Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Rusty Wallace Once Drove 242 MPH at Talladega & Lost Control of The Car!

Transcript

Rusty Wallace Once Drove 242 MPH at Talladega & Lost Control of The Car! · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation, brought
• 0:03
  to you by Jags, the leader in high performance aftermarket car
• 0:08
  parts. Remember to go to jags.com and
• 0:11
  as Uncle Rusty says to fix your hot rod up.
• 0:14
  Why Uncle Rusty? Because that's all my kids call
• 0:17
  him. You know, it's the family and
• 0:19
  it's his nickname around our family, Uncle Rusty.
• 0:23
  So this is a A series and we don't want how many of these
• 0:26
  we're going to do, but we're on our second one.
• 0:29
  You had an incredible career. You ran a lot of NASCAR races,
• 0:33
  you're in the Hall of Fame, you're a champion.
• 0:36
  You've truly done it all and you did it the right way.
• 0:39
  You controlled your own chassis, you basically started.
• 0:43
  You helped Roger Penske start Penske South and I believe
• 0:48
  Penske is what it is today because of you.
• 0:52
  So where this story's going is, and you're going to tell it, but
• 0:56
  in the mid 90s, a phone company gets a hold of you because they
• 1:01
  want to see if their GPS works. Tell the story about when you
• 1:07
  went to Talladega. That's pretty correct what you
• 1:10
  just said, but but Winston went away.
• 1:14
  OK. And Nextel was the new sponsor
• 1:17
  for NASCAR. Phone.
• 1:19
  The phone guys. Nextel OK, that was a new
• 1:21
  sponsor, so I get a phone call about six months into the new
• 1:25
  contract. They were racing about six
• 1:27
  months into the year now with the Nextel Cup series, OK.
• 1:31
  And they said we want to start broadcasting the driver's
• 1:35
  communications to a tower. Then from the tower down to the
• 1:38
  all the fans and the grandstands and we want you to drive around
• 1:42
  the racetrack above 200 mph to prove that the signals can
• 1:47
  transfer back and forth quick enough to do that correctly.
• 1:51
  And I said OK and back then you got to remember the cars were
• 1:54
  running like 192 miles an hour. That's all they were running
• 1:57
  with the restrictor plate. OK.
• 1:59
  So they said, OK, well, they asked me if I would do it.
• 2:02
  I said, yeah, we'll do it. So ask Team Penske if they
• 2:04
  would. So at that time, I don't want to
• 2:07
  belabor the point, but when big companies like that or NASCAR or
• 2:12
  automotive tests, you know the Ford test, what what make were
• 2:16
  you running at that time, do you remember?
• 2:18
  Does that make them a It was a Ford.
• 2:19
  OK, so whether it's Chevy Wets Ford, you got to feel full of
• 2:24
  Pride Ford big sponsor coming in.
• 2:27
  They want you to do it. You didn't.
• 2:28
  You didn't shy away from it. Well, I don't know if that's
• 2:31
  full of pride or not, if it's just a question they came
• 2:33
  across. I mean, all the drivers were
• 2:35
  getting requests from everybody to do different things.
• 2:38
  I just happened to get a request from team Pesky got a request I
• 2:41
  guess. What I.
• 2:42
  Mean is you didn't say no, I don't want to do that.
• 2:44
  Oh, no, I mean, I want to do it. I said OK.
• 2:46
  It was a simple test, too. Yeah, because, you know, I took
• 2:49
  the truck driver myself and Earl Barbin.
• 2:54
  That's it. Three of you.
• 2:55
  Three of us, team Pesky prepared the car to put it on the truck
• 2:59
  and blew us down there. Me and Earl jumped on my
• 3:01
  airplane. We flew down there.
• 3:03
  We fired that thing up, warmed it up.
• 3:05
  Earl Barbin Jimmy Johnson Spotter is from Saint Louis.
• 3:08
  So, Earl. Earl Yeah.
• 3:10
  Earl. 'S my sponsor, my whole career.
• 3:15
  And then when I retired at the end of 2005, he went for went to
• 3:18
  work for Jimmy Johnson and went on to be his sponsor for his
• 3:21
  seven championships. OK.
• 3:23
  OK. So you 3 go down there.
• 3:25
  Oh yeah. I mean, me and her, we're tight
• 3:28
  a real time. We still are.
• 3:30
  And so those guys said, OK, go on down there and do it.
• 3:33
  And so we send the truck driver down there with the car we get,
• 3:36
  we fly the plane down, we get out, we end up helping the
• 3:39
  truck, we unload the car, we fire it up, we warmed it up, we
• 3:41
  plug the oil in, get it all done because garbage.
• 3:43
  I mean, to drive around, tell it I got 199 hours.
• 3:46
  Pretty easy, OK, It really is. But because we have restricted
• 3:50
  blades, all they wanted us to do is run four or five laps above
• 3:54
  200 mile an hour. Yeah, two, right, at 200 or
• 3:57
  above. So we fired the thing up.
• 3:59
  I go out to run up. I run what I run.
• 4:01
  I run 194 miles an hour, come in and put a different restrictor
• 4:06
  plate on car runs 199.8 said OK and so we've got to go faster,
• 4:12
  we've got to go over 200 said OK, put another restraint on
• 4:14
  NASCAR's there and Buster Otten and a couple other guys there.
• 4:19
  So they come to me and said, man, you're not going to believe
• 4:20
  this. I said what's wrong?
• 4:22
  We screwed up and left the donggle on restrictor plates.
• 4:25
  Back in Hickory, NC, we don't have a bigger restrictor plate.
• 4:30
  So the only restrictor plate they had the carbon run 199
• 4:33
  eight. This is what This is why we're
• 4:36
  doing this. Because yeah, we're trying to
• 4:38
  figure out. So no restrictor plates.
• 4:42
  So as redneck as it was, that's what happened.
• 4:45
  We just forgot the rest of the restrictor plates to make it go
• 4:47
  a little faster, maybe over maybe 2O one or two O 2.
• 4:51
  So we don't have it. I said, well, just take the damn
• 4:53
  thing off. Take your restrictor plate,
• 4:55
  clear off. And he went, oh, Rusty, we don't
• 4:56
  hope we can do that. I said come on, look, you're
• 4:59
  it's there's nobody around. We're not testing.
• 5:00
  We're not competing. Let's just get this test done
• 5:02
  for these guys, OK? Yeah, they took that restrictor
• 5:05
  plate off. I went out there and I thought I
• 5:10
  was in second gear, leaving the pits instead of being in 3rd
• 5:14
  gear. So I downshifted a car because
• 5:17
  this thing's in 3rd gear and it's screaming, it's turning.
• 5:21
  I mean, it's wound up. Pull that baby back in the high
• 5:24
  gear. I come ripping down the back
• 5:25
  straightaway. I come down in front,
• 5:27
  straightaway. I come down in front
• 5:30
  straightaway. 221 miles an hour. For you scared.
• 5:34
  Getting up to speed? No, I knew I was really flying.
• 5:38
  I come back around, that damn thing come off at turn 3, it
• 5:43
  goes down the front straightaway At the start finish line, it
• 5:45
  goes into complete hydroplane mode.
• 5:49
  I got the front wheels turn and the front ends got lift in it
• 5:52
  and it's slid from the bottom of the track all the way up to the
• 5:56
  wall and that thing crossed the damn spark finish line at 242
• 6:00
  miles an hour. Oh my gosh.
• 6:02
  I come in, I come in, I said. Oh my God, I can't drive this
• 6:06
  thing. So Earl and I put 2 spring
• 6:09
  rubbers in the back of the rear springs of Jackassen and her car
• 6:11
  up. Then we took the front fenders.
• 6:13
  We pulled the fenders out like 3/4 of an inch in each side to
• 6:16
  get some downforce back to the front end.
• 6:18
  Yeah, we bolted 4 tires on that thing.
• 6:21
  I went back out, flew around there one more lap it run 234
• 6:26
  then it run 241 and I felt the vibration and I throttle back at
• 6:31
  241 an hour and come down and in two laps it ripped all the
• 6:36
  rubber off the right front tire. It was going that damn fast that
• 6:39
  it ripped the rubber off the tires.
• 6:41
  So this is what everybody wants to know and and OK, that's an
• 6:46
  unbelievable story. I cannot add to that but we
• 6:49
  always heard of of you know Dale Senior, you know the man in
• 6:53
  black take the restrictor plates off drop the rag.
• 6:57
  You just explained it why that was impossible.
• 7:00
  Yeah, the cars are aerodynamically unstable to run
• 7:02
  that speed. Let's put it this way, that era
• 7:06
  of car, that era of car. Would you?
• 7:09
  No way you could do that. Yeah, that car, 200 mile per
• 7:14
  hour was his Max to be aerodynamically state,
• 7:16
  aerodynamically stable. Yeah, I proved that.
• 7:19
  Yeah, I mean, I couldn't even turn the wheel.
• 7:21
  I was going so damn fast and was lifting.
• 7:22
  The front end and in two laps that you're saying the tires.
• 7:25
  Were gone. They ripped.
• 7:26
  They ripped the tires off. They ripped the rubber off the
• 7:28
  tires. Yeah.
• 7:29
  And Goodyear probably couldn't make a tire.
• 7:33
  And if they did, it'd have to be built like a truck.
• 7:35
  There'd be a lot and there's no reason.
• 7:37
  OK, let's change the subject a little bit.
• 7:40
  If we're putting on a show at 200 mile an hour, why do we need
• 7:43
  to go 240 or 220? Well, you.
• 7:45
  The fan really can't tell that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you're
• 7:48
  right. You don't need to go that speed.
• 7:50
  You know, put her on a good race I.
• 7:51
  Absolutely proved to myself that day I came in off the track, I
• 7:55
  my first got to Windows or I'll look at Earl's.
• 7:57
  You know what? Now you know.
• 7:59
  And now I know why you can't race these things over 200 miles
• 8:02
  an hour. Because it's a stock car.
• 8:04
  It's not designed to be around 40 other cars.
• 8:07
  Swap swarping all over the place.
• 8:10
  Help. Currently.
• 8:11
  What are we at right now? 2024 right now?
• 8:15
  Daytona 5. Yes, 100 Daytona 500 just
• 8:17
  happened. They they had a lot of wrecks.
• 8:19
  It was a great race. A lot of wrecks.
• 8:21
  Oh, Mike, Can you imagine like 240 mile an?
• 8:23
  Hour. Yeah.
• 8:24
  They'd be out of the they'd. Be like pinballs, they'd be
• 8:26
  outside, they they. Look like Lee Petty in one of
• 8:29
  the first they they'd be out on the ticket booth outside doing.
• 8:32
  So look, bottom line to wrap this thing up, I realized that
• 8:35
  we couldn't run that speed, but we did it and we proved it.
• 8:38
  And I think I, I, I know we were probably one of the fastest
• 8:41
  stock cars in the planet still to this day.
• 8:44
  Yeah, so there's a lot of documentaries out there, people
• 8:48
  voicing over given their opinion.
• 8:50
  But now we know the details. Three of you.
• 8:55
  Penske Racing just says go on down or do what they need.
• 8:58
  You get down there, it's three of you.
• 9:01
  Now you you don't have a restrictor plate.
• 9:03
  Now this story just keeps building and building and before
• 9:08
  you know it, you, you realize that at what point, let's end it
• 9:13
  like this? Was it a day later?
• 9:15
  Was an hour later. When did you realize that this
• 9:18
  story has become? I mean, today the story still
• 9:23
  lives on. Did you realize it was as big as
• 9:26
  a story as it was? Well, that that day when we
• 9:28
  left, I really felt like we did something that was miraculous,
• 9:32
  that it just we accidentally backed into Yeah, we didn't know
• 9:36
  we're going to do that. And it happened.
• 9:37
  You know, I remember Earl going back on Oh my God, and me going
• 9:40
  back on Oh my God, yeah, And like, wow, we just can't just
• 9:44
  and Team Pesky and Don Miller and the guys just set us down to
• 9:47
  the skeleton crew, you know? And you do that.
• 9:50
  We knocked that out and we loaded up and come home, you
• 9:52
  know, I said, dude, not completely something, right?
• 9:54
  242 mile an hour? Yeah.
• 9:56
  And back then those cars were making about 750 horsepower.
• 9:59
  Yeah, man, At the end of O 5, before they wanted all this new
• 10:03
  rule stuff, our NASCAR motors were making about 950.
• 10:06
  Wow. I mean my quality power.
• 10:07
  My qualifying motor for the Coke 600 was 950 horsepower and I
• 10:11
  turned to think 10,300 RPM. That's another story.
• 10:15
  The inside of that motor and and that will be down the road.
• 10:19
  That's way down the road, that's way down the road.
• 10:20
  But now as we end this, we realize how many great stories
• 10:25
  there are. These, these are rusty, all the
• 10:27
  stories, but these are also moments in the sport that
• 10:30
  changed the sport and we'll we're going to do something on
• 10:33
  this one. But you won the Buddy Schumann
• 10:36
  Trophy and that's because of your contribution to the sport
• 10:40
  This, this trophy means a lot to you and and that's going to be
• 10:43
  another story because of your contribution to this sport.
• 10:45
  Now we're we're kind of reminding why you know the the
• 10:48
  All Star race you run 240 mile an hour and more and more.
• 10:52
  But all right, well, remember Bill Elliot ran 212 mph in 1985
• 11:00
  and that to this day, that is the fastest qualifying NASCAR
• 11:04
  record in 1985. Bill, I ran 212 and that's the
• 11:10
  fastest. Hold on.
• 11:14
  May not be official, wasn't it in qualifying trim at a NASCAR
• 11:18
  points race? But you definitely went faster.
• 11:20
  What a story. About Well, but Bill Elliot, if
• 11:23
  he had to take the restricted plate off, he had to went 240
• 11:25
  also. Yeah, so.
• 11:27
  But I just got to do this accidentally, yeah.
• 11:30
  All right, everybody. Remember, we always remind you
• 11:32
  all like and subscribe and we are in podcast form on the way
• 11:37
  to work. Listen to Rusty on iTunes or
• 11:40
  Spotify and the same thing when you get off work on the way home
• 11:44
  until the next show.