Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Get To Know The Fantastic Kaitlyn Vincie!

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Get To Know The Fantastic Kaitlyn Vincie! · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Kenny.
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Conversation brought to you by Jags.
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And by the way, we're wearing the pink Jags for the month of
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the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts.
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And remember to go to jags.com for everything you need to fix
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your vehicle up and especially right now, truck parts and Jeep
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parts. There she is, my partner in
0:28
crime, the great. And I call her great because
0:32
she's such a badass. Caitlin.
0:34
Caitlin Vincey. Caitlin, how you doing?
0:37
I'm good, doing well. I'm so happy to see you.
0:40
I've missed you. I don't get to see you like I
0:43
used to. And so I'm really excited to be
0:45
on your show. You know, it's so crazy that you
0:48
and I worked side by side for all those years.
0:52
And then, of course, I decided to peel out and come home.
0:56
I see you. I see you show up on the big
0:58
screen. So what's like what, what is
1:02
what's, what's the life like after Kenny?
1:05
Are, is it boring? Is everybody too serious now?
1:08
It is boring. I will never forget the day you
1:10
told me you were planning to no longer do TVI was so sad because
1:15
part of the fun of doing it every week is doing it with
1:17
people you really like, right? And we were out on the road
1:19
together doing race day. And yeah, it's not the same for
1:23
sure. We we really miss you.
1:26
Well, listen, I was kind of joking, but I do I do miss you.
1:30
And I do want to tell everybody you said to me something that I,
1:34
I do want to take another chance at at answering you.
1:39
You said, Kenny, do you miss us? And I said no.
1:42
And you went what what I meant is yes, I miss you all.
1:46
I miss the humans. And as you, you use the word
1:50
humans. Yes, I miss you all, but I just
1:54
don't miss those conference calls and, you know, being told
1:59
what to do. Yeah, I get that.
2:04
Yeah, OK, We are going to start with a bang.
2:08
Any conversation is about celebrating the people.
2:12
That's what we do here. We're going to celebrate you and
2:15
talk about how you got to where you are and kind of follow your
2:20
trail. But I don't want to be long
2:22
winded, but I I want everybody to know this story and then
2:26
we'll back up and we'll start over.
2:28
OK. So I was having dinner with our
2:34
boss, Scott Ackerson in Indianapolis, and he was our
2:40
boss. Now remember Scott Ackerson, he
2:42
started NFL today with Terry Bradshaw.
2:45
Howie Long, This is a big, big way.
2:47
He was our boss. And the lady you're looking at
2:50
right now, Caitlin Vincey, she was still trying to make it.
2:56
And you were in that restaurant. You were working for speed as
3:01
one of the girls on the show, throwing out items, keeping the
3:04
music going. But at this time you had not
3:07
been on big time TV. You walked up to him right in
3:12
front of me with your your back straight and you said I want to
3:17
be on national TV. Caught me off guard.
3:21
He he looked at you and said what makes you think you're good
3:23
enough to be on TV? And you said something.
3:27
You sent him your tapes from your days at Langley Speedway.
3:31
Sure did. And he hired me the next day,
3:39
which is crazy. Like, I love when we recap that
3:42
story because it is kind of interesting how it all worked
3:46
out, you know? So I just want to comment on
3:49
that and then we'll let's go back.
3:52
That was an unbelievable moment in my life because it was one of
3:56
the first times I believe in my life where I watched somebody
3:59
get on national team. Now listen, when I say national
4:03
means you're in Mexico and you can you can see you here, you
4:06
there you are, you know, worldly, you know, because that
4:10
that's not NASCAR Race day was not a little show.
4:13
It was big and we had great views.
4:16
We were second in views only to the Cup series, so yeah, was
4:24
that life changing for you? It was, you know, I still have
4:28
the voicemail on my phone from when he called me the next day
4:31
to say he wanted to talk to me in person.
4:35
And it was to basically be like, look, I'm going to put you on TV
4:38
as a reporter for Race Hub. But yeah, I mean, I obviously
4:42
had been working in local racing as a reporter for years out of
4:46
school. So I'd had a demo tape that I
4:48
had made, you know, it was low budget, $100 a weekend work, but
4:54
it still was experience on camera talking about racing.
4:57
So when he was asking everybody kind of what we wanted to do and
5:01
I said, I, well, I actually want to be on, you know, TV.
5:04
And when he said, why do you think you'd be suited for that?
5:07
I just told him like, I've been trying to pursue this ever since
5:11
I was in school and I've done this, this and this and I have a
5:14
demo tape. And he said, well, e-mail it to
5:16
me. And so I did.
5:18
And you know, it only takes that one person to give you the, the
5:21
yes, right, For it's kind of springboard your whole career.
5:25
And he was that guy for me. He just believed in me from the
5:29
beginning, which was awesome. And yeah, life was never the
5:33
same after that. Yeah, to me, it is just awesome.
5:37
OK, so like the Movies Now we're going to go back.
5:42
OK, That is kind of the ending because Caitlin, the lady you're
5:47
looking at now, she's big time. She's on, you know, she's on all
5:51
the all the TV shows. And before we go back, let's
5:54
let's put it right here. Last night I went to the movie
5:59
theater and there was this huge TV screen before you go, before
6:04
you go into the movie theater. And FS1 was on, and there you
6:08
were, Your face filled up the whole damn screen.
6:11
Oh, that's scary. Heart you look good so it's easy
6:15
on the eyes that's that's a compliment Harvick happy hour
6:21
yes for me caught me by surprise.
6:25
I think it's a really good started out as a podcast.
6:30
That's what you are doing now and more.
6:33
But tell me about Harvick Happy Hour right now on FS1.
6:38
Yeah, it's been awesome, You know, working with Kevin, he is
6:42
such a professional. He's very prepared.
6:44
He always has a lot of good opinions.
6:48
You can tell he's super invested obviously in the sport still and
6:51
having conversations with people all the time to have, you know,
6:54
current information. You know, he just drove these
6:57
cars. So all of that inside is very
7:01
current that he has on the driving side of things.
7:04
And it just kind of came together.
7:06
I had no idea that we were even going to really be doing this.
7:10
At the beginning of the year. They called me in for some
7:12
meetings and different things to talk to me about it.
7:14
We did sort of a screen test, all of us together, myself,
7:18
Kevin and Mamba, Dylan Smith, the other guy on the show, and
7:22
they were very happy with the initial screen test and the
7:25
chemistry and the flow. So then it just started moving
7:28
100 miles an hour. It was the graphics packages
7:30
were built, the set was built, everything was, and we started
7:33
right after Daytona and it's been really fun for me because
7:36
I've always wanted to be on a more laid back style racing
7:40
show. That's not, you know, Race Hub
7:43
and Race Day are very formatted, right?
7:45
And you have a producer pretty much talking to you throughout
7:48
the entire thing. This is way more conversational,
7:52
way more laid back. Wherever we kind of want to take
7:54
things is where we'll go as soon as the checkered flag waves.
7:58
I send a whole big list of storylines to Kevin and to Mamba
8:02
and to our producer, and that's pretty much what they plug into
8:05
The Rundown, and that's kind of what we go off of them when we
8:08
meet together on Mondays. I just make sure that there's
8:11
not anything specific that Kevin is super passionate about that
8:14
he really wants to hit on or whatever it is.
8:16
It's his show. We are there to support him and
8:21
you know, Mamba obviously gives a lot of opinions as well, but
8:25
it's been awesome. And I just love Kevin.
8:27
I think he's great. So it's it was a pleasant
8:31
surprise to be a part of it, really.
8:33
Really good to hear you say it was a pleasant surprise because
8:37
now correct me if I'm wrong, I thought this was supposed to be
8:40
kind of like a a podcast because I felt like now I'm reading
8:44
between the lines, you know, but from my point, it was like, OK,
8:48
everybody has podcast, so Fox is going to do a little podcast.
8:52
It was. Did it turn into ATV show?
8:57
Yes, I think after Racehub and everything went away, there was
9:02
that airtime available now. And so since it had been doing
9:06
so well and generating, you know, good numbers, I think they
9:10
thought well, why don't we just actually clip it and create it
9:14
for TV too. So that's essentially what they
9:16
did. And it runs a couple times a
9:19
week. It doesn't have a set time slot,
9:20
so it's kind of all over the place, but I believe that was
9:24
the reasoning behind putting it on TV once we no longer had the
9:28
other racing content. We call this Kenny conversation
9:32
because there's not a format. And just like you said, we can
9:36
go anywhere we want. I want to keep talking about
9:39
this just for a minute because as you're talking, I'm listening
9:43
intently. So we all got that phone call,
9:48
that sad day where all of us might have been over a, you
9:53
know, 300 people. We all go to your studios, my
9:56
studios and I have, I have not been with Fox for three or four
10:01
years. And we're there the very last
10:03
day. I guess that was a couple months
10:06
ago and, and everybody was out of a job.
10:09
And, you know, there were four people that were going to keep
10:12
their job. And you're a dear friend of
10:15
mine. And I asked you politely, what's
10:17
next for you? And you, you told me.
10:20
So the question that I have as I'm listening to you was Harvick
10:25
Happy Hour, a pleasant surprise for you.
10:30
Oh, yeah, definitely. Again, I, I didn't really know
10:34
that that was even on the table at the beginning of the season,
10:36
right when digital, like basically one of my bosses in
10:42
Los Angeles was like, hey, the digital crew is going to be out
10:45
in Charlotte from Lai want you to meet with them.
10:47
I had no idea what it was about. I go in for the meeting.
10:50
I still don't know what it's about.
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They're just asking me different questions about Kevin and all
10:55
this stuff. And I'm like, what?
10:56
I was so confused. And I was like, what is this
10:58
for? And they were like, oh, well,
10:59
we're going to start a show, a podcast with him.
11:02
And you know, you're in consideration for the host role.
11:05
And I was like, oh, awesome. It just kind of went from there.
11:11
But yeah, I mean, it's funny for me because Kevin was my very
11:16
first interview I ever did for Speed Channel.
11:19
So when I got hired, after the moment you were talking about
11:22
with Ackerson, I started on Race Hub and the first assignment I
11:26
had was to go interview Kevin Harvick at his charity golf
11:29
event. So I get out there and I meet
11:32
Josh Jones, his right hand man for the 1st.
11:34
Time. I love him, he's a good friend
11:38
of mine. And I was so nervous, like I'm
11:42
telling you, I blacked out in that interview.
11:44
I don't even know what he said because I was so just like, I
11:48
don't know, I was young, I was only 24 and it was Kevin Harvick
11:52
when he's pretty intimidating to say the least.
11:55
So anyways, it's just funny. You Fast forward 13 years later
11:59
and now I'm on a show with him and, you know, consider him a
12:02
friend and really enjoy him as a colleague.
12:06
So it's, it's just wild how things work, you know, full
12:09
circle moments. Yeah, well, it makes me happy
12:14
because that that sad day, everybody was out of a job at
12:17
Fox and there was only four people that were going to keep
12:22
their job. And we knew that.
12:23
And yeah, so, OK, we brought everybody up to speed.
12:28
You're you're rocking it. You're you're on TV.
12:31
You're on FS1, I see you on the big screen at a lot of the SMI
12:36
races. You, you look good at Bristol.
12:39
I saw you on that. Did you did?
12:42
You hear the I hear the fan drop the F word in our interview.
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Did you see that one? No, I'm darn it.
12:51
I went to interview these four fans.
12:53
It was 2 couples and you know when you do those interviews,
12:57
it's pretty generic. You're just kind of like, are
12:59
you having a good time? Like what you know, how's your
13:01
experience been? And she goes, we're having a
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fucking great time. Drops it like completely.
13:11
Yeah, well, I was. Like, oh, OK, I was not
13:14
expecting that. And so I had to do a little
13:17
damage control. I had to be like, you know,
13:19
sorry for the language you just heard.
13:20
And then I, you know, moved on to interview the guy.
13:23
But I was just like, well, that's a first.
13:25
And you know, you and I doing network TV, they teach us that
13:31
as soon as somebody cusses you, you have to apologize for them
13:35
right away. I guess that's the regulations
13:38
for I. Think so?
13:39
Yeah, something like that. So that's what I did.
13:42
But it was like I said, that's a first.
13:45
I've not had that happen before. You, you know, I, I study
13:49
things, I'm a people watcher. And now that we're removed from
13:54
the race, they told me that they sold 90,000 tickets.
13:58
So when when I was watching you on the the big screen at
14:03
Bristol, I'm thinking there's 90,000 people here watching her
14:08
on that screen and that, you know, sometimes shows don't get
14:11
90,000 viewers. Yeah.
14:14
Although one might consider all this is a small gig.
14:18
I don't think it was. I think that's a very important
14:20
gig. You one thing I really like, I
14:22
just want to comment on this and it struck me on that's the
14:25
reason I texted you is you, you were happy.
14:28
You you were, you were different from your network.
14:32
You you were happy and you were engaging.
14:35
I like that. Was it that?
14:38
It's I, I, yeah, I had a great time.
14:40
And it is a different type of television or on camera work,
14:44
you know what I mean? Like network stuff is obviously
14:47
more controlled. You, you know, when you're
14:49
hosting, you kind of have this persona you need to portray of
14:53
like authoritative. I'm in control of this show.
14:58
When you're doing stuff with fans and you're out in like the
15:00
experience and and the whole mix of it, it's just a different,
15:04
you're going to present it differently than you would in a
15:07
controlled studio. And so I like doing things like
15:10
that because it challenges me to tap into different parts of my,
15:14
you know, on camera abilities, right?
15:17
So when Bristol asked me to do it, it was immediately like,
15:21
yes, of course, because it's one of my favorite tracks to go to
15:24
as well. And I think the team there is
15:25
really awesome. So I also love Jose Castillo, so
15:29
I knew he was going to be my Co host.
15:31
And yeah, it was a really enjoyable weekend.
15:33
It was a lot of work because they're all four series were
15:35
there, so we had like 14 hour days.
15:38
But it was fun. It's always fun going there.
15:42
Yeah. And and they love you, Caitlin
15:45
Bristol Motor Speedway loves you.
15:47
You've been, you've been doing a lot of different things for them
15:51
for the last 3-4 years and I see it.
15:53
So you're, you're never going to be out of a job, even though we
15:57
had that scare at Fox. You're going to fit in somewhere
16:02
because you have so much talent. And I know they're, if they
16:05
don't resign you, that will be your, their loss, but you're
16:10
going to be just fine. So, and you're proving that.
16:12
All right, so here we go. Everybody wants to know
16:17
everybody's story. How did she make it?
16:21
Where did she come from? Why, where and what?
16:25
And this is what we do on Kenny Conversation.
16:28
We're going to celebrate you now and please feel free to correct
16:33
me. I always, this is my Larry Mac
16:37
Reynolds moment. I got my notes and OK, you're
16:43
from Harrisonburg, VA. Yes.
16:48
Before we get into what school you went to where you graduated,
16:53
just tell me a little bit about you were born in Harrisonburg
16:58
and then I believe you might have moved around a little bit.
17:00
Just tell me about where you came from.
17:04
Small town Virginia, I mean, and I have older sister.
17:09
We were very close family growing up.
17:12
Just not a lot going on though in that town to be honest.
17:15
I mean, you basically like part of PE class.
17:21
We got our hunting license. I love it.
17:25
Yeah. And like during Spirit week
17:27
there was like drive your tractor to school day.
17:30
Yes. Realism.
17:32
That's where I grew up, just blue collar town, which I'm
17:37
proud of that whatever. Yeah, yeah, A.
17:40
Lot of NASCAR fans around that area.
17:43
I can't say I was a fan as a kid, and neither was my family.
17:47
I didn't come from a racing family, but I had, you know,
17:50
obviously was very familiar with it and it was super popular with
17:53
a lot of people in my hometown. But when I went to school,
17:59
college, Christopher Newport University outside of Virginia
18:01
Beach, that was when I first went to a race and it was like a
18:04
social experience. In college, people would go to
18:08
Richmond and tailgate and hang out, bunch of college kids go to
18:12
the race, drink beer, whatever. And I was like, oh, this is
18:15
pretty cool shit. Like, I really like this, you
18:17
know, And I knew I wanted to do sports journalism from a really
18:21
young age. Like my parents joke that I
18:23
would do the news at like 12 years old in front of our home
18:26
camcorder. Like for some reason I was
18:29
interested in this field from the beginning.
18:32
So when I was in school, I, I totally narrowed in on just
18:35
racing. I didn't want to do any other
18:37
sports for journalism, so that's kind of how that went.
18:41
I do want to say that a lot of my information comes from my
18:46
wife about life and years ago when Kim and I were dating, she
18:51
said men especially are 32 years old and they don't know what
18:56
they want to do. It's a it's a big crisis in the
18:59
world where men don't know what the hell they want to do.
19:01
Here you were as a lady in a man's sports sort of speak and
19:08
you know what you want to do at such a young age.
19:12
Did you realize that was did you know that was special or did you
19:16
like? Well, I just like it.
19:17
I yeah, I've thought about that because, you know, it, it does
19:21
seem like a lot of young people don't have a lot of direction
19:23
nowadays on what path they want to pursue.
19:27
I have no idea why I was different.
19:29
I just, I guess for whatever reason, I was always instilled
19:34
with goals and, and having goals, you know, and, and my
19:37
parents, I think made a point to, to direct me to try and find
19:42
something I was passionate about.
19:45
But yeah, I, I looking back, I'm like, that's kind of unusual, I
19:48
guess a little bit, but. A a good, a good unusual a good
19:53
unusual you you were given a gift.
19:57
Yeah. So, you know, once I was decided
20:00
on this, obviously I was a communications major, but then I
20:03
started doing everything I could while I was in school to try and
20:05
position myself to get a job upon graduation because somehow
20:08
I was also smart enough to to recognize that just having a
20:12
degree. And a piece of paper probably
20:14
wasn't really going to get me a job.
20:16
So I started doing internships and I worked for the athletic
20:19
communications department at my school.
20:21
And you basically were a part of all the the college sporting
20:25
events, like doing their program write ups and helping score the
20:27
games and just working with the teams on all these different
20:31
roles. So I started doing that.
20:32
Then I started interning at a local news station and my shift
20:36
started at like 5:00 in the morning, so I'd have to get up
20:39
at 3:30 to get ready for the day to drive down.
20:44
WSKY. Yeah, I love it.
20:50
So I was doing that, and I mean doing 21 credit hours in tandem
20:55
with all this stuff. I went and worked for the CARS
20:58
tour for a summer as an intern in their PR department.
21:01
That's where I've met a lot of people in our industry.
21:03
Now was when I went and did that because I moved to Charlotte for
21:06
the summer before my senior year and that was kind of my first
21:11
experience actually working around racing and traveling on a
21:15
circuit, which was so fun. I was like, well, this is
21:18
definitely for me. So those were the things I did
21:22
in school. Then right after graduation,
21:25
there was a Craigslist ad for Langley Speedway for a reporter
21:31
for this show. They were doing a local racing
21:34
show and my roommate at the time saw it and she's like, this is
21:38
you should apply for this. So I did and I got it.
21:42
And I started working there for a couple years just covering
21:45
their, you know, all, all, all the series that come out there.
21:48
That's where I met Chase Elliott.
21:49
That's where I met Bubba Wallace.
21:50
That's where I met, you know, a lot of our big stars now of the
21:54
sport came through there as young guys, which was.
21:57
So it's so cool for me to see them succeed the way they have,
22:01
knowing that like, I was probably some of their very
22:03
first interviews they ever did. Like I have this picture of me
22:06
with Chase Elliot when he was like 14.
22:08
He still had braces. That's great.
22:12
He's so cute. And it was just funny to me
22:15
because, you know, now he's a champion and he's, you know, the
22:18
biggest, biggest star in NASCAR. And I love that I was able to
22:22
kind of be a part of their careers in the very early days
22:24
at Langley. I, I think in a strange way,
22:29
what surprises our parents and ourselves is that we grow up.
22:34
You know, it's what it, and you just said it.
22:38
You said it's so strange. I, you know, I was with Chase
22:41
Ellen. He had braces on.
22:42
Now he's a champion. It, it, it does shock us all.
22:46
Where? Oh my gosh, I own a home now.
22:48
I got to pay, I got to pay my personal property tax.
22:51
This is stuff I heard my mom and dad say.
22:54
Oh my God, I'm a grown up. I know now I have my own kids.
22:58
Like that's scary. I'm not sure how that happened.
23:00
So, well, I know how it happened.
23:04
OK, that was fun. OK, I got that.
23:09
That's a fun joke. My I have three daughters,
23:13
right? I'm a girl, dad.
23:14
I think both of our faces are red right now.
23:17
By the way, when my daughters would get pregnant.
23:20
Leave it up to me because I'm a little crazy and I look at my
23:23
daughters and I said, did you figure out what caused this?
23:29
Yeah. No kidding.
23:30
And. Stop.
23:31
Well, and we're going to go back to your your husband, Blake.
23:34
He's in my notes. I want to stay right where we're
23:36
at because I have a lot to ask and talk about.
23:40
So Caitlin, what I like to do right now is for all the girls
23:43
that are watching, you know, everybody wants to know how you
23:46
get to where you get to. And I just find your story
23:50
amazing. Well, let's go to the tomboy in
23:52
you a little bit. Even though you're a girly girl,
23:56
you kind of remind me of Kelly Hamilton a little bit, who is a
24:00
dear friend of yours, a great producer.
24:02
You remind me of Shannon Spake. You remind me of all the ladies.
24:06
There's tomboy in all of you. And OK, so your high school was
24:12
Bakwar. How do you say that?
24:14
Did I really hatchet it? Fuck here.
24:17
It's a terrible, it's a horrible name.
24:22
FAUUUIER. Yep.
24:26
Wow. OK, One thing that caught my eye
24:31
is you're you're right. You're you're kind of like,
24:36
you're a badass, you know, you like bourbon, you like a good
24:39
drink, you like to chill, you like to show a persona.
24:43
Then then I'm in control. So years ago when you and I were
24:48
working together, you said if you ever see me running,
24:51
something's wrong. So when I looked at your high
24:54
school now, I'm sorry Ray stands, but this is because I
24:57
know her and I've worked with her.
25:00
You competed in track and field. I would have never thought this.
25:05
And you won the 800 meter event of the AAA Cedar Run District.
25:10
Is it because of all that running you did is why you don't
25:14
run anymore? I do still run sometimes,
25:17
actually almost every week. But yeah, so when I was in fifth
25:23
grade, I ran a seven O 3 mile and the teachers were like, she
25:27
needs to be in track and field. Like that's pretty fast for a
25:30
kid. So I started in 6th grade and I
25:33
did it all through through college as well.
25:37
And it's a lot. I mean, track and field, it's a
25:40
tough sport because it's year round.
25:42
You kind of, you do cross country, indoor track, outdoor
25:46
track. It's really hard on your body.
25:49
But I did enjoy it and I had some success with it.
25:51
You know, I at one point in time I ran a 534 mile, which I'm
25:55
still proud of that to this day. There's no chance I could do it
25:58
now. But at one point I did run that.
26:02
We had a really good 4x4 relay team.
26:04
Also, in high school we went to nationals and it was, you know,
26:08
awesome experience. So yeah, that's a little fun
26:12
fact about me. I actually have won some races,
26:15
different type of race. So, you know, like, I look at
26:21
things differently. I see a lot of your sisters out
26:24
there, whether it's Jamie Little, Shannon Spake, Wendy
26:27
Ventorini, you know, Krista Voda.
26:31
Yeah. Do you all know that you all
26:35
were competitors? I mean, because, you know, I've
26:37
talked to your your sisters pretty much when I say sisters,
26:40
ladies in the game, yeah, you all are somewhat very athletic.
26:44
Do do you all compare? Do you all know that?
26:48
I don't know if we all know that.
26:49
I mean, I know that, you know, Shannon, obviously all the her
26:52
triathlons and things she does. I know all the working workout
26:55
stuff that Wendy does and Jamie Little with her crazy sandbags.
26:59
Yeah. So we all have that athletic
27:02
kind of side in US and that's it.
27:05
But maybe that's not surprising that we ended up kind of, you
27:08
know, we're still involved in sports.
27:10
And people who are involved in sports, I think always, you
27:12
know, kind of are interested in them for life, right.
27:15
So yeah. OK, so I I feel like when I
27:21
studied up on you, one thing that caught my eye is you
27:27
studied computer software to learn how to edit make your own
27:31
videos. Now hold, hold on.
27:34
Then I tied it together with You were the manager of the school
27:38
wrestling team. That's awesome.
27:42
When you really did your research.
27:43
I am so impressed, Kenny. Yeah, yeah.
27:46
Well, it it and it, it surprised Shannon too.
27:49
But my point is, is I'm as I'm studying this, I'm like, OK,
27:53
she's becoming a leader now as I'm looking at all this.
27:58
You manage the school wrestling team.
28:00
You organized it and, and then you learned how to do all your
28:04
own editing and, and I'm thinking and then, then my mind
28:07
went right away when you gave that tape to Scott Ackerson.
28:11
Yeah, I had made it myself. Yeah, so tell me about the
28:15
ability at a young age to know how to edit all your own stuff
28:19
up. So while I was working at
28:22
Langley, like everything, we weren't sure if a second season
28:26
of the show was going to happen because of sponsorship and yada
28:29
Yas. So I was, I was getting a little
28:31
nervous because I was like, well, if I don't have that, like
28:34
how do I still have experience talking about racing on camera?
28:38
So basically at that point I decided to start filming myself
28:42
in my own house in a green screen setup that I created.
28:47
I had a borrowed camera from our Langley crew that they no longer
28:50
were using. He, you know, one of the camera
28:53
OPS guys came over and helped me set it up and kind of get the
28:56
shot right. And I started filming myself
28:59
talking about racing, like recapping what happened in the
29:02
Cup race over the weekend. So then I taught myself the
29:05
software on how to edit it and put the green screen background
29:08
in there and just was uploading them to YouTube and promoting
29:13
them on social media and, and just trying to get them in front
29:16
of people. Well, turns out NASCAR
29:18
illustrated at the time their website wasseendaily.com.
29:22
I don't know if you remember that.
29:24
Oh. Yeah, I read that.
29:26
They saw them and decided to start using them on their
29:29
website and like Bob Parkers, worked for them at the time.
29:32
So now you have Caleb Binsey, this like 22 year old kid work
29:36
next to Bob Parker's, which is kind of crazy, but you know,
29:39
that they just saw value in it and nobody else was doing it at
29:43
the time, you know? And for me, it was like social
29:46
media and all of that was starting to gain a lot of
29:49
momentum and traction. And I was smart enough somehow
29:52
to figure out, to tap into that and to try and use that as a
29:55
resource to, you know, create my own opportunities.
29:59
Talking about racing on camera. Granted, I wasn't getting paid
30:03
anything, but I didn't care because I was working at a
30:05
tanning salon and I was working as a waitress to pay my bills.
30:08
So I I had money coming in. So I had the ability to try and
30:12
chase this other goal in the hopes that it would work out,
30:16
which thankfully it did. I I think you'd be a good poker
30:22
player because the whole time I worked, the whole time I worked
30:25
with you, you kept all your stuff to yourself.
30:28
Here you are, you know. Listen, you're way.
30:33
How should I say this? Who's the Rock'n'roll senior?
30:37
She passed away, Janet. Janet.
30:40
Yeah, you're way better looking than her, but she but she she
30:44
portrayed herself as a badass. And and and I feel like you
30:49
always have been laid back badass.
30:53
But when I studied you, I mean, hell, the whole time I worked
30:56
with you, I never knew this about you.
30:58
And you did a lot and kept it to yourself.
31:04
And I want everybody to know that that I know that now you, I
31:10
even wrote a note here. I said that you are a very hard
31:15
worker. I feel like you made it on your
31:17
own. And I and I wrote that right
31:20
there. Right there.
31:25
Well, you, you did you, you worked hard.
31:27
OK, so I want to get to this now you told us why and you you get
31:35
the Langley Speedway now. Now you got a racetrack.
31:38
OK, and you start the video blogs.
31:40
You told us all that just now. How did how does this stuff end
31:47
up on local WSKYI? Don't know honestly, it was just
31:54
that was a local TV channel in the area.
31:57
That's big, though. The, I don't know if you do, you
32:00
know, the Gadovic's Brandon Gadovic, the racer, he's he's
32:05
been around the industry for a while.
32:06
His father was the one who started the show.
32:09
He was funding it and his son was kind of the the star of it,
32:12
if you will. He was one of the main people
32:16
that I would interview for it. So the Gadovic family actually
32:19
started that show. And then the the second year we
32:22
did it, it kind of opened up to covering all the different
32:25
racers who are out at Langley. But yeah, that looking back, I'm
32:30
like that, that's so interesting that that even happened.
32:33
So, but it was a great opportunity for me.
32:36
I mean, that also changed my life because if I hadn't done
32:39
all that and had that experience at the track to put on my demo
32:42
reel, I'm not sure I would have got, you know, it wouldn't have
32:45
been the same. Right, right.
32:47
You might not have had all that to show Scott Ackerson.
32:50
I, I, I read, I read a book on Aerosmith and Steven Tyler, the
32:58
lead singer and the guitarist Perry, they, they would argue
33:03
and Steven would look at him and say, man, this is part of the
33:07
journey. And that was so heavy for me
33:10
because sometimes we're doing things and we just, we might not
33:14
want to be there, but that this is part of the journey.
33:19
It seemed like that was your road to where you're going to.
33:23
And I wanted to lay this out for all these young girls.
33:26
You understand early in your life, you might not be where you
33:29
want to be, but this is a place you need to be.
33:31
This is the road you're on. Right.
33:34
And I mean, I don't feel like, you know, good things never come
33:38
easily. You know, I'm really proud of
33:39
the fact that I had to work at the grassroots level of racing,
33:43
that I didn't make a lot of money, that I had to do a lot of
33:46
things on my own. I'm proud of that fact because
33:48
now that I've made it to the network level, I mean, it's
33:51
obviously night and day different in terms of the
33:53
production and what you're doing, but you really appreciate
33:56
it when you've had to do all that other stuff.
33:59
And there's never a day that goes by when I drive into Fox
34:02
Sports and I don't feel super fortunate to to be there and to
34:05
be doing this job because, you know, that was all I wanted was
34:10
to reach that stage. And, you know, it was hard to
34:14
get there. It it probably happened quicker
34:16
than, you know, is traditional because I was only 24 when I did
34:22
get hired. So that that part did happen
34:24
quickly. But I had been, you know,
34:26
working since I was a teenager to reach this goal.
34:29
I mean, I was, I wrote a NASCAR column for my school paper in
34:32
college, too. Like I was doing all these other
34:34
things at a much younger age, which is why it didn't feel like
34:38
to me that it was so quickly happening because I had been,
34:41
you know, kind of going after it for a while.
34:45
You know, something I'm thinking about right now is all the
34:48
ladies want to go to the NFL sidelines and maybe get maybe
34:51
get a total of 1 minute for the whole damn game.
34:57
And it always, that always shocked me because when I watch
35:01
a football game, you know, they could.
35:03
I mean, I know the NFL is the biggest of bigs.
35:05
I get that. But you went straight to racing.
35:11
Yeah, you didn't. Did did you try to go to the
35:14
NFL? Because seems like that's all
35:15
the ladies do. NFLNFL.
35:18
Nope. Once I went to a race and then I
35:22
went to another one and I had a pit pass.
35:26
I was dead set on it. I thought I just, I thought it
35:30
was incredible. And I also knew nothing about
35:33
it. So in my head I was like, this
35:35
is going to be a huge challenge. You didn't grow up in a racing
35:37
family. Your dad's not a crew chief, you
35:39
have no experience in this sport, so you're going to have
35:42
to learn everything from the ground up.
35:43
And if you can do that, you will really achieve something because
35:46
you don't know shit about the sport.
35:47
So that's exactly what I did. All right, so moving forward,
35:52
you graduated from Christopher Newport University, so you're
35:56
kicking ass in school, you're running, you're winning, you're
36:01
doing everything. And it, it seems like it almost
36:04
when I look at your story, it almost looks like high school is
36:06
college to you. It it seems that you like high
36:09
school, or did you like high school or not?
36:12
I did not like high school. I have not been back there since
36:15
I left. Well, I would never go back with
36:17
a name like that. Fuck, I'm like change your name
36:22
and I'll be back. At least name it.
36:25
Fuck school. You know Charlie will beat that
36:30
out. OK, so that's crazy.
36:34
It really is. OK, So you you graduate in 2010
36:39
from Christopher Newport University.
36:42
I like this. You graduated in 2010 with a
36:45
bachelor's degree in communication.
36:49
I never knew there was such a class because I knew I never
36:53
went to college. But tell me about
36:55
communications. What is what is that study like?
36:57
What are you studying? Well, that if you wanted to do
37:00
journalism, that was the declared major, you had to go.
37:05
So yeah. And you know, there was a lot of
37:08
courses that I had to take that don't pertain at all to what I'm
37:12
doing now, but that was just the one you would go with if you
37:16
wanted to pursue journalism and things like that.
37:19
So. I'm going to.
37:20
I want to make AA180 right now. Hoping she listens to this.
37:26
Your other sister, Kelly Hamilton, who I worked with
37:30
Kelly and she made me better. She pissed me off a little bit
37:34
because she was so direct with me.
37:36
But late later on, I realized she's from Philly and she's
37:40
she's she's awesome. But now she's a big time
37:44
producer. She always was.
37:46
So Kelly, I know you've always been awesome, but because in
37:52
your early days you learn how to edit things, did did that give
37:56
you and Kelly conversation? And and she was an athlete.
38:00
So it's like, it's like Kelly was an athlete, she's in the
38:04
production, you were an athlete, you were learning to edit
38:08
things. Does that give you guys
38:09
conversation? Yeah, definitely.
38:12
And it's funny you bring her up because I remember when I found
38:15
out she was going to be my field producer, I was very nervous
38:19
because of what you just said, too, like she is.
38:21
She's direct. She's intense.
38:23
And I was like, I don't want to let her down, you know what I
38:26
mean? And I knew I was still kind of
38:29
Evergreen in the at track reporting stuff, but I knew she
38:32
was going to make me better. And she did.
38:34
Because she does not dance around the truth.
38:37
She shoots you straight when you screw something up.
38:40
She'll be like, hey, you need to do it this way.
38:42
And like, when you do this, make sure you don't do X, you know?
38:45
And she was like a mini coach for me.
38:47
We were out there every weekend together for 30 plus weekends
38:52
for seven years, I think. So we work together a ton.
38:56
And I will say I have to attribute a lot of my success
38:59
and why I'm as good as I am to her because she really had a
39:03
vested interest in making me better.
39:05
And the bar was very high, you know, like she'd been at ESPN
39:08
all those years. She'd worked with a lot of great
39:10
on, you know, on camera talent. And so she was huge for my
39:14
career. And we're still, you know, very
39:16
close to this day. Yeah, yeah.
39:18
She it was funny because I had already had a successful TV
39:22
career and my boss has watched me interview some people and
39:27
they're like, we didn't know Kenny Wallace could interview
39:30
people. So now, now they put me out to
39:32
like interview people. I'm like, I don't interview
39:34
people. But so I, you know, they'd throw
39:37
to me live and I'd screw it up and she, I'd look over her and
39:40
she'd go and I'm like, oh man. But later on I realized, OK,
39:46
she's from Philly. That's the way they grow up in
39:48
Philly. And and I, I learned to love
39:51
her. And in Kelly, you're a bad ass.
39:53
So, yeah, well, that I just wanted to give her a shout out
39:57
because I started started as we're talking, I'm starting to
40:00
realize you, you mirror each other, athleticism, production,
40:06
things of that nature. OK, so we're moving on now.
40:13
Now, now, now the kids know. How you got to where you're at?
40:18
We told them everything. We sure did.
40:20
And you and you're just like everybody else.
40:22
And you worked your ass off. OK, so Chicago, the street
40:27
course race, you became a national superstar because your
40:32
husband is Alex Bowman's crew chief.
40:35
Yes. Blake Harris and and somebody
40:41
caught this beautiful moment where it was a big moment in in
40:46
you and your husband's life where, you know, it seems like
40:50
you had to shelter your relationship because you wanted
40:54
to stay so professional. But finally, the small moment in
40:58
time, people are clicking away and there you are, kind of
41:01
almost crying but hugging your husband because he's Alex
41:05
Woman's crew chief and he won. First race?
41:08
Yep, yeah. And you know, when I met him, he
41:13
that was nine years, 9th. This is our ninth season
41:15
together and he was a mechanic on 78 car car chief wearing
41:21
wearing a Furniture Row T-shirt, super talented.
41:25
Obviously right out of the gate. That was when that team was
41:28
really starting to come along. They hadn't won all those races
41:31
yet, but they were they were definitely put themselves on the
41:33
map. That was when we met.
41:35
And so it's been crazy to watch his career, you know, and how it
41:39
has gone because, you know, the 78 team went through their
41:43
dominance, won a championship. The team shuts down.
41:47
They all get absorbed by Joe Gibbs Racing kind of starting
41:50
over, rebuilding with the 19 car and MTJ.
41:54
Then he leaves Joe Gibbs Racing for opportunity as a Crucci for
41:57
Michael McDowell front row. So that was, you know,
42:01
interesting to watch that happen.
42:03
Had success there, got hired at Hendrick, Alex gets hurt, all
42:07
the crew chiefs get suspended for four weeks.
42:09
Like it was all this, all these things, right that I've had a
42:12
front row seat to watching. So you've watched this person
42:16
try and try and try to reach this goal.
42:18
And it was so neat to be able to witness it in person.
42:22
I always told myself I was like, if he's going to win a race,
42:25
please let it be one that I'm at.
42:27
So that I can do. This in person and so, you know,
42:32
when he first, when they first crossed the checkered, you know,
42:35
I went up on the pit box to see him and we had like a very
42:38
private moment then. And then obviously I interviewed
42:43
him for the screens and that's where all the other videos kind
42:46
of came from. But yeah, it was it was really
42:49
rewarding for me to be able to see it in person and know all
42:53
the work he's had to put into it because that is a really hard
42:56
job. And I mean, those guys, they
42:58
don't have days off. They work all the time.
43:02
And I don't think people realize just how much the crew chiefs
43:05
have to put into this to be successful.
43:08
I see a lot of you're not on social media a lot, but when you
43:12
are in the past years, I see this proud wife every once in a
43:18
while you'll get your shot in. You'll remind people how hard
43:21
these Rd. guys got it. And and I see you type that, you
43:27
know, and I know, and I guess it's just my brother Rusty, you
43:32
know, that was me, you know, not 905 NASCAR races.
43:36
I, I would break out in welts, you know, because I was worried
43:41
that I was going to be the one living under a bridge in a
43:44
cardboard box. How did you deal with Blake when
43:50
you guys would finally lay your head down on a pillow at night?
43:54
And did he ever talk to you? Did he ever become, I'm not
44:01
saying we, but did he ever become vulnerable?
44:05
Did he ever lay in bed and go, oh, Caitlin, I don't know what
44:08
the hell or, or did you ever have any of those talks?
44:12
Oh yeah, I mean it. This sport, like I said, is
44:14
really hard. I think, you know, and again,
44:17
now that he's reached the crew chief level at the top team in
44:21
the sport, the pressure is very high, you know, and the first
44:25
year obviously was tough there because of, like I said, the
44:28
suspension. They got, you know, the points
44:31
penalty. Then his driver got hurt, which
44:33
was, you know, horrible. So it didn't go as he had hoped
44:37
Year 1. So now in Year 2, they got the
44:40
win. Their playoffs have been
44:42
exceptional so far, which is huge, you know, but you, you
44:46
just can't slow down. Like you don't ever have an
44:49
opportunity to really unplug from that, that job.
44:52
And I mean, we've had many, many, many conversations about
44:55
it because. You know.
44:58
It's a huge strain on a relationship too, I will say,
45:02
because you just, you're like ships in the night.
45:04
You never see each other hardly. They're always at work or
45:06
they're traveling or whatever it is, you know, So you couple that
45:10
in with having two small kids and my career being what it is
45:14
and his career being what it is, it's like it, it takes a lot to
45:18
manage it. And I, I have found that to be
45:20
pretty tough. But you know, it's just part of
45:23
it. Yeah, I, I always say my wife
45:27
Kim is the she, she's the godmother of all of you.
45:32
I watched her go through it before you all go through it.
45:35
So I wanted to bring that up because, you know, I'm not
45:40
embarrassed. But boy, that's that's a time in
45:42
my life as you can see me looking off.
45:44
I don't want anybody to go through.
45:47
You know, it it as Father John said, when you know, Kim was
45:51
Catholic. I'm Lutheran and everybody's
45:54
heard this story before when when we got married, Father John
45:58
said, what are you going to do? Kenny?
45:59
And I said, oh, I'm going to be a race car driver.
46:01
He looked at me square in the eyes.
46:03
He said, oh, young man, be careful.
46:05
Competition will kill you and, and it will because men are
46:10
gladiators. You know, we want to, we want to
46:14
fetch the meat, bring it home and, you know, cook it.
46:18
And that that's kind of the way men are.
46:20
Men are gladiators. And when they don't get what
46:23
they want, you know, it gets wild.
46:25
So, yeah, it does. So, you know, I think that's an
46:32
awesome look. You're very chameleon.
46:35
You do it all, you know from the start of your career, you
46:40
competed, you edited film, you you're on TV, you're doing
46:45
podcasts, you're out at the racetrack, you're a crew chief's
46:48
wife. You got 2 mothers.
46:50
I mean, I just simply called you a badass.
46:53
You've done it all. Thank you.
46:55
Your feet got to hurt. I can tell you that, man.
47:01
Yeah, there's a lot of. I guess that's why Kim's always,
47:04
like, rub my feet. I'm like, great.
47:06
Exactly. I want to go to bed.
47:10
All right, let's let's have some fun here, OK.
47:14
As I always say to everybody, we're getting ready to wrap it
47:17
up. Here we are almost an hour and
47:19
it's just, it's just that easy. So let's, let's skip away.
47:25
Let's leave racing for a minute. Man, you shocked the hell out of
47:30
me. Once again, here we are talking
47:34
about you being a chameleon in 2023.
47:37
You surprised the racing world and I mean it.
47:41
And I don't say that lightly. You you publish a very
47:44
successful novel called Save the Queen City.
47:49
What in the hell? When did you do this?
47:53
And I mean, I never you wrote a book, a novel.
47:59
Tell me everything. So when I was in college, I took
48:02
fiction writing and I loved that course.
48:07
Wow. And it was one of my favorite
48:09
courses that I did while I was in school.
48:11
But I've been a reader my whole life.
48:12
Like my always had my face in a book as a young kid.
48:17
And still to this day, I love reading.
48:19
I have a very massive collection of books in this house.
48:23
And so I'd always kind of wanted to write a story, but you know,
48:27
you got to have a good idea first before you can write a
48:29
story. And so it just kind of came to
48:31
me one day that the basic genesis of the story and I just
48:36
started writing. It took me 5 years to do this
48:39
because obviously my my other job is pretty demanding.
48:43
So it was nice though, because I could kind of go at my own pace.
48:46
Like it wasn't like I had some strict deadline I wanted to meet
48:49
or anything like that. But it also went through two
48:52
major editorial revisions. So every time you would get
48:55
stuff back from your editor, it would take time going through
48:59
with a fine tooth comb, making all the edits, strengthening the
49:02
plot, strengthening the characters, this, that and the
49:04
other. And when you write a suspense
49:06
novel, too, like there's an art to that, I think, to keep people
49:09
engaged, keep people turning the page, next chapter, next
49:11
chapter, you know, So you always have to have all these little
49:13
twists and turns that are going to keep people interested in the
49:15
story. So, yeah, it took a while, but I
49:19
am super proud of that. That was such a fun time when I
49:22
got to launch it and to see all the people reading it and the
49:25
amount of people in the industry who posted it or read it.
49:29
And people still come up to me and say, hey, I loved your book
49:32
or whatever, you know, so I may write another one, but I haven't
49:36
decided yet. So if you were to do a synopsis
49:39
or a forward of your own book, we we don't want to give away
49:42
the plot. What's it about?
49:45
It's about a journalist, so that part was easy because I was
49:48
writing from my own experiences. It's about a journalist in
49:52
Charlotte who gets assigned to covering a, you know, a series
49:56
of missing women that they believe is the work of a serial
49:58
killer. So it gets very entrenched.
50:01
Good stuff. Wow.
50:02
OK, Well, Caitlin, listen. Here in fascination with serial
50:06
killers and I don't know why. Like I have watched every single
50:09
documentary on Netflix on them. Anytime a new serial killer
50:13
story comes out, I'm like, oh, I got to watch it.
50:15
I just think they're very fascinating, disgusting people,
50:19
but they're interesting stories. Well, well, there's a part that
50:23
is fascinating because God, God makes this is my this is my take
50:30
on on I'm defending you. So God, God creates all these
50:35
people and then how does he, how does some of them get so screwed
50:40
up? Why would you want to kill
50:42
people? Why do you find joy in killing
50:45
people? And, and I don't, I don't find
50:48
my daughter Brandy, you know, she's different, like, but a but
50:52
a fun loving kid and funny and, but, but Brandy, Brandy is a
50:58
busy body. She wants to know everybody's
51:00
busy business. But yes, I, I, I think that's
51:04
why those are so fascinating. What in the world would make a
51:10
person? What?
51:11
What, what, Where is it in the brain that short circuits and?
51:16
Yep, that's exactly what I mean. That's why I found it
51:20
interesting because, yeah, what how did they end up like that?
51:23
What happened to them that made them go down this path?
51:26
So that's partially why, you know, I wanted to write
51:29
something about a serial killer because I have spent a lot of
51:32
time reading about them or watching shows about them, so.
51:35
Yeah. Wow, that, that that's really
51:37
incredible. Save the Queen City, everybody.
51:41
Where can we? Where can we buy that?
51:43
It's on Amazon and we find on. Amazon, of course.
51:45
Big time. Just easy.
51:48
Well, listen, let's end like this.
51:52
What advice would you give somebody you know that's 12
51:58
years old in high school? What advice would you give a
52:03
young lady, young girl that is just trying to accomplish a
52:07
goal? It doesn't got to be racing.
52:09
It doesn't got to be NFL. Tell me what you would say to
52:13
them. Oh gosh, that's kind of a tough
52:16
question. That's fine, I get it.
52:19
I think you know, just if they do have a goal in mind, do not
52:24
stop at any cost until you reach it.
52:27
Don't let don't let the nose discourage you because I got a
52:30
lot of nose along the way before the right yes actually happened.
52:34
And I think if you just keep your eye on the goal and do
52:37
anything in your power to to try and achieve it, be a self
52:40
starter. Say yes to most gigs in the
52:43
beginning, even if they don't pay well, like it's, it's
52:45
important to do all those things.
52:47
I think because that's what I did and it worked out.
52:50
So I'm like, there must be some method to the madness on that a
52:52
little bit. Yeah, that's what I would
52:55
probably say. Well, all right, everybody, this
52:58
is the time in Kenny conversation where I remind you
53:01
that we are showing up in podcast form now.
53:04
Charlie says we're doing good. We're starting to show up.
53:07
We are on Spotify and iTunes. And Caitlin, until the next
53:14
Kenny conversation. Listen, thank you so much for
53:17
being on. Thanks so much for having me.
53:19
I was super excited when you asked because I had been hoping
53:22
you were going to ask me to come on for a couple weeks and I just
53:26
love you and you were one of my favorite people I've ever worked
53:28
with and I just appreciate your friendship over the years.
53:32
Well, I was kind of going through the chain of command.
53:35
You know, it was Jamie Little and then then Shannon, then you
53:37
and your you've you've earned your wings, but you're kind of
53:42
the young to sell them all. And and so, yeah, you're, you're
53:46
the young lady on the block, I think.
53:48
And so it's we celebrated your career today and
53:53
congratulations, you still got a lot, a lot of lot of road to go.
53:58
I sure hope so. Thank you.
54:00
All right, everybody, until the next Kenny conversation would
54:04
just keep on rolling. We'll see you next time.