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My Old School North Wilkesboro Stories | Coffee With Kenny · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:02
  Happy Wednesday morning, everybody.
• 0:07
  Everybody. Yeah, yeah.
• 0:12
  Fuck your body. Yeah.
• 0:15
  Yeah. I have no idea where the hell
• 0:19
  that came from. Maybe I heard it when I was
• 0:22
  walking out of the house. Alright, it's Wednesday, man,
• 0:28
  look at those clouds. That looks like a painted
• 0:30
  picture. It's nice.
• 0:32
  It's going to be 86° today and Kim and myself, we are going
• 0:37
  down to Saint Louis City Soccer. I am giving out the first ball
• 0:42
  tonight. I'm super excited to see
• 0:44
  everybody at the soccer game tonight.
• 0:48
  All right, I had a couple people give me some great ideas.
• 0:52
  I was not even going to do coffee with Kenny.
• 0:55
  And on X they said Kenny Wallace.
• 0:58
  Do you have any North Wilkesboro stories?
• 1:02
  Well, you know, All Star Weekend is coming up.
• 1:04
  So All Star weekend at North Wilkesboro, NC everybody.
• 1:10
  I do have some great stories. First of all, just getting North
• 1:16
  Wilkesboro back in the early 1800s OK, so I typed that on
• 1:28
  Monday. Was it?
• 1:29
  I forgot when it was. I showed a picture of our
• 1:32
  gasoline prices here in Arnold, MO.
• 1:35
  The gasoline was like $2.80, seven, $2.78, whatever.
• 1:42
  And I stole one from Schrader. When Kenny Schrader gets to
• 1:46
  drinking beer and he tells a good story, Kenny Schrader goes,
• 1:50
  you know, back in 19 O Schrader would always say that.
• 1:56
  So I don't know if I stole it from Schrader, but I always say,
• 2:00
  you know, back in the early 1800s.
• 2:04
  So I said this is the lowest gas prices I've seen in Arnold, MO
• 2:09
  since the early 1800s. Well, here it's Wednesday and
• 2:13
  people are still still talking about me saying the 19 the 1800s
• 2:19
  people got means of me on a horse and carriage.
• 2:22
  So as they would say, and that's the rest of the story.
• 2:29
  Schrader, Kenny Schrader, you know, back in 19 O OK, let's go
• 2:36
  to Wilkesboro. First of all, have you seen what
• 2:42
  Wilkesboro's doing? I don't think they plan on
• 2:45
  quitting that All Star race anytime soon.
• 2:49
  I don't know how many millions of dollars that pedestrian
• 2:52
  bridge cost, but boy, they got a really nice pedestrian bridge
• 2:57
  for all of you, you know, parking.
• 2:59
  There's a lot of parking across the highway.
• 3:02
  So they got a beautiful pedestrian bridge.
• 3:04
  And when I see things like that, it reminds me of, oh, looks like
• 3:08
  this race is going to stay there for a little bit or who knows,
• 3:13
  who knows what's in plan for Wilkesboro.
• 3:15
  Could be, could be a race coming there, who knows?
• 3:21
  You know, I've been getting in a lot of debates with people.
• 3:24
  People say look at the grandstands.
• 3:26
  I'm like, don't worry about the grandstands anymore.
• 3:30
  That's the old days. And I know you all don't like to
• 3:33
  hear it and I'm not arguing with you.
• 3:35
  This is a good coffee with Kenny.
• 3:37
  There's no debating here. This is storytelling time.
• 3:41
  However, it definitely appears that NASCAR's not that worried
• 3:46
  right now about how many people are in the grandstands.
• 3:49
  Once again, TV's paying so much money, and a lot of you have
• 3:53
  quit going to the race tracks. You're watching it on TV.
• 3:57
  It's easier, especially for us old Goats, All right?
• 4:03
  And I don't know how many people it's seats at Wilkesboro.
• 4:07
  I don't know, 20,000 maybe. That's plenty, especially with
• 4:13
  the billions of dollars TV's given NASCAR nowadays.
• 4:17
  We're not going to worry about how many people are in the
• 4:20
  grandstands anymore. It looks good and there's still
• 4:23
  plenty going to the races and the crowds keep going up,
• 4:27
  especially after what we saw down there in Texas.
• 4:34
  OK, North Wilkesboro. What I remember about Wilkesboro
• 4:39
  back in the early 1800s is how we used to get there.
• 4:43
  We used to go up Interstate 77, get off, you know what, that
• 4:48
  highway there and we took back roads.
• 4:51
  If you think it's crazy getting into Martinsville, you know,
• 4:56
  going down that little like Subdivision St. to get to
• 5:00
  Martinsville. You know when you get to
• 5:01
  Martinsville, you go down a little Subdivision St. and you
• 5:03
  go past people's homes and then there's the racetrack at the
• 5:06
  bottom of the hill. We'll work N about said works
• 5:10
  borough back in the early 1800s when we go to Wilkesboro.
• 5:14
  I mean, you went through these 1 1/2 lane roads, basically half a
• 5:20
  road. And that's one thing I really
• 5:22
  remember is I thought I can't believe we're running.
• 5:25
  And OK, NASCAR is the largest form of Motorsports in America
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  and the way we get to Wilkesboro back in the 1800s was like 1/2 a
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  lane Rd. But buddy, when you got there,
• 5:37
  that place lit up and when and when ESPN used to show it, it
• 5:41
  was bigger than life. So my stories about Wilkesboro,
• 5:47
  well, my first one was, did you know my very first Cup race ever
• 5:55
  was North Wilkesboro and had a good friend down around Sumner,
• 6:00
  South Carolina. Randy, was it Randy Hodge
• 6:04
  respond right here. Who remembers that owner?
• 6:07
  He owned the car, but we built it.
• 6:09
  And I want to thank that man from the bottom of my heart.
• 6:12
  He was a good insurance man. But you know, back in those days
• 6:15
  you could build a Cup car relatively affordable.
• 6:19
  So man, I was running good in that race, running really good.
• 6:24
  And Davy Allison was not lapping me.
• 6:27
  He was just coming up to pass me.
• 6:30
  And you know, I miss Davy Allison so much.
• 6:33
  We were super good friends. That is one guy really, you
• 6:38
  know, I was like when he died and dammit, you know, but but
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  Davy was a good friend of mine. And we, I would fly with him and
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  we would talk, you know, at the diners down there around
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  Concord, NC. Never forget some of mine, Davy
• 6:54
  Allison's conversations. But we're in the middle of this
• 6:58
  cup rice. And man, I'm doing good.
• 7:01
  And I'm like, damn, this Cup's easy.
• 7:05
  Well, I learned my lesson later on how hard it is.
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  But it was a Cup car we prepared and we're coming down the front
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  straightaway and, you know, and you go downhill because North
• 7:15
  Wilkesboro, they built that racetrack in the early 1800s and
• 7:20
  it's like they just took a bulldozer and they in a greater
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  because, you know, the grade going downhill.
• 7:27
  I mean, you go downhill down the front straightaway and way
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  uphill and we're coming. We're we're deep into this Cup
• 7:36
  racing, man. I'm running like top 15 and Davy
• 7:39
  hits me in the ass so hard. I mean, he spins me out.
• 7:43
  I'm getting close to the corner, but I'm not at the corner yet.
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  And I'm like, what the hell happened?
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  In fact, that son of a bitch in the wall bent the rear clip.
• 7:54
  I was heartbroke. But Davy apologizes, says, man,
• 7:58
  I had a really soft brake pedal and but anyway, that that was a
• 8:03
  bummer. That was a bummer for me at
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  Wilkesboro. Respond right here.
• 8:08
  Google it, look it up, See if you can find the wreck.
• 8:10
  They probably don't have it, but see if you can find anything
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  about that race. It was a cup race at at North
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  Wilkesboro. That would have been my very
• 8:19
  first Cup race ever. It was a green and white car.
• 8:23
  I believe it was sponsored by Cox St. and Lumber maybe.
• 8:27
  OK, my another most memorable one.
• 8:29
  I am in a the truck race. I'm running the red dog truck
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  there and I'm running good. I'm running like second or third
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  in the red dog truck and come up on that, come up on that blue
• 8:44
  and white truck. Dan Press, Dan Press, Kevin
• 8:49
  Harvick told me, Hey, Dan Press got a memory like an elephant.
• 8:53
  He drove that Spears truck, the the blue and white Spears, you
• 8:58
  know, remember the big West Coast sponsorship.
• 9:01
  Anyway, I got into him like Davey got into me and I didn't
• 9:09
  mean to, I didn't mean to and spun him out.
• 9:13
  And I believe, I believe I had a shot at winning that race.
• 9:16
  And I had a flat tire, not from hitting Dan, but that set up Dan
• 9:26
  having that memory like an elephant.
• 9:28
  Kevin Harvick said be careful with Dan Press.
• 9:31
  He got a memory like an elephant.
• 9:33
  So now, now Willsboro is where this story is set up.
• 9:38
  So we go out to Bakersfield, CA and I'm going to lap Dan Press.
• 9:44
  I'm in the red dog truck and I'm going to lap Dan Press.
• 9:47
  He's running around the bottom of the track.
• 9:49
  I guess his race didn't go too good.
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  And when I lap him, I'm like, I'm coming down, I'm coming off
• 9:54
  at 2 and I'm getting around the back straight and I'm like, oh,
• 9:56
  shut up. And I'm thinking it.
• 9:59
  Sure enough, damn press he he turned right.
• 10:02
  He timed it perfect. He spun me like a top.
• 10:06
  Oh my God, I went, I like, well, bad for me, you know, I guess he
• 10:12
  traveled from California all the way to Wilkesboro and I spun him
• 10:15
  out on accident here. We traveled all the way from
• 10:19
  North Carolina all the way to Bakersfield, and he spun me like
• 10:23
  a top. And while I'm on it, everybody,
• 10:26
  and that is how we handled our business back in our day.
• 10:32
  You messed with me. You get, as Jimmy Spencer would
• 10:36
  say, you mess with the bull, you get the horn.
• 10:40
  All right, everybody. That's a couple Wilkesboro
• 10:42
  stories and a story about where early 1800s comes from.
• 10:47
  And it's a beautiful day. All right, headed down to soccer
• 10:55
  game. The Sunoco Dirt car is ready to
• 10:58
  go. They're talking about a little
• 11:01
  bit of rain here or there on Friday.
• 11:02
  Not sure where we're going to race.
• 11:04
  Looks like it's either going to be #1 choice will be Brownstown,
• 11:09
  IL, the Brownstown Bullring. And then we'll go from there and
• 11:13
  we'll see what's up. But until then, everybody have a
• 11:16
  great Wednesday.