Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Incredible Story: From Outback Steakhouse Waiter to NASCAR!

Transcript

Incredible Story: From Outback Steakhouse Waiter to NASCAR! · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
He puts finger in my face and he goes, Son, let me tell you
0:03
something. If I treated my cancer the way
0:06
you have treated racing in your life, I would have been dead 5F
0:10
and years ago. Turns around, walks away, does
0:14
not say another word. Here's this life event that has
0:17
changed the trajectory of my life.
0:19
It has kept me down for a while. I was upset about it.
0:22
I was I. It's something we live with on a
0:24
daily basis. My dad's quality of life has
0:27
been altered and here he is telling me to to just get it
0:31
together. Like, what are you doing?
0:33
It's the Kenny Wallace conversation brought to you by
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Jags. Hello everyone and welcome back
0:39
to Kenny conversation brought to you by Jags, the leader in high
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performance aftermarket car parts.
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Remember to go to jags.com if you want to fix your vehicle up.
0:53
Truck, car, it doesn't matter. Well, all right, this is.
0:58
Most likely the most intriguing, the most interesting Kenny
1:05
conversation I've ever done in my life.
1:08
Please welcome in the man that made national news on Twitter
1:12
about two weeks ago, Steven Malazzi.
1:16
Steven, how you doing? Good Kenny.
1:18
How are you, my friend? Well, I'm doing really good.
1:21
We we were talking right before we came on the air.
1:26
And you know, when I was a kid growing up in school, you know,
1:31
my last name is Wallace. Of course they tried to get me
1:34
and they'd call me Wall Ass. And we went through that.
1:37
So I was talking to you. I said it.
1:39
Is it Steven or Stefan? You said it's Steven.
1:43
But tell the story about Malazi or Malazi.
1:51
How did they hatchet your name up early in your racing career?
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So I have heard everything Kenny.
1:59
So the worst one was Malazazi. I don't even know how you get
2:03
that far off to be honest with you.
2:04
But the popular one was Melosi and that's because when I was a
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CART racer, everybody knew me. There was a commentator who was
2:13
like really reputable, well known National Series race and I
2:17
was a personable guy even as a 14 year old.
2:19
So I walked up to him like, hey, I'm, I'm, I'm Steven.
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And he's like, oh, Steven Malosi.
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And I was too shy to correct him.
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So then when he hopped on the mic, he called me Malosi, and
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then everybody knew me as Malosi for the rest of the time I was
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in karting. And strangely enough, Josh
2:35
Rayoum grew up doing Rd. tax cart racing, just like I did.
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And he was kind of like my liaison into the NASCAR world.
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So he had actually seen clips of me race, and they had called me
2:46
Malosi in those clips too. So he assumed that my name was
2:50
Malosi. So then when I started meeting
2:53
people in NASCAR, he'd introduced me to Stephen
2:55
Malosie. And just like when I was in
2:57
karting, I was kind of too afraid to be like, yeah, it's
2:59
actually Malosie. So I kind of just let it run in
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a lot of people. Yeah, very Italian.
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Very, yeah, very New Jersey Italian, which where I'm from.
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That's awesome. Well, you fit right in there
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with Dean, Matthew D and Bendetto.
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You know that. That's That's a tongue twister
3:20
too. But.
3:21
It's still a beautiful name. I love it.
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It's it's true Italian and, well, welcome to Kenny
3:27
conversation. Let's get right at it, my
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friend. There's so much to talk about,
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but yet you're so young. I'm going to read this off and
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you tell me how wrong I am, How right I am. 22 years old.
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Started go karts at nine years old, one multiple.
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Northeast Go Kart Championships, you've run 4 NASCAR Craftsman
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truck races. Is is this correct?
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Well you made you made national lose and you you caught my eye
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for all the right reasons because in this era everybody
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sits back and and they say I I can't make it racing.
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I don't have any money. But the tweet that kind of Rock
4:24
America was, and we'll have Charlie put it right here, it
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was incredible. You said I went and ran the
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NASCAR Craftsman truck race in Martinsville and you said the
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very next day you were waiting tables at your job.
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Outback Steakhouse. Tell me all about this.
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Yep, there are. There are so many prongs to this
4:48
story. Kenny and I hope we can get to
4:50
all of them in in this one episode of Kenny Conversation.
4:54
But that tweet in particular was nuts because if you remember
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Martinsville, not only I had a crap race, It was terrible.
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I was running good. I was learning a lot.
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It was my first ever Oval start. Battery dies.
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And of course, it somehow ends up being the one short track
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race where everybody's running at the finish, so in the Truck
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Series too. So I finished last and it was on
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and off Rain delays. I ended up leaving the track at
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12:30, and I lived at the time in my college apartment in
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Charlottesville, which is about 3 hours away.
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I went to University of Virginia for undergrad.
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I do the trek home by myself alone in the car.
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I drive myself back to my apartment.
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I get there at 330I crash in my sweaty ass clothes that I had
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worn in the race underneath my suit, like the same piece Kenny
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and I I wake up the next morning, I literally showered,
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got in the car and went straight to Outback.
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And I'm standing there about midway through my shift and I'm
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like, these people that I'm serving have no I'm literally
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handing them blooming onions. They have no idea that last
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night I was on TV in a NASCAR race, Like here I am doing 120
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miles an hour around Martinsville and now I'm
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dropping off blooming onions, you know, like taking drink
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orders. And it's it's like I wonder if
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people ever know who's serving them.
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So I'm like, let me tell people what it's like about to be a
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small time racing driver who is also a college student who's
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also trying to work a job and make a living, who's trying to
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find his way in the sport that he loves.
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So I'm like, let me craft a well designed tweet.
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I'll take a picture of me in my Outback uniform, post a picture
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of the truck and see what happens.
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And it exploded. So let's do this like a major
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motion picture. Now we told the end that was the
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end of of our of our movie let let's talk about how you got
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there. Now I spent a lot of time last
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night as I always do I have my notes.
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So Rayum Racing you and. Somebody else, I believe another
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friend of yours, you went to work at Rayum as crew members,
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is this right? So the way it all started and
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I'll. I'll jump back even further.
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I'm going to go back and I'll. I'll go on a little a little
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storytelling break here and I'll.
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Tell you because because. People make so many excuses.
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I can't do it. I don't have no money.
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So This is why this is so important for the kids after
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that think they cannot do it. I was growing up, Kenny, I'll
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tell you, I was a little like that too.
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So when I was a kid was 7 or 8 and and I want to make this
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comment to you that I sent it over text to you when we were
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talking. One of the games that inspired
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my love of racing was NASCAR Thunder 2004 and I don't know
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how I always ran into you. You were in the 23 Stacker Dodge
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and every freaking race I crash into you pissed me off.
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But eventually. I was a bad guy.
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Eventually, Kenny, I go out and I and I win the I'm a nine year
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old kid, 8 maybe 8I win a championship on the game.
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I walk upstairs to my dad who knows nothing about racing.
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My dad. I am so good at these video
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games. I bet you I'd be good at in real
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life. He takes me to an indoor rental
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track. We do that for years.
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Years literally. Just go pay $20, do a race and
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leave. I racked up about 1000 races at
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this indoor rental track. So much so that when I was 11
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and 12, my dad would drop me off on Wednesdays, leave me there
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and I would just run constantly. When I turned 13, dad's like I'm
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done. I don't want to spend any more
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money on this. I want to do something
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competitive. We get into competitive cart
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racing and before you know it, I'm competing at a national
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level, like fighting for national championships.
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And it's pretty spectacular because while my dad spent a ton
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of money on my racing, he was not spending money like the
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people we were competing. Against When you say a ton of
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money, are you talking like people that live in a
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subdivision, work, you know, nine to five?
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Are you talking like $1000? Thousands.
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So I'll give you the number. The year we spent the most on
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racing it was 80 or 90,000 and like that's a ton of money, I I
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a. Lot of money.
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There were people we were competing against though.
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Kenny who would spend millions. It was crazy.
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So we actually raced against Matthew and Nick Latifi, who
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Nick Latifi ended up in F1 and raced for Williams for all those
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years like. Just watched the movie Gran
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Turismo. It's it's, it's your story,
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basically. That's kind of what I feel like
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it is, although I don't want to say that because 80 or 90 grand
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is a shit load of money. Let's not it's.
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It's a lot of money. So here I am.
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I get elected A-Team USA, one of the best drivers in the country.
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They fly me out to Portugal. The race I'm complete stud
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Kenny. I'm not going to beat around
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the. Bus, this is unbelievable.
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I've said I'm the shit before too, so keep going when when I
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am 16, I'm a sophomore in high school, Dad gets diagnosed with
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stage 4 terminal. Oh man, I'm sorry, six months?
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So sorry, I am a 16 year old high school student now,
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detractions aside, obviously from a racing standpoint,
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there's there's no way you can continue driving your life.
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Perspective changes, the financial situation changes, and
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I had way bigger problems to worry about.
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So I retire. I walk away from the sport.
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I stay involved. I broadcast a little bit.
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I do some commentary stuff, which coolly enough ended up
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getting me a job with ESPN years later.
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And I worked and I broadcasted college sports for Virginia,
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which was sweet, but I I I left for the most part.
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I left racing. Five years goes by five years.
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We're now in 2021, so. 55 years goes by because you lost your
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father. You were heartbroke.
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Hold on. Let me tell you.
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We're going to. We're going to get there, Kenny.
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There's a big plot twist in this story.
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Okay, Dad's still around. Oh, not only is he around at
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five years, he's still alive today.
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He's going to be in Bristol on Thursday.
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Oh my God, I'm happy. So oh, I'm elated.
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But but this is where it comes from, Okay.
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So before I'm a kid dad pays for all the bills and racing.
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Not as much as other kids but he does it still.
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Right 2021 rolls around and I'm in my room and news is coming
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out about day. It's January, it's COVID.
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It's right around my birthday and all this news about
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Daytona's coming out and I'm pissed because another year's
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going by or I'm never going to know if I was really good enough
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to be a NASCAR driver. And I am just angry being a
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little ass to my mom and ass to my dad.
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You know, giving them the good old 1-2 teenage special where
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you're kind of not being very pleasant to be around.
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What's up? We've we've all we've been to
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our parents because we want what we want.
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We start crying. Dad walks into my room and and
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my dad is is a really cool headed guy.
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He has a super long fuse When it blows he knows what to say,
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walks in my room, he's like what the hell is your problem?
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And I'm like dad, I never got my shot to race in NASCAR and he
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gets mad like starts throwing his arms up, doesn't know what
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to say, starts to walk away. Kenny turns around, gets right
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in my face, puts his finger right into my nose and says son,
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can I swear on the show? Can I say I'm going to say.
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Well, you just can't say the F word Okay.
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So he uses the F word. I just said F word here.
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He puts finger in my face and he goes, Son, let me tell you
12:47
something, if I treated my cancer the way you have treated
12:51
racing in your life, I would have been dead 5F and years ago.
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Turns around, walks away, does not say another word.
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And I remember sitting in my bed like, OK, here's this life event
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that has changed the trajectory of my life.
13:06
It has kept me down for a while. I was upset about it.
13:09
I was I. It's something we live with on a
13:11
daily basis. My dad's quality of life has
13:13
been altered and here he is telling me to to just get it
13:17
together. Like, what are you doing?
13:19
And I remember sitting in my bed and I'm like, well, now, now I
13:23
got to try something like, what am I going to do, sit here and
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complain? I emailed every single owner,
13:30
whether it be Rick Hendrick or Josh Rayun, and I heard back
13:35
from 1:00. Good for you.
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At 1, owner was not Josh Rayun and I won't.
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I won't even mention who it was. It was a truck team owner who
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invited me to go do a driver development program.
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Now, I started trying to find money to go do this Kenny, and
13:52
eventually ended up emailing the 70, the Philadelphia 76ers
13:56
broadcaster who was my broadcasting hero and good pen
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pal of mine. His name is Mark Zuma and Mark
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emails me back and he's like, I had no idea you were a race car
14:05
driver. He's like, that's awesome.
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He's like, I know nothing about it, but let me connect you with
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one of my colleagues at NBC who does.
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That colleague was Michael Carey, who is now the social
14:13
media director for SRX. Michael.
14:17
Yep, Michael says Okay like, I like your story.
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We went to, we went to, we went to a cheese steak shop and
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Philly got some cheese steaks. Together.
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Yep, Yep. And he's like, I'll, I'm going
14:29
to, I'm going to get you connected with some people.
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Sends me on an e-mail chain with Josh Rayoom and a guy named
14:34
Peter. I have no idea what Peter does,
14:37
but the long and short of it is, Peter said don't go do this
14:39
program. Come to Charlotte and learn how
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NASCAR really works. Three days later, three I packed
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my bags and I drove to Charlotte and there I was on Monday
14:53
morning. I walked into RBR, which is
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Rayon Brothers Racing, and that's How I Met Josh Rayon.
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I'll be damned. What a journey, What a journey.
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You know, it reminds me a little bit.
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I mean, I was, I was very lucky. My dad was a winning local race
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car driver. I wanted to.
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I wanted. I wanted.
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People would say to me, you're not your brother.
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I'm like, look, I never wanted to be my brother.
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I just wanted to be a race car driver and the and the road to
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get to these places sometimes can be very similar.
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You know Steven in 1989, No 80, No 80 Let me back up 1984 myself
15:40
and Bobby the Bonnie. I ended up being the crew chief.
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At 22 years old on the Levi Garrett car and there I saw
15:47
Bobby. Years later, 1989, we end up
15:52
racing in the Xfinity Series together.
15:55
The these stories are amazing. So I guess they're more of the
16:00
story is, is when we start our journey, whether we're going to
16:04
be baseball, football. We know what our dream is, but
16:08
we don't know exactly how to get there.
16:10
And it sounds to me like that was what you went through.
16:13
Oh, yeah. And and here's the thing, the
16:15
And like, I never want to put my dad's cancer in a positive
16:18
light, right? Like, that's not what I'm doing
16:20
here. But I totally acknowledge that
16:23
if my dad hadn't have gotten sick, I'd probably never grow up
16:27
as quickly as I do. I probably never gained the life
16:29
perspective that I now have. And I probably never feel that
16:33
inspiration and motivation to go to Charlotte.
16:36
Because here's my dad doing this impossible thing.
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Beating the odds, this cancer has a 97 1/2% death rate.
16:45
After five years, we're going on year seven.
16:48
Like this is it's it's crazy. And here I am telling him I
16:52
can't become a NASCAR driver. Like, what the hell am I talking
16:55
about? Let me get it together.
16:57
So I when I walked into Josh's office, I basically got a job
17:02
for it, like an internship. It wasn't paid.
17:04
But Kenny, I knew nothing about race cars.
17:07
Like, not a damn thing. So you've already accomplished
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all this? Go Kart Champion won all these,
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but you didn't really know about the car itself.
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Yep. And I knew like listen let's be
17:19
honest. I could work my way around a go
17:20
Kart pretty well. But my dad my dad had learned a
17:23
lot of the mechanicing stuff and like he he's a lawyer from
17:27
Pennsylvania. He knows nothing about race cars
17:29
either. He did it because he loved doing
17:30
it with me. And one of the coolest stories
17:33
that I'll that I'll tell and this will.
17:35
This will become pertinent later when we talk about Outback.
17:38
But after every race weekend, my dad and I, he'd be the mechanic.
17:41
I'd be the driver, good or bad, win or lose, we'd find an
17:44
Outback Steakhouse to go eat at. It was our it was our tradition,
17:48
we loved it. We would go to Outback after
17:51
every race. That's why later in the story, I
17:55
end up getting let go for my job at Domino's as a delivery driver
17:58
because I had too many speeding tickets.
18:01
I know the irony, right? And like, what's the closest job
18:05
to pizza delivery I can think of serving?
18:07
What's my favorite restaurant? Outback.
18:09
There's one not too far from here.
18:10
Let me go get a job and Outback. So, you know, I love Outback.
18:14
And who doesn't? It's it's very easy.
18:17
It's a great restaurant. My, you know, I would go to
18:22
Outback, believe it or not, sometimes for other tilapia
18:26
because my family has a history of heart attacks and clogged up
18:31
arteries, so. You know, tilapia, sweet potato,
18:37
nice salad. But I know it's legendary for
18:40
blooming onions and great steaks.
18:43
So, OK, we're we're where we're at now.
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So you're working there as a waiter at Outback.
18:53
How do you get the phone number? How do you know?
18:57
Who tells you? Do you Google it?
18:59
Do you ask the store manager, because now you're going to
19:02
Bristol this week to run in the Truck Series at Bristol and you
19:08
got out back on your truck. Is this is this a franchise
19:13
sponsor? Corporate Sponsor This is a This
19:17
is a corporate sponsor. OK.
19:19
That's big. So, so this is the, the, the.
19:24
Here's how it went down OK when I sent this tweet.
19:27
And this has been my specialty, right?
19:29
I'm good at targeted marketing. I'm great at finding people and
19:33
being like okay. That's what it takes.
19:34
That's what it takes. So all throughout my career, I
19:37
mean, you've looked at my sponsors.
19:39
A lot of them are small companies that are somewhat
19:41
close to where they're going to end up, right?
19:45
Like that's what that's what you got to find and a lot of times
19:49
I've I've leveraged connections and this and that to get the
19:52
money to go race. I I've kind of just figured it
19:54
out as I go. I've done any Kenny.
19:56
I even sold my car to keep racing.
19:58
Like I've just. I read that last night.
20:01
We'll we'll we'll have the conversation here in a minute if
20:03
you want. But the Outback thing was was
20:05
nuts because after I saw it was blowing up, I went online and I
20:11
tried to find on LinkedIn the highest ranked Outback marketing
20:16
executive I could find. Good job.
20:18
And I found, I believe, their director of marketing.
20:21
And I saw that she had a Twitter.
20:23
And not only did she have a Twitter, but it's a it's a
20:26
somewhat active Twitter, right? But she doesn't have a lot of
20:30
followers and it's very clearly that people don't know that
20:33
she's the director of marketing for Outback.
20:35
So after the tweet started going viral, I tagged her and and
20:40
apparently I remember. Here's basically what happened
20:43
Kenny. I walked into work one day for
20:46
my shift and there are like there's like the the proprietor
20:51
of my story. It's basically like a general
20:52
manager. It's it's not really that
20:54
important. They he's like he's like, listen
20:57
man, he's like I got to talk to you.
20:58
I'm like, Oh my God did I do something to get you fired.
21:01
He's like he's like, no, he's like it's actually great news.
21:04
He's like Outback noticed you he's like we got a phone call
21:07
from I got a phone call from my boss saying that someone in in
21:11
the corporate marketing department had reached out to
21:13
see what we could do to help you in your racing career and and
21:18
the whole thing for Outback is it's all about the relationship
21:21
between employee employer like. Is the fact, yeah.
21:26
And it and it's great cuz to have a company that loves their
21:29
employees the way that Outback does is great.
21:31
And it's like a big family, man. Like I, I know it's tough to
21:34
believe with the corporation, but the way that everything's
21:35
been handled and the way that everything's gone, it's been
21:38
phenomenal. So over the next few months,
21:40
basically like I got further and further up, I kept getting
21:43
handed off until I got to the woman who's down my liaison and
21:45
Outback and she's she's a, she's one of the execs at the
21:50
corporate level who helps. There's a lot of support from
21:53
from the regional, from the regional side, right, because
21:56
obviously like when you're in Bristol, it makes sense to do
21:59
some some local activation in the Bristol area.
22:03
They wanted to do some local activation stuff in in my home,
22:07
in my home store, which is in Charlottesville.
22:09
They wanted to do some local activation stuff in my home
22:11
store in Deptford, NJ But like at the end of the day, this is a
22:15
corporate sponsorship. If you look at their national
22:17
Twitter page, they're tweeting out about it from the national
22:21
perspective. And I don't know how much I
22:25
could talk about contract details, but like it's it's
22:28
definitely. That's up to you.
22:29
But I would, you know, I I would just say this, I've got all my
22:34
own sponsors my whole career. And that you know it it there's
22:38
an old there's an old saying Steven speed cost how fast do
22:43
you want to go. So you know if if you're going
22:46
to go one of the the best trucks, it's $100,000 a race.
22:52
If you if you want to, if you want to go with the team that's
22:56
going to get two sets of tires and.
22:59
You know hey you know you're 40,000 a race.
23:02
Yeah and and honestly Kenny that's what I've been doing like
23:04
that's it's it's been that way like I am.
23:08
I'll I'll also add this. I am pretty confident that I am
23:12
the least experienced driver to ever get behind the wheel in a
23:16
national series race in NASCAR history.
23:20
When I was when I made my debut last year, Kenny, I I basically
23:24
didn't know how to shift on a road course.
23:26
Like that's that's how inexperienced and I finished
23:28
22nd and like it's it's it's an easy thing to learn how to do
23:31
once you get behind the wheel. But I maybe had the money that I
23:35
had saved up through working all these hours each and every week
23:39
and working at RBR to do six or seven late model races.
23:43
You are the epitome of. You know, Ricky Craven doesn't
23:50
have a family that has a lot of racing background.
23:53
William Byron, it is true that somebody like you, the mom and
23:58
dad, don't know nothing about racing.
24:01
And there's the kid. I mean you, you are this story.
24:06
Lucky me, I kind of feel guilty right now.
24:09
I grew up in a racing family, but we did it for a hobby, yeah.
24:14
Your story's pretty incredible That you you you're becoming a
24:17
race car driver just because your dad loves you.
24:20
Okay son, Let's go to the go Kart track.
24:23
Yep and and that's it. At the end of the day, that's
24:25
it. And like the point I'm at now
24:27
Kenny with with the whole thing is my objective.
24:30
When I started doing this was my dad this and this is really it.
24:35
My dad said something that really pissed me off, lit a fire
24:39
underneath me, and I went to show, hey, you committed all of
24:43
your time and effort to raising me and and giving me these
24:46
racing experiences. It's my turn to show you I'm
24:49
going to put the time and effort back in to make you proud.
24:52
And then when I made that start last year at Mid Ohio, I was
24:55
kind of like I did it. I'm good and then so.
24:59
Packing. Is that right?
25:01
Yes, yes and then. So packing in your truck debut,
25:05
yeah. And and by the way, that was for
25:07
Josh Ray Human Rain Brothers Racing, which we're a small team
25:10
man, 22nd for us. I think that was our best finish
25:13
in the second-half of the. Year.
25:14
That's a good finish. That's a good finish.
25:16
We didn't, we don't like, we didn't buy all the tires like we
25:20
didn't. There's a lot of things that go
25:22
into it. I am not spending $100,000 a
25:26
race to do this, man. Like, it's it's nuts when you're
25:29
competing with people and people don't seem to understand this
25:32
concept about racing. And the best way I can describe
25:34
it is if you and I went out and we wanted to just have a drag
25:38
race on the street and I gave you 175 grand to go buy a car
25:43
and you gave me 25 grand to go buy a car, does it matter who's
25:46
the better driver? No, you're going to win the drag
25:49
race every damn time. And that's kind of like the most
25:53
accurate, simple comparison you can make to how NASCAR racing
25:56
works. And I would love to one day get
26:00
enough support, get enough back into the point where I am
26:03
spending money to try and get to a top tier ride to win races.
26:06
But there's three prongs to that.
26:07
One, you got to find the money first.
26:10
Two, I would love to only use those opportunities when I feel
26:14
like as a driver I have enough experience to do something with
26:18
it. And three, I need to not be in
26:22
law school while I'm doing it. Because let me tell you
26:25
something, law school and racing at the same time, it's damn near
26:30
killing me. So so you know what what happens
26:34
in life is you know I've taken sports therapy before and and
26:38
and we we never we never say we know it's out there but and we
26:43
remind people who we don't talk about it all the time.
26:46
In other words, you know myself Kenny Wallace, you're an okay
26:51
race car driver. Well, when Steve Park got hurt,
26:55
I got in the Pennzoil car. Set quick time in the Cup
26:59
Series. Led the whole race run.
27:01
Second now. OK, that's because I got in a
27:04
good car, but I got it right here.
27:09
Carl Edwards. Carl Edwards.
27:12
And nobody knew who the hell he was.
27:14
He comes, he comes to Indianapolis Raceway Park and
27:18
I'm like, who is this guy? He he's handing out business
27:22
cards. If you're looking for a driver,
27:25
I'm the driver. Steven this is the way Carl
27:28
Edwards became a NASCAR cut driver when he was handing
27:32
business cards out. So your story is not farfetched.
27:38
It's pretty incredible. But you are so far and few
27:42
between. Your story is incredible.
27:46
Thank you. Thank you.
27:47
And like I I take a lot of pride in.
27:49
I do, Kenny. I take a lot of pride in the
27:51
fact that, hey, a lot of these kids in the garage these days
27:55
all are. I want to be careful.
28:01
There's a little bit, there's a lot of nepotism there.
28:03
Like it's a lot of okay. Dad owns a company.
28:06
I can write it off. And in reality, I'm spending
28:08
half the money that I really would be to getting this ride.
28:11
And it's advertising. You know, like I I got it.
28:14
And they're signing the bills, You crash the truck, they pay
28:16
the bill, you. It is why we see such a lack of
28:20
respect in NASCAR today. It's because a lot of the kids
28:23
who are driving the the equipment aren't paying to fix
28:26
it. Mom and dad are.
28:28
And that's like that When I go out there, Kenny, if I total a
28:33
truck, OK. If I total a truck because of
28:35
something I can't control, it is what it is, right?
28:37
That's it happens. It's racing.
28:39
If I total a truck because I'm a Jackass, that's the end of my
28:43
career. I can't afford to fix that.
28:45
I don't have the money to to to to spend another 50 grand to
28:48
repair a truck. That's absolutely total.
28:51
And I really just got to keep the nose clean and learn how to
28:53
drive. And like, I think if more people
28:56
had that experience when they're climbing through the ranks, we'd
28:59
see so much more respect in NASCAR than we do today.
29:02
When I when I came around, people would, you know,
29:07
sponsorships were plentiful. The teams always got the
29:11
sponsorships. When I came along, I knew that
29:14
the only way I could stay a race car driver because I I listen.
29:19
I only I I was calling myself a A/B.
29:22
B minus race car driver. So the only way to stay in the
29:25
seat is get your own damn money. And now that's what the complete
29:31
sport is about. Maybe Kyle Larson is the only
29:35
one that is racing on talent alone.
29:38
But nowadays, like you're saying if you want to race, you got to
29:43
bring money and the and the Carters are going, Where's your
29:46
money? Yeah, yeah, It's got to be a
29:49
combo deal. And it's it's not it.
29:52
It truly is crazy because could you imagine if the NFL were
29:56
based on how much money you could, I mean, nuts, We would
30:03
not. We would not be watching, you
30:05
know, Pat Mahomes and Jalen Hurts.
30:08
We'd be watching some random ass kids throwing footballs 30 yards
30:12
instead. Of Aaron Rodgers got hurt on the
30:15
third play last night, but he's still going to get his 2030
30:18
million for the year, yeah. OK, well we, we, we've, we
30:26
understand the difference between all these sports.
30:29
So let's let's wrap it up by you're going to Bristol this
30:35
weekend. Tell me.
30:38
I see you're racing. Is it called AM racing?
30:41
Yes, that is correct. You're racing for AM racing #22
30:45
your age? That would be a Darryl Walter
30:48
cliche. Hey. 22 years old, running #22
30:54
Tell me about this week. Yeah, How do you feel?
30:57
Have you been to Bristol? Tell me all this.
30:59
So a lot of things. First things first.
31:02
Got it. And the AM.
31:04
The AM deal is is largely brokered by Josh and Josh has
31:08
been so helpful and instrumental in everything I've ever done in
31:11
my racing career. So I think I need to always talk
31:13
about it when I get the chance. Josh Room is like father to me
31:17
and and I think that just needs to be out of the way so I could
31:19
say it and make sure I. Get it clear, I understand my
31:21
brother Rusty. I wouldn't be where I'm at
31:23
without my brother Rusty. I've yelled his name from the
31:26
rooftop ever since I've started racing, so this is my third race
31:31
with AM. I'm excited to be back with them
31:33
but I have never been to Bristol and and I am super duper.
31:39
I watched tons of on board this week.
31:41
Unfortunately, you know, with all the other stuff I'm doing
31:44
between, I would do my own PRI, do my own contracts, I do my own
31:48
everything. You're guys.
31:49
Getting money. Yeah.
31:50
I don't hire anybody to do any of this stuff.
31:52
Neither do I. And it's yeah, yeah.
31:55
And it's like super duper a lot to handle.
31:58
But the time that I do have, I am spending like watching the
32:04
Bristol onboard footage and it's crazy.
32:07
It's like you're you're getting back to throttle and you can't
32:10
see the corner cuz how banked it is.
32:13
I'm like holy moly that's going to be frigging something for the
32:17
first five laps. So I'm a little nervous,
32:20
especially because you know there there are a couple things
32:23
that you got to realize. One when you're running, when
32:26
you're running a little bit closer to the back, you lose a
32:29
lot of laps. Attracts like this, which
32:31
increases the chance that you're going to be involved in some
32:34
chaos, which is always a scary prospect.
32:38
Two, I've never, I've never been on anything close to this bank
32:43
in my life. You think about the race tracks
32:44
I've done Martinsville, literally zero banking Mid Ohio
32:51
Rd. course. It's a road course.
32:54
Pocono. Turn one's got a little turn.
32:57
Two and three, does it really have that much?
32:58
Not really. Gateway turn three and four has
33:02
no banking really and turns one and two is like super.
33:06
I guess it's kind of steep but none of them are anything like
33:10
Bristol and I've been to Bristol before.
33:13
I've been to the race track I've I've actually worked a couple
33:15
races for Josh there. The just looking at the banking
33:19
is intimidating. I mean you see it and you're
33:23
you're like staggered. I mean, obviously, you know
33:25
this, Kenny, but like, I'm, I'm talking for anybody watching, it
33:28
might not have been to Bristol before.
33:31
It's it's insane. Yeah, I'm I'm one of the best at
33:35
Bristol and my brother is the best.
33:37
And my advice to you would be the great Dick Trickle taught it
33:42
to me. You must first finish to finish
33:46
first but but you but you got, you got you got to keep up the
33:50
speed there or else you will get in trouble.
33:53
And you know when you go out to practice, you're you're you're
33:58
going to make some labs and you're going to come in and
34:00
you're going to look at that monitor and you're going to go,
34:02
holy crap, I'm 2 seconds off. And then you're going to work up
34:07
to it. But my advice to you is you know
34:09
you don't want to go do a backup truck.
34:11
You're in a unique situation where you don't have a big ass
34:15
team. Get in the race now.
34:17
Are you locked in the race base? Basically, yeah, it would take.
34:21
I think we're ahead of eight or nine trucks on the entry list
34:24
and points and only two are going home.
34:26
So I think it'd be tough to it would be tough to miss when.
34:29
You qualify it it. You're going to be cheating
34:32
death. And I mean that.
34:33
OK, but. When you drop the green flag for
34:36
the race, there's trucks in front of you, trucks behind you.
34:41
You can't run that warp speed. Now the now the vehicle starts
34:45
handling different and then it becomes a short track race.
34:49
We're we're qualified. You go to Bristol, you're
34:51
qualifying warp speed and then you're racing around each other
34:54
and then you got a, you know, handlings everything.
34:56
But so OK, how close is the switching subjects?
35:03
How close is the Outback Steak Restaurant to Bristol Motor
35:07
Speedway? So the one that I'm I'll be
35:10
making an appearance at the Bristol Outback from 11:00 to
35:14
1:00 on race day. It's about 10 minutes from the
35:17
race track. Is race day Thursday?
35:19
Yes, Sir. Yes, very excited.
35:22
I I'm like, I know I said a lot about being nervous.
35:25
I also want to make it clear I'm elated and like this is a wheat
35:29
deal for me and even let's say this is it, this is Outback
35:32
sponsorship of me. That's more than I ever expected
35:35
to get out of. Them one, Awesome.
35:36
Two, it's so cool for them to support somebody like me and in
35:40
my life journey. But three, even more valuable
35:44
than the money they're giving me to get to Bristol, which is
35:46
hugely valuable obviously, is the fact that look at who I'm
35:51
talking to. Like I got interview requests
35:54
from Barstool from Fox Sports from Kenny Wallace himself.
35:59
Like people, people are are noticing the story and it's
36:04
building a brand. And now when you go to other
36:07
sponsors and you're like, hey like look at this, Outback is a
36:11
Fortune 500 company or Blooming Brands is a Fortune 500 company
36:15
and here they are, they've got my back.
36:18
I'm like that shows that I'm someone worth worth backing and
36:22
I think it will do wonders for my career.
36:25
And I hope it does wonders for my career as I continue to try
36:29
and navigate this this NASCAR journey.
36:31
Steven, we're already at 40 minutes and Kenny conversation.
36:35
We like to keep it right at an hour.
36:37
Let me just say this, my friend. I love you to death.
36:41
What got me where I'm at is my mouth.
36:44
You've got a mouth like me. We are not short of talking.
36:48
You are a lover. You mean well.
36:50
You're super excited. You're a true Italian.
36:54
I hear the passion in your voice I love you do good and I would
37:00
say this and and this is so positive.
37:04
Our careers in our life. We know it's a journey but you
37:08
got the stair steps and and let's say there's 22 steps and
37:14
right now to me you're like on the third step you know you're
37:18
you're you're new, you have so much to look forward to and.
37:24
Congratulations, you are. You know, I'm we're going to
37:29
make sure we yell from the top of the moon.
37:32
So everybody hears your story because this is very encouraging
37:36
and do good. I will certainly do my best.
37:40
And let me tell you something. You're in Missouri now.
37:42
You said if I'm like you're in Missouri, you got to buy me a
37:46
beer. But if you're ever in New
37:48
Jersey, I'll take care of you. Okay, you give me a ring.
37:52
That's easy. Well, listen everybody, There he
37:55
is, Steven Malosi, one of the biggest stories in America right
37:58
now because he doesn't have any money.
38:00
His dad spending all on him. What a story it it's the start
38:05
of a journey. And remember, we are in podcast
38:09
form. iTunes, Spotify. Listen to this story on your way
38:14
to work on your way back home. And Kenny conversation just
38:18
keeps on rolling. We got Cal many in the pipeline.
38:22
We got Kurt Busch in the pipeline.
38:25
Steven, thank you so much. Of course, we'll talk soon.