Transcript

mmmmmmm · Kenny Wallace Media

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Justin, your father called me a year ago and you know how much
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your dad loves you. And he said to me, Herman, how
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many starts do you have in the Xfinity Series?
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So everybody look behind my head right now.
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NASCAR gave me that. I ended at 547 starts and when I
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was redecorating, you know, this area, I had that sitting around
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for, you know, well, since 2015, NASCAR gave me that. 2015 was my
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last NASCAR Xfinity race in Iowa.
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So I'm at 547 starts and that's where I ended and I and I have
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the most starts. I have fun with it.
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I poke them. I'm the mayor, I'm the greatest
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course. We're we're poking them right?
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So Gator wants you, Justin, to have more starts than me and I
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want that too. And when that happens, I'm going
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to be there. But we got a nemesis who who's
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that other kid right there that's that's going to outrun me
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too? What's his name again?
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I forgot. Jeremy Clements.
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Jeremy Clements. Now there's Jeremy.
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How is this going to end between both?
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How is this going to end? Or is Jeremy Clinton?
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I mean, when you and Jeremy pass me up, you know, man, I just
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wish I could come congratulate you first.
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But it sounds to me like Jeremy's going to outrun me.
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I'm going to congratulate him. Then you're going to outrun
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Jeremy, and Jeremy's going to have to congratulate you.
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What do you think? I think, I think if I'm looking
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at it to be honest with you, I think Jeremy's got this one in
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the bag, to be honest. I I'm super proud of how many
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starts I have. I don't know what the number is
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currently I think. 42 you have 482 starts.
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Yeah, I, I can't, I can't get there.
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I can't get to your number, not with where my head's AT.
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And and what I what I believe is is my.
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We're going to talk about this. We're going to talk about this.
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Keep going. Jeremy's got to be right around
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the 500 five 505 mark, I would say pretty easily because I the
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two years that I was in cop, you know, he was he was still racing
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in the Xfinity Series. We started this summertime.
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But one of the cool things for me is, is is you know, you talk
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about full circle moments. I'll never forget years and
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years and years ago, Jeremy Clements was an upcoming Durley
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model racer as as was I right. And I don't remember if they
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were a Cherokee or a Gaffney, but Jeremy was racing a super
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Durley model and he had his hands on steering wheel.
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Drive chef came out. And if you ever, if you ever
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shake Jeremy's hand, you'll notice it right away.
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But the hole inside of Jeremy's hand was ripped out, right?
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He had his hand on the wheel. The drive chef come through the
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inside of the car, tore out the hole inside of his hand.
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They were going to cut his hand off.
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Oh my. And his dad begged them not to,
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not to cut his hand off. And the doctor said, well, I can
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give him, you know, 24 hours, 48 hours at the most.
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And if it's not, if it's not healing itself, we're going to
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have to cut it off. And kind of miraculously, the
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blood vessels and the way that his hand was damaged, they ended
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up going around and he's had to put a lot of reconstructive
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surgery into his hand. I know it's been super painful.
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They actually, at one point they even sewed his hand inside of
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his, inside of his skin. They they sewed his hand to his
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body so that it would allow his hand to heal.
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And Ed Petroff, somebody's been around the dear late model world
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and sponsored a lot of late model racers, myself included,
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growing up and, and been integral in kind of that Saint
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Louis area. But but really his, his, his
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influence has gone, you know, really worldwide.
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His daughter Michelle called me one day and she said, Hey, she
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said you and Jeremy are similar in age.
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And she said he's really struggling, right.
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He's not able to be in a race car.
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And if I send you his number, would you, would you call and
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talk to him and just, you know, up his spirits and, and, and
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just have that conversation? And so I, I picked up the phone
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and I called Jeremy Clements and really didn't know Jeremy that
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well, other than we had kept up with each other in the racing
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world and both young drivers. I think we were probably both 14
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or 15 at the time. And his father has one of the
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most famous motor companies in the world.
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Yeah, and I, I had a Clements engine for my race car.
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So I, I was, I mean that, you know, they were, they were and
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still are. Honestly, if you talk to anybody
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now, they're one of about got 2 engine builders that everybody
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is sought after in the Durlay model world.
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And, and honestly, I think they build the heads or they, they,
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they, you know, machine the heads for probably majority of
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the engine builders in the Durlay model industry.
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But we had a conversation and we became friends and that
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friendship is gone for a lot of years.
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And, and you know, I remember him, you know, having to make
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special attachments for his hand to be able to shift gears and
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all kinds of stuff, you know, once he was able to heal himself
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up. But.
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They asked him, they asked him how he they wanted his hand to
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be and he said. Like a like a steering wheel.
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Does it? Does it surprise both of you?
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What you know? I've interviewed Jonathan
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Davenport, Bobby Pierce, I've interviewed some of the greats.
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You you think of Jeremy Clements and and I had no idea you had
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this relationship with him. Does it surprise you where
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Jeremy could be running, you know, the greatest dirt super
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late models in the world. Jeremy Clements could be running
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for 100,000 to win at Eldora and yet Jeremy just wants to be in
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the Xfinity Series had Gator or or Justin.
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Have you both thought about Jeremy as you to kind of share
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this? Most Xfinity starts in common.
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Why, why why does he run Xfinity when his dad rules the dirt late
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model world? I've asked that question 1000
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times. I've asked Jeremy that same
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question because I, I don't know.
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I, I, you know, I, Jeremy's had success.
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He's a NASCAR Xfinity Series winner.
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He's, he's been somebody that has had a lot of success on
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track. And I would say of, of recent
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times has maybe a little been a little bit more of a struggle
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than what it was, you know, 5-10 years ago.
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But you know, they do they family owned team.
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He's never driven really for anybody else.
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If he has family in the sport, you know, in, in the sport of
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NASCAR outside of the, the engine building business.
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But I, I don't know. I don't know that I've ever
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understood that part of it. Can I throw, can I throw
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something in there? Jeremy was on the short track to
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go to Childress with Chevrolet and then the accident happened.
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That was that's when all that happened.
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But he it it was planned that they were going to run Jeremy
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RCR. I'll be darned well.
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I want to let everybody know that I'm extremely proud when
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Jeremy breaks my record. I can't wait to go and
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congratulate him. I wanted stay on the same
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subject here, but I want to talk about Justin Algar for a little
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bit. As you know, Justin is like 90
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miles up the Rd. Springfield, IL.
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His dad, you know, Gator, Mike Algar.
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They're like family to me. Ed Horn, your PR guy, he said
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we're going to make you eat crow.
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I'm like, what are you talking about?
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You wanted Justin Allgar to break your record.
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I said I'm going to. I said that.
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Let me tell you what Rusty told me and I'm going to tell you
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this. I said you're thinking wrong.
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I said I love Jeremy. All I'm saying is when I was
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interviewing Justin Allgar, I'm like, I'll be nice of you to
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break my record. And then to my surprise, and
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this is what I want you to comment on, Justin says next
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year is his last year. He's he he said he's he's
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quitting after next year. He said it on Kenny
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conversation. It's time to go back home and
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run Hoosier tire Midwest number one.
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What do you think of that and do you think you'll really do it?
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Shocked to hear it, Kenny. When I, when I heard and saw the
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interview, I was like, wow, that's, that's news for sure.
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That's big news, Justin. Phenomenal human being,
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phenomenal race car driver. Nothing bad to say.
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Couldn't say 1 bad thing about him.
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Love the guy, he's amazing. I love being around him, love
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talking to him. He's very intelligent as well.
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So to hear that I was caught off guard because I thought he'd be
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like me, be around for I mean who knows how long, how just a
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lot longer. So yeah, shocking to hear.
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And when, when you're driving like his, the, the situation
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he's in, man, you'd have to drag me out of that thing.
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So. No kidding.
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To hear that, I was like, damn, I was like, can I take your ride
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over there? He's like, you call, call Rick
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Brandt. So it was he's just joking.
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But I don't see Justin, Justin retiring 100%.
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I think he will definitely run some races here and there, but
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he maybe he won't be full time. But yeah, I thought he'd be
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right there with me. And so it is surprising to hear
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it. You know, just in that moment,
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Justin's family, you know, they run a very like your family.
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I'm sure you can relate you you don't build motors.
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But the reason we bring Justin up, everybody, it's it's the
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three amigos, it's me, and then it's the man you're looking at
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Jeremy, and then it's Justin.