I said we're not set up to do
- 9:05that kind of thing. He said I want good fresh baked
- 9:07bread. I want you to get some great
- 9:09peanut butter. I want you to get some Smuckers
- 9:12jams and jellies. And I said OK, I'll go to work
- 9:16on it. I was head of product
- 9:17development at the time or they reported to me.
- 9:20So he leaves and goes back to San Diego.
- 9:22And I want to talk to my direct boss, Mike Quinlan, who ended up
- 9:26being the president of McDonald's and then chairman of
- 9:29the board. I said, Mike, he wants me to do
- 9:31a peanut butter bar. I think he's out of his freaking
- 9:33mind. He said, Ed, he owns the
- 9:35company. Get a peanut butter bar.
- 9:39Good reminder. Yeah.
- 9:41Just in case you forgot, it's the charge here.
- 9:44So I we had a bunch of salad bars that were like pyramids.
- 9:48They were, you know, 8 sided. Really.
- 9:50Octopus. They had multiple levels in
- 9:52them. So I took the bottom level and
- 9:54put different kinds of bread in. And next level was Jelly and the
- 9:57next level was peanut butter and we had cashew butter, peanut
- 10:00butter. And we put it into a restaurant
- 10:02called the Golden Arch Restaurant, which was an
- 10:05experimental restaurant in Chicago.
- 10:07Couldn't give the damn. After everybody bought one, they
- 10:10never bought another one. That was it How did how did the
- 10:14just a little bit more about McDonald's you're you're you're
- 10:18too famous to let it go. Just a couple more things.
- 10:22How did the Chicken Mcnugget or or Mcrib and and we'll end with
- 10:27McDonald's on on that note, how do you, how does that develop?
- 10:30Who? How do you create that?
- 10:33Well, the kids market was growing and we needed some kind
- 10:39of a product for kids that was perceived to be quote UN quote
- 10:43more healthy. Because that was during the 70s
- 10:47and the 80s when everybody was talking about, you know, food is
- 10:51medicine as as opposed to being just food.
- 10:54And I think it was Patty Turner who was Fred Turner's wife.
- 10:58Fred was Ray's number two guy. I think Patty Turner was what I
- 11:03said. You need some kind of little
- 11:04chicken Nuggets thing. I'll be darned.
- 11:07And Fred gets in the elevator with me one morning at 6:00 and
- 11:11said Renzi, I wish you'd figure out how to make Chicken
- 11:14Mcnuggets. I said For what?
- 11:18He said we're going to put Chicken Mcnuggets at McDonald's
- 11:21for for kids. I said oh, OK, so I got the
- 11:26product development department there a lot and I said, hey, we
- 11:29got to have Chicken Mcnuggets. And his reaction was the same as
- 11:31mine. What the hell is a chicken
- 11:33nugget? And ultimately we hooked up with
- 11:37Bud Sweeney and her blotman out of Philadelphia.
- 11:42They were two of our big fish supplier and meat beef suppliers
- 11:46and Darryl On and his team. And they actually bought a
- 11:48chicken factory in Nashville, TN and started playing with how to
- 11:53make chicken Nuggets. And we started off using nothing
- 11:56but thigh meat because they had a lot more flavor than breast
- 12:01meat does. And we deboned it with a high
- 12:06speed, very fine water jets took the skin off, took the meat off
- 12:11the bone. And then we took the whole
- 12:13muscle and just ran it through a process and then cut it into
- 12:16different shapes. Batter breaded it and fried it
- 12:19in oil. And originally we started off
- 12:22with four Nuggets at a box for kids and people were ordering
- 12:27four or five boxes. And we found out the mom would
- 12:31buy a box for each kid and then she would buy three or four
- 12:33boxes for herself. So then we went to six piece and
- 12:37you know eight piece and. That would have been me.
- 12:40That would have been me. And then Jeff, Renee developed
- 12:44all the sauces, dunking sauces and him being friends.
- 12:48Hey, you don't understand. It's not about the Nuggets.
- 12:51It's about the sauce, you know, You know, so we had, I think I
- 12:56looked at 64 or 65 different sauces before we landed on the
- 13:01server that we didn't. McGriff was a similar kind of a
- 13:04story. It was crazy.
- 13:07You know, obviously you can't sell the rib sandwich because
- 13:09you got bones in it and everything else.
- 13:11But everybody was doing the BBQ thing and I'll never forget
- 13:14this. This is about five or six weeks
- 13:17before Father's Day and we had one of our meat suppliers create
- 13:23a chicken or a a, a pork. It was 100% pure pork, but we
- 13:29formed it and put it into a a form and we pressed it so that
- 13:33it would look like a rib. It had ribs on it, literally had
- 13:36ribs on it. And then we put it in Kansas
- 13:39City Masterpiece BBQ sauce. It just set it in and we fried
- 13:43it first. I loved it.
- 13:45We grilled it and then stuck it in Kansas City BBQ because it
- 13:48was the best barbecue sauce in the world.
- 13:50Still is to buy mine this day. And we just put them in here and
- 13:53we served them out of there on a nice roll.
- 13:56And we we started off in Kansas and Saint Louis and we sold the
- 14:00hell out of those things. I bought them, yeah.
- 14:03And. Everybody, everybody in the
- 14:05company wanted to put it out nationwide immediately.
- 14:08Of course, you know, logistically when you got, you
- 14:10know, 15,000 restaurants, I think it's easy to say and hard
- 14:13to do. And I'll never forget this.
- 14:16This was Father's Day weekend and Fred Turner went absolutely
- 14:20nuts and said tell me what the trade out is.
- 14:24If people are buying that damn MC Ridge sandwich, what aren't
- 14:27they buying? Did they quit buying Big Macs?
- 14:29Did they quit buying Quarter Pounders?
- 14:31I want you to do a menu ticket study in Kansas City and Saint
- 14:36Louis. So we sent a swarm of people
- 14:39over Father's Day to take tickets out of every cash
- 14:43register tabulated to see what the trade off was.
- 14:47They came back and said it's brand new business.
- 14:50There's. No trade off.
- 14:51This is people we've never had before that love BBQ.
- 14:54Now there was always a little bit of trade off because people
- 14:57experimented what have you? And then it took off.
- 15:00Well, we found out it was really, really good for six
- 15:03weeks cause barbecues and every once in a while thing.
- 15:06You don't eat BBQ every day, eat hamburgers every day, but you
- 15:09don't eat BBQ every day. So now it comes back seasonally.
- 15:14It comes back for six or eight weeks every once in a while and
- 15:17they sell the hell out of it and then they take it off the menu
- 15:20again, so. I'll be darned.
- 15:22Well, what? What a great story, Ed.
- 15:23I I really appreciate you telling me about that.
- 15:26For me, it's so interesting to hear you hanging out watching
- 15:32the great Ray Kroc. I will tell you the truth.
- 15:36I've watched the documentary. I do know about it.
- 15:39I do. I knew.
- 15:40Do know that he was brilliant, you know, with real estate and.
- 15:46But anyway, OK, one last thing. My son-in-law is Brody Brody,
- 15:52Pompe, POMPE. Brody told me to tell you that
- 15:58the Ronald McDonald House is the real deal.
- 16:01His brother Briley had a stroke and the Ronald McDonald House
- 16:06truly put Briley up in the Ronald McDonald House when when
- 16:10they didn't have enough money and they're from out there in
- 16:13Oregon. So my son-in-law wants to thank
- 16:17you and became very serious when I told him I was going to have a
- 16:21conversation with you. And out of his words, the Ronald
- 16:25McDonald House is legit. It is the best charity in the
- 16:30world because 100% of all proceeds go to the charity.
- 16:34McDonald's pays all administrative expenses out of
- 16:37their own pocket. And it's an interesting story.
- 16:41Fred Hill, who was a tight end, the Philadelphia Eagles had a a
- 16:47child who had leukemia and he went to his business manager.
- 16:53Stan Lane and the Eagles put together a program called Fly
- 16:59for leukemia. Roman Gabriel was a quarterback
- 17:02of the Eagles and her Harold Carmichael was a wide receiver.
- 17:07He was about 6 foot 8 and they had a play called Fly for the
- 17:11Eagle and they would throw that ball downfield 100 yards and
- 17:17Harold Carmichael could catch it with one hand on a dead run
- 17:20because he was 4 feet taller than everybody else.
- 17:24And it was, it became very important.
- 17:26Well, they started this fundraising effort to help pay
- 17:29for Fred and Fran Hill's hospital stay and ultimately Kim
- 17:34survived. She died later from the results
- 17:37of all the chemotherapy she got and everything.
- 17:39I think she was in her 30s when she finally passed away.
- 17:42But out of that was born fly for fly for leukemia flyer, Eagles
- 17:48fly. And they took up collections at
- 17:50the Eagles football game. So they invited McDonald's to
- 17:53participate and we did and we gave them $0.25 Shamrock
- 18:00Milkshakes on Saint Patty's day. Were green, had no, no
- 18:04flavoring, They were just vanilla shakes with green
- 18:06coloring and we gave them a percentage of the the take in
- 18:10the Philadelphia TV market for the fly for leukemia and
- 18:14ultimately Dr. Audrey Evans, who developed the protocol for
- 18:18treating that particular leukemia, said to us, what I
- 18:21need is a halfway house between the hospital going home so these
- 18:26kids can transition, take their medicine in the family setting
- 18:30because leukemia is destroying families.
- 18:33We're saving the child and killing the family.
- 18:36So she said, can you give us more money?
- 18:38I said I'll give you all the money from the Shamrock
- 18:41Milkshake, if you call it the Ronald McDonald House.
- 18:44And Don Tuckerman, who is the head of the advertising agency
- 18:47Alcman Advertising, was very instrumental on that.
- 18:49He was probably really the father of the the Ronald
- 18:52McDonald House. He was a sweet and wonderful
- 18:54man. He's still alive.
- 18:55He lives over in Miami area, Florida.
- 18:58He's 92 years old, I think now. And we called up the Ronald
- 19:02McDonald House and I gave her $0.25 for every milkshake we
- 19:06showed, which is 100% of the proceeds.
- 19:09And then we just that house was successful.
- 19:11We built a second house and a third house, and Ray came to Ray
- 19:15Kroc, came to the grand opening in my invitation, Cut the
- 19:18ribbon, and he said I want to give $25,000 to every Ronald
- 19:22McDonald House that opens up out of my own pocket, his primary
- 19:26charity. And now I think there's over 500
- 19:29Ronald McDonald Houses scattered around the world.
- 19:31And they do. They not only do that, but
- 19:34Ronald McDonald House Children's Charities does a lot of research
- 19:38grants and childhood cancers and other diseases.
- 19:42They have halfway houses, way beyond the Ronald McDonald
- 19:45House. So it was a privilege, A
- 19:48privilege to have been slightly involved in that whole process.
- 19:52And it really speaks to the the, the good nature of McDonald's
- 19:57franchisees, 'cause they're the ones that do this stuff.
- 20:00It isn't the company, it's the franchisees.
- 20:02Yeah, well, Ed, thank you so very much.
- 20:07Ronald McDonald House. As Brody said, it's legit and I
- 20:11did not know any of this. And I will tell you Charlie
- 20:14Marlow behind the camera right now.
- 20:17He's a big fan of all sports and we all just learned a lot.
- 20:21Had no idea that that started with the Philadelphia Eagles.
- 20:25What a, what an unbelievable story that is.
- 20:28That story is not going to go under the radar.
- 20:31That is a really good. Story Think about this.
- 20:35October of 2024 is the 50th anniversary of the first opening
- 20:41of the first Wild McDonald House. 50 years.
- 20:44Wow, wonderful yesterday to me. And then all of a sudden I
- 20:48realized, well, shit, man, you're 80 years old.
- 20:50Yeah, we are. I'm 60, Ed, and you know well
- 20:54you're well, let's end the McDonald's like this.
- 21:00And Ed, I see you on Fox News. You're an incredible American
- 21:07businessman. I'm so honored and lucky to have
- 21:10you on Kenny Conversation. Let's end it like this.
- 21:15Give me your opinion. Now we're in a new world.
- 21:18We're in 2024. McDonald's is not the only fast
- 21:23food restaurant. Now we have a lot of other ones.
- 21:27How is McDonald's, in your opinion, doing today?
- 21:32I think it's doing probably better than it ever has in the
- 21:35history of the company. It's got great leadership.
- 21:39They're very good at surveying a market and deciding what's got
- 21:42to come next. They're very progressive.
- 21:45I think the cosmic idea is a good one that needs further
- 21:48development. It'll come in time.
- 21:51They're working on some other projects as well because the
- 21:53nature of food away from home is changing radically and
- 21:58particularly with this economy we got now with inflation as
- 22:02high as it is and with the Chinese buying up all of our
- 22:05agricultural land and ultimately they're going to be shipping
- 22:09food to China because they can't feed their own people.
- 22:12This is, you know, I don't know if you know this or not but
- 22:15they've they've purchased Smithfield Foods of the largest
- 22:18hog producer in the United States.
- 22:20The. Chinese did.
- 22:21Yeah. And you know there's there's
- 22:24this is there's a lot of great entrepreneurs in China.
- 22:28You know I was I went to China often to to open up McDonald's
- 22:32restaurants as a guest mostly. And so I don't, I don't want to
- 22:37talk about McDonald's anymore, but the the the whole world is
- 22:39changing radically. McDonald's is very well LED.
- 22:43They got great leadership and their anchor is the 5000
- 22:48franchisees in those restaurants because they got they, you know,
- 22:51it's like everything else. If you're an employee, you go
- 22:53home at night and you don't think about the company.
- 22:56If you own the damn place, you go home.
- 22:58That's all you think about because you got to pay the
- 23:00bills. Yeah, you know, it's like being
- 23:02in any other business. The owner always works more than
- 23:07any of the employees ever will. Yeah, people just don't realize
- 23:10it. Well, Ed, thank you. 25 minutes
- 23:13on McDonald's. It was fantastic.
- 23:16Yeah, But listen, I know the fans are going to love it.
- 23:18Kenny conversation. It's just that it's a it's a
- 23:22special conversation. So thank you so very much.
- 23:26Listen, I don't like for being known as the happy guy and the
- 23:30guy that laughs loud, but that's that's my gig and and I embrace
- 23:35it now. So you had a wonderful career at
- 23:38McDonald's. That's a very high end job to
- 23:42lead basically the world's greatest restaurant in American
- 23:46history. So it's over.
- 23:48Thank you so much. Let's move forward.
- 23:50All right, here we go. Wiping the slate up.
- 23:54I became very good friends with you because I was a NASCAR race
- 23:58car driver and I was running in the Cup Series, the highest
- 24:02level of Motorsports in America. That's what I was doing.
- 24:07You and your brother Sam came to me and you said, hey, we're
- 24:11getting in the NASCAR and we want you to, you know, be a part
- 24:15time driver for our Lance snacks car.
- 24:20And I did and I had the most wonderful time.
- 24:24How in the world did a man that runs a McDonald's get into
- 24:28owning a NASCAR Xfinity car? Well, I there's two different
- 24:33pieces to that. First of all, I'm going to go
- 24:36back way up. My mother used to take me to
- 24:39dirt tracks in the coal strip pits in Ohio.
- 24:43She had a friend by the name of Jack Browning that had a Hudson
- 24:48Hornet and he raced at Grabitz Dirt Speedway in the middle of
- 24:53this coal by and so she dragged me off the dirt races when I
- 24:57was. My dad hated that stuff because
- 24:59he was in the army. He was an MP.
- 25:02He didn't want nothing to do with cars.
- 25:03He was a County Sheriff. Cars to him were a pain, but my
- 25:08mother loved that stuff. So then I went from Grabit
- 25:11Speedway. I started going to a Speedway,
- 25:17OK? The guy drove for McDonald's or
- 25:20drove in NASCAR. His.
- 25:22Was it in Ohio? What's?
- 25:23What's Blaney's name is? It Blaney.
- 25:26Dave Blaney. Yeah, Blue Blaney.
- 25:29Yeah, Midvale, Ohio was the Speedway that was owned by their
- 25:32family. OK and.
- 25:34It was really very near where I grew up.
- 25:35I used to go to Midvale Speedway all the time when I was a dirt
- 25:38track and then I moved to Sharon, PA and went to tracks
- 25:41there. I've always been a dirt track
- 25:44racer and my first foray into racing was drag racing because
- 25:49of my cousins. All the time were messing and I
- 25:51went to the Salem Speedway. I actually drove a drag racing
- 25:55car there when I was 13 years old because I was the smallest
- 26:00person in our family. They didn't want to wait.
- 26:03Scared the hell out of me. So time marched on and I'd go to
- 26:07dirt track races all over the place.
- 26:09Then when I moved to Chicago, I went to Santa Fe Speedway and I
- 26:14saw some of the old NASCAR guys would go there and race and
- 26:17there was a guy that won a NASCAR race and lived there in
- 26:21Chicago and they started racing at Soldier Field.
- 26:24I think in 1948. The last race there was the Ford
- 26:28convertible race. So I just have always been
- 26:30around the periphery of racing like in cars and the mechanical
- 26:34side of things. So I decided I was going to
- 26:37start a late model dirt car. So I had a a guy that built Indy
- 26:43cars, build me a motor, really big motor.
- 26:49And I went to different tire companies that said I want the
- 26:52best tires you got. And I built a Ryan chassis and
- 26:56Ace Coleman was my crew chief and my Jack male was a full time
- 27:02fireman. He was a Fire Chief.
- 27:05Ultimately the entire team ended up working at Chicagoland
- 27:07Speedway in the infield with wreckers and tow trucks and
- 27:11stuff because they were all here.
- 27:12Heads. Well, we went to Santa's Fe and
- 27:15we, I mean, we tore it up, man. I I bought the big hauler.
- 27:20Nobody else had that. I was spending more money than
- 27:22God on racing. I just flat ass loved it.
- 27:25It was a hobby. That's the key.
- 27:27You loved it. Yeah, I loved it.
- 27:29I love everything about it. I love the people.
- 27:32I love the infield. I love the drama.
- 27:34Well, this is an interesting story.
- 27:36Something happened. My driver got sick or something.
- 27:38He couldn't drive the race car. So I said to my crew chief, who
- 27:42the hell is going to drive this car?
- 27:44He said we'll get Fireball Furman to drive it.
- 27:47I said with the name like Fireball, he better be fast.
- 27:50And his name actually is Art Furman.
- 27:53He lives up in the villages here.
- 27:55I know him. Yes.
- 27:57And so he gets in my car. And if the car was really good,
- 28:01I mean it was a special car. And he tells his dad, he said,
- 28:05man, he said I don't want to wreck this thing.
- 28:07He said this car is too good. He said, and this is the only
- 28:10race I'm going to drive. And he said, I'm just going to
- 28:14drop to the back and I'll qualify, you know, and I'm going
- 28:16to just drop to the back and save the car.
- 28:19Well, his dad comes up to me and tells me that.
- 28:21And I bought the fireball. I said fireball.
- 28:24I got more money than God. Your job is to win the checkered
- 28:27flag. I don't care how you start in
- 28:29this field, but you better win the damn race and I don't care
- 28:32how you do it, he said. Why?
- 28:34What if I wreck? I said, well then I'll buy
- 28:36another car. That's what this is all about.
- 28:39He won my first checkered flag ever at that race, never drove
- 28:43for me again. If it is that he actually wrote
- 28:46a book and has that whole whole chapter about that.
- 28:49And I just flat told him I didn't come here to lose.
- 28:51I came here to win. If you turn it upside down,
- 28:53we'll just get another one. So I had a guy that was beating
- 28:57the daylights out of me at the track and I walked up to him one
- 28:59day and I said how much you want for this car?
- 29:03He saw, you know, he just do a nice $40,000.
- 29:07I said, OK, I'll write you a check right now.
- 29:09He So I got to take the motor out.
- 29:11I said no. I said how much do you want for
- 29:13that car? That includes the motor, the
- 29:15transmission, the tires, everything but the driver.
- 29:20So I got to have $40,000. It's OK.
- 29:22I'll write you a check, but we're taking it on my hauler,
- 29:26not yours. To the garage.
- 29:28That's. The way to buy one?
- 29:30Play it with it. So we got that car and we
- 29:34converted it over to my colors and everything and we won eight
- 29:38races in a row at a race trap, which I'm not going to tell you
- 29:42where it was because the owner and I got in a fight about this.
- 29:45We won eight straight races and he came to me and said Ramsey.
- 29:49He said you got to slow that car down and you're making you're
- 29:52stinking up the show. Nobody wants to come here and
- 29:55see you win every week. I said my job is to win races.
- 29:59Your rate job is to run the race track.
- 30:01I won't tell you how to run the race track.
- 30:03You don't tell me how to run the team.
- 30:06So I never went back there again.
- 30:07Ever again. It was LaSalle Speedway and we
- 30:12raced at Fairbury. We we hit all the Midwestern
- 30:15tracks. We did Outdoor four or five
- 30:17times and I and I always got had different drivers.
- 30:21I always wanted different drivers.
- 30:23I, you know, I wanted to spread the wealth around.
- 30:27I really didn't care. I I wanted to win, but I didn't
- 30:29care if I won. I just wanted to enjoy the
- 30:32process and the people and it to me, I was a winner every week.
- 30:37Well, that LaSalle Speedway experience, we ended up in
- 30:40second place even though we only ran 8 races out of the 18 races
- 30:44he had that year. But we had some damn many
- 30:46points. He wouldn't give me the trophy.
- 30:49Oh my, he said. I'm not giving you the trophy.
- 30:52You didn't support the track. I said.
- 30:53You didn't supported me. You told me to quit winning
- 30:56races. I if I had to come out here, I
- 30:59don't want every race because a real high bank Oval, we just
- 31:02turned her loose. And there's there's an old
- 31:04saying, be careful young man, competition will kill you.
- 31:08So when you win a lot, isn't it strange when you win a lot?
- 31:12People don't want that. They they say you're not a
- 31:14winner, Then when you win too much, they only want you to win
- 31:18just the way they want you to win.
- 31:20That's a crazy thought, isn't it?
- 31:22No, it's it's psychological. Jealousy becomes evil.
- 31:26Very well put. And you know, I my attitude was
- 31:31now when I look back on it, my arrogance was not good because I
- 31:37bought the best of everything I could get my hands on.
- 31:39I spent way too much money. Yeah.
- 31:42And that wasn't fair to the people that had limited budgets.
- 31:46And what I should have done was done that, but given different
- 31:49drivers an opportunity to drive really good equipment and let
- 31:53them have the wind instead of me.
- 31:57And you know, and I got a good driver and we just hung in
- 32:00there. And Jeff Finley from up in
- 32:04Lansing Mission ended up driving my ARCA car because I wanted to
- 32:07go into ARCA. And I had a guy that built
- 32:10IndyCar motors down in the South Side of Chicago.
- 32:13He built all my ARCA motors and believe this or not, I don't
- 32:18know if you remember this or not, but you suggest that I have
- 32:22Kenny Schrader Dr. My ARCA car in Springfield, IL at the big
- 32:27dirt track. Oh, yes.
- 32:30And so Kenny drove the car for me, and I'll never forget this.
- 32:33You talk about the difference in drivers, in the elite drivers,
- 32:37guys like you that get to the top of the pyramid.
- 32:41And I know you don't consider yourself elite, although I do.
- 32:44I think you're one of the best it's ever been.
- 32:46Because you you were terrific, not only on the track, but you
- 32:49were great for sponsors because you had a great spirit of
- 32:53winning. That doesn't mean you always win
- 32:56every race, but you have that spirit that wants to win every
- 32:58race. So you suggested that Kenny
- 33:00Schrader drive the car. So I got a hold of Kenny and he
- 33:04showed up in his skull tobacco, green uniform and we're in
- 33:09Springfield, IL. My crew chief, Ace Kohler.
- 33:12He doesn't know an awful lot about dirt car or asphalt car,
- 33:16but he was a willing guy. So he gets in the car and I
- 33:21figure he's going to make four or five laps and commit and tell
- 33:24us to make this change, that change.
- 33:26He drove 40 straight laps, never got on the radio can.
- 33:30He just drove 40 laps and he didn't just drive, but he was
- 33:36powered down like he was qualified.
- 33:38Every lap he comes in and I thought, OK, now we're going to
- 33:42get a lecture about how bad this car is and everything.
- 33:45We had a stopwatch on him so he knew he was doing pretty good,
- 33:49he said I need a wrench. I want to adjust the front race
- 33:53spring and so we give him the the, the spring wrench and
- 33:57everything and he throws the hood up and he gets under there
- 34:00and he makes a couple turns. I don't know whether he went in
- 34:03or out or up or down, I don't have a clue.
- 34:05Shuts the hood down and he puts the hood pins back in hands, the
- 34:09wrench, the socket, the ace. Colder said I'm going to make a
- 34:12couple more laps. He goes out and he makes 40 more
- 34:15laps. What in the world?
- 34:17At 80 laps in on this set of tires, I'm thinking to myself,
- 34:20boy, he's tired, going to be burning off this car.
- 34:22I'm going to have to buy some tires.
- 34:24He comes in and he gets out of the car and he said don't touch
- 34:27this car. And he said tires don't touch
- 34:31it, don't do nothing to that car, just put gas out of it.
- 34:36And he stood there and watched this, but I told the guys, I
- 34:39said Kenny doesn't want you touching that car, Just back off
- 34:43and leave it alone. Don't be jacking up and checking
- 34:46the oil and shit, leave it alone, he said.
- 34:51Don't touch it. Don't touch it.
- 34:53And that was the first checkered flag I ever won outside that one
- 34:58late model dirt car. I'll be darn.
- 35:01And he is. He drove the wheels off that
- 35:04thing. He was in the top five all day
- 35:06long, just measuring everybody. And they were falling back and
- 35:10falling back and falling back. And he never changed.
- 35:12We never changed the tire. We never changed the tire
- 35:15pressure. And then all of a sudden he's in
- 35:18front and nobody can catch him. Nobody.
- 35:22He just, he just the car and he were one.
- 35:26It's the most amazing. I've never, ever, ever won a
- 35:28race that was like that in my life.
- 35:31I mean, I could tell them that Kenny Schrader's a pro.
- 35:34Yeah, absolutely put. The hell out of it too.
- 35:37One of the greatest dirt racers of all time.
- 35:40He's done it all. He's Somebody said to me in
- 35:44volution February down around Daytona, they said are are you
- 35:49happy to have won the race Kenny and equal Kenny Schrader.
- 35:53I said hold on, I said I can't carry Kenny Schrader's helmet
- 35:59bag. He is the greatest dirt racer of
- 36:01our era and he's won everything. You did a good job of choosing,
- 36:06choosing Kenny Schrader because. Well, I took your advice.
- 36:09Well, that's why you're a leader, though I.
- 36:14Don't even remember this. I called you and asked you if
- 36:16you'd like to drive and you said no.
- 36:18Yeah, probably. I I might have felt like I have
- 36:21a big thing about staying my lane.
- 36:24If you would have asked me today, I would have said yes.
- 36:26I don't think I was comfortable dirt racing at that time.
- 36:30I was still learning. But Ed, let's let's move
- 36:34forward, man. We're just tearing it up right
- 36:37now. Let's move.
- 36:39Let's take a big bite. OK, so you end up getting
- 36:43Marine. The the Marines.
- 36:46You know, I see that American flag behind you are great
- 36:49Marines. They sponsor you.
- 36:54You have Bobby Hamilton Junior in your car.
- 36:57You're winning everything. If anybody looks at the stats,
- 37:02you had Harold Holly as your crew chief.
- 37:05You're winning everything in the Xfinity Series and then you know
- 37:10time moves on and you get out of the sport of NASCAR.
- 37:14What made you get out of the car ownership in NASCAR after
- 37:19winning so much with Bobby Hamilton?
- 37:21Junior, Well, it's kind of like a lot of things in life.
- 37:26You get to a crossroads and you don't know which path to take.
- 37:30But if you recall, NASCAR always had a great relationship with
- 37:36the US military and with patriots.
- 37:39You. Know.
- 37:40You know the the the NASCAR family.
- 37:43Bill France. You know, if you go back and
- 37:45look at Bill France during World War 2, Bill France told me a
- 37:51story about him being in the military and stopping at a
- 37:56restaurant in New York City before he was shipping out and
- 37:59he got he he. OK, I'm going to say it the way
- 38:05it is. Shit on the shingle sandwich at
- 38:07the donkey club for a dollar. And you know, Bill France was
- 38:12brilliant. Jim France is equally so.
- 38:16The France family are wonderful. I I just love them to death.
- 38:19I think Lisa has done a remarkable job.
- 38:21I hope Ben does as well. Ben Kennedy, her son, 'cause I I
- 38:26love everything about motor sports.
- 38:28I'm glued to that TV non-stop, but I just love the whole
- 38:32concept of Motorsports. And you know the challenge
- 38:35because it's every man's sport. The tennis isn't every man's
- 38:39sport. Tennis isn't every woman's
- 38:41sport. SASCAR is everybody's sport.
- 38:43Because when you're sitting at grandstand, you feel like you
- 38:47know you're part of it because you got a team and they're your
- 38:49guys and the sense of camaraderie is fantastic and you
- 38:55know, but Barack Obama got elected president.
- 39:00OK. And before he even took office
- 39:03in January, in November, he said the United States military is
- 39:10never going to spend another dime marketing in NASCAR.
- 39:15I remember this. And I got a phone call from
- 39:20General Cortez, who is the head of the Marine Corps Recruiting
- 39:24Command, he said. And he said, I'm sorry, He said
- 39:26I'm under executive orders of commander in
- 39:49Their marketing was anywhere near what it should have been.
- 39:52You know, you stop and think about it is a recruiter goes
- 39:55into a home and says, I want to recruit your son or daughter to
- 39:58join the Marine Corps, and they're going to go kill people
- 40:00and get killed. How do you sell that idea to a
- 40:03parent? How do you sell that idea to a
- 40:05mother? And it's much more than that.
- 40:07It's about the country. It's about patriotism.
- 40:10It's about growing up because when you join the Marine Corps,
- 40:12you're going to grow up one way or the other, so that day.
- 40:17You know, and this is in late November, I knew I wasn't going
- 40:21to have a sponsor in January. And you know, the McDonald's
- 40:26sponsorship, the Smithfield food sponsorship was all subsidized
- 40:31by the McDonald's supply chain. It was a McDonald's car, but it
- 40:36was paid for by Smithfield food. It was paid for by Tyson's food,
- 40:40by the meat companies because it was a great marketing and
- 40:44Smithfield Foods said to me, yeah, I'll put, I'll put $4
- 40:47million in that car, but you got to run breakfast sausage
- 40:50commercials all the time. So we set it up.
- 40:53So we changed the look of the car depending on what markets
- 40:57we're in to support. Although we did Kraft Cheese,
- 41:02you know we did, we did all the different McDonald's suppliers
- 41:05because it was a way to leverage, take a dollar of
- 41:08marketing and turn it into $5.00 of advertising because NASCAR
- 41:12has a capability. It's changed the day.
- 41:15The economics are different, but the day that happened, the
- 41:19economics went upside down because at that point we
- 41:22couldn't do flyovers, we couldn't have any military
- 41:25there, None of that. And I can remember when we had
- 41:29the big race in loud New Hampshire that we won.
- 41:32I bought 40,000 red roses and had 40,000 Gold Star pins
- 41:39made-up. And every woman, it was on
- 41:43Mother's Day, we won that race and every woman that came into
- 41:46that stadium in up there got a red rose for Marine in the
- 41:53salute. Wow.
- 41:55Thank you very much for being part of the United States Marine
- 41:58Corps. And every family that come in
- 42:00was a Gold Star or a Silver Star family, meaning somebody wounded
- 42:04or or killed in combat got a card with a special recognition
- 42:08pin and then we handed out the cards to all the fans.
- 42:12I spent probably $20,000 promoting the Marine Corps that
- 42:16one day and then one year we had Charlotte.
- 42:22I had a sunrise service for the military on Memorial Day.
- 42:28You know, it's things like that where you take we we had, we had
- 42:32one race I think it was in Denver, Co where I got helmets
- 42:37from all of the Marine Corps aviation units and those were
- 42:42the helmets and they all had the same radio system that we had in
- 42:45our race team. And the helmets were used to go
- 42:49over the wall for the pit crew and we had a story for every
- 42:52helmet and I gave it to Benny Parsons.
- 42:54I said the Jackman's got this helmet from this combat pilot,
- 42:58the United States Marine Corps serving in da da, da, da, da,
- 43:01da, da, da. And they read them on
- 43:03television, you know, and that really bolstered the Marine
- 43:07Corps as being the defenders of our rights to go race and have
- 43:12fun and live a peaceful life. And you know, our United States
- 43:15military is one of the most undervalued assets in the
- 43:18history of man. So OK, I'm way off on.
- 43:20Another No, no, no, no. I want to talk about this for a
- 43:23minute, but. It was this Barack Obama said
- 43:26that the said that the military was racist and we couldn't have
- 43:31this. And 90% of the guys that were in
- 43:34the Marine Corps that came to my race team were black.
- 43:37I'm like, what the Hell's he talking about?
- 43:39He has no idea who his audience is, but that was the beginning
- 43:43of the end for me. I thought this is anytime you
- 43:45get politics into sports, you got a problem.
- 43:48This is unbelievable. This story right here is
- 43:54shocking. You know?
- 43:55It's crazy. Say something else too.
- 43:57My whole family were Democrats. They were coal miners.
- 44:01They were secretaries. My dad was a lifelong Democrat.
- 44:05He was a central committee man. My mother was a Democrat.
- 44:08Everybody in my family, coal miners, steel mill workers,
- 44:11union guys, all were members of unions.
- 44:15I grew up as a Democrat. That day when Obama did that, it
- 44:19became a Republican. I said, never again can a
- 44:22president of the United States take control of my fund because
- 44:30he doesn't know what he's talking about.
- 44:31Called a NASCAR racist. Wow, they're.
- 44:35About it every since. They yeah, it OK, now we know
- 44:39why you got out on NASCAR. Barack Obama, they made, hey
- 44:44listen, you're an incredibly smart man.
- 44:46I'm not going to question anything.
- 44:48I'm going to say this brother Rusty, my brother, he said.
- 44:53Herman, it's sad to say, but people have to remind you
- 44:58because people remember what they want to.
- 45:01I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what you were
- 45:03going to say, but you just reminded me of that moment in
- 45:06NASCAR. Thank you.
- 45:09Now, do you, do you think that, you know, obviously I'm going to
- 45:14ask another question later, but do you think that was one of the
- 45:19reasons besides a lot of other ones?
- 45:22I mean, that reason made you get out.
- 45:24Do you think that was when NASCAR started having issues and
- 45:28and nose diving and NASCAR fell apart?
- 45:32I'll put a percentage to it. I believe NASCAR fell 70% 'cause
- 45:38you know, listen, I looked in the grandstands, I looked at the
- 45:41TV ratings. Do you think that time that they
- 45:44made military get out of NASCAR that did disingenuous?
- 45:49The fans were upset about everything.
- 45:51Do you think that was the start? It I don't think it was.
- 45:57It may have been a catalyst. It was it may have been a
- 46:00trigger point. But there's there's a much
- 46:04different kind of an issue that was collateral to that.
- 46:07Keep in mind that the US military was very important to
- 46:10people that grew up during World War 2, the Korean War, the
- 46:14Korean conflict in Vietnam. So just park that for a few
- 46:20minutes. We were we are a country of
- 46:22patriots. I want to Fast forward just a
- 46:27teeny, teeny little bit and keep this in mind.
- 46:30The baby boomers, the people with the born in the 40s where
- 46:36the lifeblood of NASCAR because they grew up with the cars in
- 46:39the 60s. They became 20 in the 60s.
- 46:41So cars were really, really part of our culture growing up.
- 46:47And I, you know, when I was a kid growing up, we just love
- 46:49working on cars, even whether we broke them or fixed them.
- 46:52We were working on cars because it was such a thing and fins and
- 46:57all that kind of stuff. Well, as as the baby boomer
- 47:00started getting older and older and older, it became harder and
- 47:04harder and harder to go to races.
- 47:06And I'll give you an example of something.
- 47:08I had this conversation with Lisa Kennedy going back to that
- 47:12period and I said, Lisa, I want you to think about Daytona got
- 47:16170,000 seats. Look at what people do when they
- 47:22come to Daytona. They plan the whole year to take
- 47:25a two week vacation and drive from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and
- 47:29they come to Daytona and spend a whole week for speed weeks.
- 47:32And if they're lucky they get to come to the 24 Hours of Daytona
- 47:36and some things like that, special events.
- 47:40Those people are 60 years old. You have no bathrooms at the top
- 47:44of the stadium, You have no escalators.
- 47:47You have no ramps, so no place to park.
- 47:51So I drive from Michigan. I'm staying in a hotel on the
- 47:54beach. It's costing me a fortune.
- 47:56The ticket prices are going up, and when I get to the racetrack,
- 48:01I'm abused. Not by NASCAR, not by the track,
- 48:06but because of the physicality of getting old.
- 48:09I I'm 58 years old. I'm 62 years old.
- 48:12I park in the outfield. I got to catch a bus walk.
- 48:16I walk to the stadium. I get there in the morning, you
- 48:19know, I'm eating hot dogs and Coca-Cola all day long, every
- 48:23day. And then I got to walk all the
- 48:26way up to the top of the stadium and there's no bathrooms except
- 48:30down at the bottom of the stadium.
- 48:32And I'm 60 years old and I got to pee more often than I used
- 48:35to, and the whole thing from a physical standpoint got more and
- 48:40more difficult. So that had an impact.
- 48:43There was not a second generation coming behind them
- 48:46that loved cars as much as they did.
- 48:49So I'll never forget this. We had a board meeting in
- 48:51Phoenix, AZ and I suggested to the France family.
- 48:56You sat. You sat on the board of NASCAR.
- 48:59I was on the board of International Speedway
- 49:01Corporation. In fact, I was one of the owners
- 49:05of the track in Chicago, Chicago Land Speedway.
- 49:08I was, I was one of the 9 founders of that thing.
- 49:14And so we're going to to Phoenix and the Cardinals built that big
- 49:19new stadium that has the roll in, roll out grass field.
- 49:23Well, they got escalators, they got ramps.
- 49:26They got food and bathrooms on every floor.
- 49:29I said we've got a redo Talladega, we've got to redo
- 49:34Daytona, We've got to change Richmond.
- 49:37We got to start getting more bathrooms, We got to start
- 49:40getting elevators, escalators. We got to make it easier for
- 49:44people to park. We need to start thinking about
- 49:47transportation systems. We need to modernize the
- 49:51experience so the older generation.
- 49:55And the second thing we got to do is we got to figure out a way
- 49:58to get young people in this business, because we're not only
- 50:02aging out in fans, we're aging out in drivers.
- 50:07I can remember when Chase Elliott was born, Bill was
- 50:13driving the number 94 McDonald's car.
- 50:16Right. And you know, when I was at the
- 50:19races and you know, he said Cindy's pregnant.
- 50:25Nine months later we got Chase and here he is driving today.
- 50:28Yeah, they were sponsored by McDonald's.
- 50:31What do you think about this? I I really love Dale Earnhardt.
- 50:36He and I spent quite a bit of time together because of
- 50:39hunting, not socially but at the racetrack, chatting and
- 50:43visiting. And he got stuck in Chicago.
- 50:46One time he came to a dinner and banquet up there that I
- 50:48attended. He got stuck because his plane
- 50:51got grounded because of weather. So I sat in the lobby that hotel
- 50:55for about 10 hours with him and all we did was talk about racing
- 51:00and him and growing up and you know, and things like that.
- 51:03And he, you know, he's a pretty shy guy, you know.
- 51:07And I can tell he was just lonely.
- 51:08He didn't want to be there and he wanted to go home and like
- 51:11that. And I started thinking about
- 51:13Dale Earnhardt Junior, you know, and about how excited Dale was
- 51:18when he saw his son and and he was going to win that race, you
- 51:23know, at Daytona. And it was like and then he
- 51:27ended up dying that day. You know, it it, it, it shocks
- 51:33me to think about that, frankly. It was a horrible experience for
- 51:38me and everybody else for that matter, including Dale and his
- 51:41family. But why is it that Dale and
- 51:44Kelly aren't into racing up to their eyeballs right now with
- 51:48that legacy? You know, you think about Rick
- 51:51Henry Hendricks losing Ricky. You you know there, there is a
- 51:55lot. I've watched Dirty MO Media and
- 51:58it was Chip Ganassi that looked at Dale Earnhardt Junior about
- 52:03four months ago, Chip Ganassi says.
- 52:06Why aren't you a Cup car owner? Come on, spend your millions.
- 52:11You can get a sponsor, listen. And you know what?
- 52:15Kelly told me. What I'd love to hear because
- 52:18Dale Junior is my dear friend. Let's solve their problems for
- 52:21them. Junior's listening to this.
- 52:23You're never going to solve this problem, and it's not Stephen
- 52:27Try. It's wrong.
- 52:29They don't want it. They don't want it.
- 52:32And I think the only reason why they're hanging and racing right
- 52:34now is because they got so many family members that are legacy
- 52:38to their dad that they're not going to give up on NASCAR until
- 52:43those guys retire or quit or whatever they're going to do.
- 52:46I think Dale Junior is doing exactly what he wants to do.
- 52:49I think Dale had enough driving and you know, you got to stop
- 52:52and think about this. Dale Senior was a remarkable man
- 52:56and for him to die the way he did, I don't give a damn who you
- 52:59are If your son and his daughter, that has a big, big
- 53:03impact that is residual. That will never go away until
- 53:08you've lived in those shoes. You can't.
- 53:11You can't judge him. And I think he's doing exactly
- 53:14what he should do for the reasons he should do it.
- 53:16I think Kelly's doing what she should do.
- 53:18They're beautiful people. They're really good at what they
- 53:21do. I say they got a great heritage.
- 53:24Leave them alone. Let Dale do his announcing
- 53:26periodically. Leave them alone.
- 53:28They don't want to be in NASCAR. If they wanted to be in NASCAR
- 53:31with a Cup team, they could do it tomorrow morning.
- 53:33They don't do it. They they they just stuck.
- 53:36They're doing it because of the legacy of their father, but
- 53:39they're doing it because he's not there.
- 53:41And let's remind everybody that junior Motorsports, all the
- 53:45equipment that's Rick Hendrick that that's all supplied by Rick
- 53:49Hendrick. Yeah, they everything from Rick
- 53:52Kelly told me that because I I talked to Kelly about getting a
- 53:56Cup car because I was thinking about getting back into, in
- 53:58fact, I'm working on a couple deals right now because I just
- 54:02can't leave it alone. But my wife reminds me I'm 80
- 54:05years old, I'd be smarter than that.
- 54:07Don't let the old man in Ed. I trust me, I'm not going to.
- 54:13Hey, let's in. My.
- 54:16Hand Ed, it's hard to believe we're already in an hour there.
- 54:19There's going to be part one, Part 2, Part 3 I can see right
- 54:24now because I've never been given the opportunity to sit
- 54:28down and discuss some of the Great American stories, whether
- 54:32it's in NASCAR or the world today.
- 54:34But we're going to have to have you back on.
- 54:38But we but. But I want to end like this and
- 54:41then we're going to do this again.
- 54:43I hope I love talking about. No, we I'm.
- 54:47Talking about sports. Yes, we have a long and a lot
- 54:50more to go, but we're already at one hour.
- 54:53So let let's end like this and then we're going to do more when
- 54:57you have time because you're extremely smart.
- 55:01Everything you just said hit me right between the eyes.
- 55:05It's like, Oh my God, he's exactly right.
- 55:09Your opinion, we've gone through a lot.
- 55:12It's been very exhausting over the last 20 years.
- 55:15The negativity has been overbearing.
- 55:18I see NASCAR starting to trend upwards, averaging 3.84 million
- 55:24viewers. You know things are looking a
- 55:27little better than NASCAR. What is your opinion on NASCAR
- 55:33right now? I love what the France family is
- 55:38continuing to do. I think they're headed the right
- 55:41direction. I think detuning these tracks
- 55:44and getting getting rid of some of these seats was smart.
- 55:48I think we better be very, very, very careful though about
- 55:52allowing technology to take over this sport.
- 55:56I think the the automobile companies have a lot to do with
- 56:01NASCAR and this trend. Electric.
- 56:04I'm going to mark my words when I tell you this.
- 56:06The electric vehicle market is not going to grow.
- 56:11It's too impractical. Now it's too expensive.
- 56:14I own a Tesla. I love that car.
- 56:18It is. It's saving me $250 a week in
- 56:21gas. But I don't drive it outside the
- 56:24city limits. Yeah, it's a local driver.
- 56:28I don't do long distance travel. If I'm going to go long
- 56:31distance, I'm going to go on an airplane because I can't stand
- 56:34long driving. I have a Chevrolet SSR Hardtop
- 56:41convertible pick up with a Corvette engine in the big, big
- 56:45rear end and transmission because I like to go fast and
- 56:49it's my toy. I'm going to go see my brother
- 56:52in Greensboro, NC and I'm going to drive that car 12 hours.
- 56:55I couldn't take the Tesla on that trip 'cause it adds a day
- 56:59to the trip, 'cause there's no electric anywhere.
- 57:03So when I look at NASCAR, I think this idea of electric car
- 57:07series is bullshit. Excuse me?
- 57:10No, I I said the same thing. It's Cal Dung.
- 57:14Look, Look at. I love Formula One for the
- 57:17technological side of the thing. I don't.
- 57:20I don't think the racing is particularly good, but I think
- 57:22the technology is unbelievable. Yeah, their their electric car
- 57:26says you got to have two cars. Halfway through the race you
- 57:28stop and get it into another car.
- 57:30What kind of bullshit is that? We're not running an Endoro here
- 57:35where we're going to change drivers every 5 minutes.
- 57:38You're my man. You know, if the car can go
- 57:41fast. Here's the thing, I say 25 cars
- 57:45all going 50 miles an hour could have a great race, you know, So
- 57:51maybe they need to take the speed down of those electric
- 57:54cars and race at 80 miles an hour instead of 150 miles an
- 57:59hour and not change cars, maybe shorten a race, but electric
- 58:04cars aren't going to make it. I want you to think about this.
- 58:06If we went to all electric cars tomorrow in the United States,
- 58:09we'd have to spend $6 trillion just on electrical grid and
- 58:15generation. We're we shut down all of our
- 58:18coal-fired plants for generating electricity.
- 58:21The electricity. The number one producer of
- 58:25electricity in the United States today is oil and gas and
- 58:30nuclear. What we ought to do is what
- 58:32France did. We ought to start building
- 58:35nuclear power plants. Pick one contractor and build
- 58:39every nuclear power plant exactly the same way.
- 58:43Same concrete, same design, same philosophy.
- 58:46And have one big school where everybody that works in those
- 58:50power plants goes to the same school, learns the same craft,
- 58:55learns the same technology. So we can get the repetitive
- 58:59growth that comes from wisdom. Just like the United States
- 59:04military, They train a guy to fly an airplane today, just like
- 59:08they have for the last 10 years. And it is You fly that airplane,
- 59:12you're going to be the best pilot on the face of the Earth,
- 59:14or you don't get to fly. But if you're going to work on
- 59:16nuclear energy, you're going to make $500,000 a year.
- 59:20But you better not make one mistake.
- 59:22If you make one mistake, you're fired.
- 59:23Losing a war is not acceptable, I I understand.
- 59:31OK, well I could go on for another 5 days.
- 59:33Ed, you're wonderful. Listen, everybody, we are in
- 59:37podcast form. You can listen to the great Ed
- 59:40Renzi on your way to work and then when you leave work in the
- 59:44evening and you head home, you can listen to him again.
- 59:48We are on iTunes and Spotify. Ed, thank you so much for being
- 59:54on. I, I appreciate it.
- 59:56Wonderful. And we're going to, we're going
- 59:58to do, I think there's going to be a part. 2-3 and four and five
- 1:00:02of the great end. Renzi, thank you.
- 1:00:04One last bit of advice. Yes, Sir.
- 1:00:07Keep the four rubbers on the ground and the shiny side out.
- 1:00:11And I got to end like this, everybody.
- 1:00:13It was Ed that talked me in to doing the Kenny Wallace Show and
- 1:00:19encouraging me to hook up with Charlie Marlow, the ring light
- 1:00:22that I'm using right now. Ed sent me.
- 1:00:26I'm your biggest fan and I know you love me.
- 1:00:28I love you. All right, everybody, listen.
- 1:00:31Danica Patrick, we got Kyle Busch.
- 1:00:35Everybody's coming on Kenny conversation.
- 1:00:38Until next time. See you later.
- 1:00:41See you, Kenny.