Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / A Stranger Walked Into My Shop & Asked Me What Happened To NASCAR? | Kenny Wallace Show

Transcript

A Stranger Walked Into My Shop & Asked Me What Happened To NASCAR? | Kenny Wallace Show · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Are you sad that Dale Earnhardt is dead and Rusty is gone and
• 0:04
  Mark Martin's gone? Dale George, are you sad about
• 0:07
  that? I'm not sad about it.
• 0:09
  I mean, that's part of life. I mean that it's that was a
• 0:12
  terrible thing that happened with Dale.
• 0:14
  Dale was really, really good for the sport.
• 0:18
  Him What did you like about Dale Senior?
• 0:21
  He pretty well was. He told it like it is.
• 0:24
  He was. Keep following me.
• 0:26
  Keep walking. Come on.
• 0:27
  Yeah, he he you didn't have to guess what he was thinking.
• 0:30
  He would. He'd put it out there for you.
• 0:32
  It's the Kenny Wallace Show, brought to you by Jags.
• 0:36
  All right, this man drove up the driveway.
• 0:38
  Don't know him, don't even know him.
• 0:40
  Drove up the driveway. He was looking in my window, Kim
• 0:43
  said. There's somebody here.
• 0:45
  So that's what happens when you give your address out.
• 0:49
  OK, so we're going to interview this guy because he stayed in
• 0:51
  here and he's right up your alley.
• 0:53
  He's so depressed about NASCAR. So we got along.
• 0:57
  We started talking, I allowed him to hang out with me, and now
• 1:01
  the first thing you said is, Kenny, what happened to NASCAR?
• 1:04
  So what's your name? Steve Kennedy.
• 1:09
  What to say that again? Steve Kennedy.
• 1:11
  How old are you? 74.
• 1:14
  OK, so tell everybody you have to repeat what you said to me.
• 1:19
  In other words, you came to me and you said what about NASCAR?
• 1:23
  You mean when I ask you? They freeze is what happens OK,
• 1:28
  so you came to me and I'm going to interview you, OK OK.
• 1:33
  And you're just going to, you're not on camera right now.
• 1:35
  Don't even worry about it, OK? Just me and you just.
• 1:37
  Relax. Just relax.
• 1:39
  OK, even though this is going to be all over the world, cell
• 1:43
  phones pretty crazy, ain't it? Yeah.
• 1:45
  So you said to me what happened to NASCAR?
• 1:48
  Did you say that to me? Yes.
• 1:50
  You see this thing I'm holding in my hand right now?
• 1:52
  What is that? What?
• 1:54
  What is this thing right here? The phone.
• 1:59
  That's what happened. Oh, that's what.
• 2:01
  Happened 74 years old. Yeah, because everybody has an
• 2:04
  opinion now. See, in the good old days,
• 2:07
  nobody had a cell phone. Yeah.
• 2:09
  So we couldn't give our opinion. Except have to try.
• 2:13
  At the track. Yeah, right.
• 2:15
  OK, so I'm going to get out of the camera and I'm going to
• 2:17
  interview you. Are we good?
• 2:19
  Sure. OK, Because you came up my
• 2:21
  driveway, right? Yes.
• 2:22
  And you walked in it. Am IA good guy.
• 2:24
  You're a real. Good guy, have I allowed you to
• 2:26
  hang out with me? I've been here for a while.
• 2:28
  Yeah. OK.
• 2:29
  All right. So, OK.
• 2:30
  So you're 74 years old. Are you retired?
• 2:35
  Yes, I've been retired for about 6 years.
• 2:39
  OK, what? What do you think is wrong with
• 2:44
  NASCAR? Because you came to me and you
• 2:46
  said, Kenny, what's wrong with NASCAR?
• 2:48
  What do you think is wrong with NASCAR?
• 2:51
  Well. The races are not as
• 2:54
  entertaining as they used to be. It's seems like it's just a dash
• 2:59
  and then then half the half the cars run into each other and
• 3:06
  whoever makes it through that wins the race.
• 3:08
  It's it's, it's just, yeah, it's kind of and the cars, it seems
• 3:16
  like the cars or carbon copies. Speak up now, because people
• 3:20
  want to hear you, everybody. So Charlie Marlow, my YouTube
• 3:25
  manager, we did. We did a we can see the ages of
• 3:28
  everybody on YouTube. Yeah, all my fans are 45 to 75
• 3:34
  years old. So you're talking to your people
• 3:37
  out there. OK.
• 3:38
  OK, so you got to speak up because, you know, everybody's
• 3:40
  got hearing aids, right? Nobody can hear, right?
• 3:45
  OK, so So what we're doing is we're talking about what
• 3:49
  everybody else wants to talk about, right?
• 3:51
  And, and you talked to me for so long that I I was working.
• 3:55
  I was working right there. And I said, OK, you need to be
• 3:58
  heard. So I just stopped doing what I
• 4:00
  was doing because he wants to be heard.
• 4:02
  He drove up my drive. I don't even know the man.
• 4:05
  OK, so I told you something that shocked you.
• 4:09
  I said you know NASCAR was going downhill way before the Next
• 4:14
  Gen. car. Right.
• 4:17
  I don't repeat myself anymore, but I'm going to repeat that.
• 4:19
  That was a very nobody's even said it yet.
• 4:23
  NASCAR was going downhill way before this next Gen. car and I
• 4:26
  said people just want something to grab onto.
• 4:30
  It's not the car now. The car might not.
• 4:33
  You got Denny Hamlin, you got some drivers saying I can't pass
• 4:36
  this that, but it's not all the car.
• 4:41
  The car. Listen, Mark Martin wants the
• 4:43
  points change. You want the car change.
• 4:45
  You want the number back? Do you want the good old days
• 4:49
  back? Well, I like the personalities
• 4:52
  that you had racing back then, though it seemed like, you know,
• 4:55
  you had the characters and I guess you have them now, but it
• 5:02
  the the old school guys, you don't see as much of that now.
• 5:06
  It's. Are you sad that Dale Earnhardt
• 5:09
  is dead and Rusty is gone and Mark Martin's gone?
• 5:13
  Dale Jurch, are you sad about that?
• 5:15
  I'm not sad about it. I mean, that's part of life.
• 5:17
  I mean that it's that was a terrible thing that happened
• 5:21
  with Dale. Dale was really, really good for
• 5:23
  the sport. Him What did you like about Dale
• 5:27
  Senior? He pretty well was.
• 5:30
  He told it like it is. He was.
• 5:32
  Keep following me. Keep walking.
• 5:33
  Come on. Yeah, he he you didn't have to
• 5:36
  guess what he was thinking. He would.
• 5:38
  He'd put it out there for you. Right.
• 5:41
  So you you liked Earnhardt, you liked Earnhardt?
• 5:45
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so you, you know that I, you
• 5:49
  know that Dale Earnhardt was very good to me.
• 5:52
  Did you know that? I.
• 5:54
  Did you? Did you know that Earnhardt gave
• 5:56
  me my very first NASCAR, right? No, I did not know that.
• 5:59
  Did you know that I hung out with Earnhardt a lot?
• 6:02
  No. You didn't.
• 6:04
  Yeah, but I see the pictures. Do you know that Dale Junior and
• 6:07
  me, we do shows together. Did you know that I've?
• 6:10
  Seen I've seen some of. Your so so Dale Junior called me
• 6:13
  up, said Herman. I want you to be, you know, I
• 6:15
  want you and Kenny Schrader to do it.
• 6:17
  I want you to that so I know what's up.
• 6:20
  Yeah, right. Yeah.
• 6:23
  So when we lost Earnhardt, that devastated the world, not not
• 6:28
  America, because Earnhardt was our Marlboro Man.
• 6:31
  Do you know what the Marbler Man was?
• 6:32
  Sure, he was the tough guy with the hat on.
• 6:35
  Rode the horse. Yeah, he was the working man's.
• 6:38
  He died of lung cancer too, didn't he?
• 6:41
  Who? Marlboro Man.
• 6:43
  Did he? Hell, he did.
• 6:46
  Really. Yes, he did.
• 6:47
  Well, there you go. Don't smoke.
• 6:49
  Well, that's why we don't advertise Marlboro anymore.
• 6:52
  That's why they don't advertise then.
• 6:53
  Anyway, Earnhardt was a working man.
• 6:55
  Yeah, And I think, and I've said this a lot, I think one of the
• 6:59
  problems with NASCAR and a is we don't have a working man.
• 7:03
  Everybody knew that Earnhardt listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
• 7:07
  So Punchy Whitaker owns a tire store in Concord, NC Punchy told
• 7:13
  me Earnhardt used to put on Lynyrd Skynyrd and he lived up
• 7:16
  above Punchy. Punchy rented him a place.
• 7:20
  He said you could hear Earnhardt put his cowboy boots on with
• 7:23
  Lynyrd Skynyrd on. So Earnhardt was that character
• 7:27
  that his story was told. We we knew.
• 7:29
  We knew that he was a working man.
• 7:31
  Yeah, he was a Yeah, the everyday guy.
• 7:33
  You like you just said it. Yeah.
• 7:35
  I think that's what's wrong with NASCAR right now is because now
• 7:38
  all the kids they don't have, no, we have such an old group of
• 7:44
  people that we can't relate to anybody.
• 7:47
  Yeah, it's a generational thing, I guess.
• 7:50
  Yeah. And, and I would say one of our
• 7:52
  biggest problems is that Mike Joyce said this.
• 7:58
  Mike Joyce said that NASCAR's got a big problem cause the car
• 8:03
  kids don't like cars anymore. They can't work on them.
• 8:05
  Yeah, so we got a big problem with the age group 'cause
• 8:09
  there's no new kids watching racing now.
• 8:15
  Do you like any other type of racing?
• 8:18
  Dirt track racing, yeah, yeah, you know, the motorcycles and.
• 8:23
  But whoa, whoa. Motorcycles.
• 8:25
  Yeah. Flat track or motor project?
• 8:27
  Yeah. Hey, you know, I was with Fast
• 8:29
  Freddie Spencer over the week. He beat Kenny Roberts for the
• 8:32
  world championship by two points.
• 8:35
  But Fast Freddie won three Moto GP champions.
• 8:38
  Yeah, we used to go to Springfield every year.
• 8:41
  Oh my God, yeah, that that. What a great race we'd see up
• 8:43
  there. Let's go over here for a minute.
• 8:45
  Walk over to that sign over there.
• 8:47
  Walk over there. Which one?
• 8:49
  The one in front of you right here, up, up above the door.
• 8:52
  Walk right over there to that door.
• 8:54
  Right here, yeah. Read that to me.
• 8:57
  Dale Earnhardt and Kenny Wallace finished 112 and the 2000
• 9:03
  Winston 500 at Talladega, AL. This would be the last win for
• 9:08
  Dale Earnhardt. Wow.
• 9:12
  What's that make you feel like? Well, it what's it make you feel
• 9:17
  like? You got to be proud.
• 9:20
  That's not the point. The point is, is Earnhardt's
• 9:22
  gone. That was the last win of his
• 9:24
  life. Yeah.
• 9:26
  So we connected to his son, Dale Junior 'cause we wanted Dale
• 9:31
  Junior to be him. Yeah.
• 9:33
  And me and Dale Junior talk about this.
• 9:36
  Yeah, I think you know, yeah. They and and when he Dale
• 9:40
  Junior, you know, he's a very good friend of mine.
• 9:43
  And Dale Junior said I'm not my daddy.
• 9:45
  Yeah, and and, you know, people go he's he's not like his daddy.
• 9:49
  There's there's nobody like his daddy.
• 9:51
  Is and he never said he was going to be Yeah.
• 9:53
  He was a character, you know he's, but it doesn't mean that
• 9:58
  doesn't doesn't mean Dale Junior's not a character.
• 10:00
  He's a great guy, he's one of my favourites, but they are two
• 10:04
  totally different people. So what are we going to do with
• 10:07
  NASCAR? I don't know, I don't know it's.
• 10:12
  Why do you keep trying so hard to love it?
• 10:14
  Why don't you just leave it alone?
• 10:16
  Because it's such a great sport that you grow up with.
• 10:19
  I mean, it's just just from, I remember, you know, back in the
• 10:26
  60s and watching these guys fight to the finish and
• 10:30
  literally fight after the finish, you know, I mean, it was
• 10:33
  so much emotion and that and but the cars, the cars, the
• 10:37
  characters, it's just just a great sport, so.
• 10:42
  OK, there you are. That's all of you.
• 10:45
  Speechless, soft spoken man. So you said to me, Kenny, what
• 10:52
  happened to NASCAR You wanted and I told you, I said I'll tell
• 10:56
  you what happened to NASCAR time because the cell phones came
• 11:01
  out, the TV channels came out, You know, they're they're
• 11:05
  advertising the autonomous car. Hey, let's, let's let's get in a
• 11:08
  vehicle and have it drive it drive for us.
• 11:11
  You know, the car's full. The car's falling out of favor,
• 11:15
  the car see, when me and you grew up, we could change the oil
• 11:19
  and spark plugs and. Yeah.
• 11:22
  Now, now you got to be a damn computer genius.
• 11:25
  You know, they don't want us working on our cars anymore.
• 11:27
  They want you to take it to the dealership so the dealership can
• 11:30
  make money. Yeah, Yeah.
• 11:32
  And then and then the FCC, they cleaned everybody's language up.
• 11:37
  You know, we used to say, and they go, oh, $25,000 fine.
• 11:41
  And that was it. Now, if you cuss and you don't
• 11:43
  issue an apology, do you think that things are cleaned up too
• 11:47
  much? Do you think things are too
• 11:49
  clean? Or do you like the way things
• 11:51
  are? I'm not crazy about the way
• 11:53
  things are. I mean, it's I'll still watch
• 11:55
  NASCAR. It's.
• 11:58
  Say that again. I'll still watch the races, but
• 12:01
  no, I like the old, the old school racing better and a lot
• 12:05
  better. And I was and and the cars too.
• 12:09
  It's the these cars, Yeah, it looks like they're all driving
• 12:15
  the same car. Same car with a different paint
• 12:17
  job. But what did I tell you?
• 12:19
  Remember what I told you? Repeat what I told you.
• 12:21
  Do you know? Remember which part?
• 12:25
  NASCAR was going way downhill before this car.
• 12:28
  Yeah, this car is something to grab onto.
• 12:33
  There's way more problems with NASCAR than the car.
• 12:35
  Yeah, it's the drivers, the characters.
• 12:37
  They won't. They won't.
• 12:39
  We can't relate to anybody. William Byron won the Daytona
• 12:42
  500 and nobody even knows him, right?
• 12:45
  That's the problem. Yeah, yeah, I I guess they don't
• 12:49
  have the audience they used to so.
• 12:52
  What's the biggest form of Motorsports in America right
• 12:54
  now? So if you were going to watch a
• 12:56
  race, what's the biggest Motorsports in America right
• 13:00
  now? Who watches who?
• 13:03
  What is #1 in America for racing?
• 13:06
  Well, I still watch NASCAR. I still watch it but I don't
• 13:14
  know is. Do you think racing is dying all
• 13:17
  across America? It might be it.
• 13:23
  It's delivered different the. Do you think you'll ever find
• 13:29
  happiness again? Oh, I'm still happy.
• 13:32
  It's just, it's just different. Yeah.
• 13:35
  So yeah. Say goodbye everybody.
• 13:40
  Goodbye.