Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Why Does Kyle Larson Go Dirt Racing? | Coffee With Kenny
Transcript
- 0:02Happy Friday morning, everybody. I arrived out here in Sturgis on
- 0:09Tuesday and today's Friday. So I've been here Tuesday,
- 0:15Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I've been here four days.
- 0:21Sturgis is a dynamic event. Dynamic meaning that you see
- 0:27everything out here all good. A lot of older people on trikes
- 0:34not giving up. One thing I learned about the,
- 0:39the motorcycle people, the older they get, some of them, you
- 0:43know, they, they turn their bike over or they fall down and
- 0:46they're like, I'm done. And then there's the group that
- 0:50go, OK, I'm not feeling real comfortable on a 2 Wheeler.
- 0:54So now I'm going to get a trike. And really is good to see Bill
- 1:00and Wendy Venterini out here. Winner Wendy Venterini's mom and
- 1:04dad, they're out here for the Rusty ride, so really good to
- 1:09see them. And of course my wife, she said
- 1:13I don't feel comfortable riding on a 2 Wheeler with you Kenny,
- 1:16if you buy a trike, I'll ride with you.
- 1:20So anyway, I just, I remember being around some manly men and
- 1:26they said if I ever got to have a trike, I'll never ride Well,
- 1:34Well, don't give up that easily. Don't give up that easily
- 1:37because I'm going to steal a page from Kyle Petty and I'm
- 1:42going to share it with all of you.
- 1:44Kyle Petty said Herm. I used to think that Kyle Petty
- 1:48charity ride was about motorcycles, he said.
- 1:52I learned it's about the people. So I agree with Kyle, you know,
- 1:57getting on the motorcycle riding everywhere every day.
- 2:01It's about the people I really enjoy.
- 2:03I've met so many new people through riding motorcycles.
- 2:07So anyway, just thought I would share that with you.
- 2:10So if you're a little bit older and you're feeling a little bit
- 2:13uncomfortable, get yourself a trike.
- 2:16A lot safer, a lot safer. OK, little drink coffee just
- 2:26about out, but I got another coffee right down there.
- 2:31Kyle Larson, Kenny Wallace, Kenny Schrader, Tony Stewart.
- 2:44Who's my other one? Kasey Kahne.
- 2:48What do we all have in common and why we race dirt cars.
- 2:56We did not stop racing when our NASCAR careers were over.
- 3:02I see a couple things going on and I heard something from my
- 3:05nephew Stephen Wallace, Steven said.
- 3:10Uncle Kenny, I defend you sometimes.
- 3:14Well, actually the gentleman that builds the buses for the
- 3:20superstars in the music industry.
- 3:23He said to me, he says now, Herm, why did you pick the
- 3:26modifieds? Why didn't you run World of
- 3:28Outlaws? And I'm like, hold on, you know,
- 3:33it's the one thing that I really do like.
- 3:34People assume I'm like 25 years old because I'm awesome, right?
- 3:40Can't help it. People say to me all the time,
- 3:43why don't you run with the World of Outlaw Late Models?
- 3:45Why don't you run a Sprint car and, and like a dog?
- 3:49I'm like, I look that good, huh? I'm 62 August 23rd here in a
- 3:57couple weeks I'll be 62 years old.
- 4:01So so thank you for the compliment.
- 4:04Wanting to know why I don't race dirt cars for a living.
- 4:09So the you know, now if you go back, remember I did run World
- 4:16of outlaw. Not World of Outlaw, but I ran
- 4:18Super late Models, won the Prelude to the Dream, won
- 4:21Cleveland, TN against some big boys and I said these things are
- 4:25too expensive. So I went and ran modifies
- 4:29because I didn't feel that. I, I mean, I just think it's
- 4:32ridiculous for people to think you got to run this division or
- 4:35that division. I didn't need to feed my ego,
- 4:38OK? I just wanted to race dirt and
- 4:40hang out with my buddies. So I started dirt racing at at
- 4:4444 years old. So hopefully that clears up some
- 4:48things, but I want to talk about Kyle Larson for a little bit.
- 4:55Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, me. See, Brody says Good morning,
- 5:00race car driver. Do you?
- 5:02Yeah, I'll get back with you, Brody.
- 5:04So hey, Kyle Larson, what you run that old dirt car for?
- 5:12So years ago I told Schrader, I said I want to learn how to run
- 5:18dirt. And Kenny Schrader said to me,
- 5:21he says you're right in the middle of your NASCAR Cup
- 5:24career, why do you want to learn how to run dirt?
- 5:26Of course, I've told some people this before, but I said because
- 5:32AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti ran the Indy 500 and also ran dirt.
- 5:39So before some of you people get confused and go, Herman, what?
- 5:44What are you on that dirt car for?
- 5:46Better yet? Hey, Kyle Larson, why do you run
- 5:48that old dirt car when you're over here in NASCAR making
- 5:51millions and millions of dollars?
- 5:54You know, we did a Kenny conversation with Kyle Larson
- 5:57and he said, no, I make really good money.
- 6:00So Kyle's making really good money.
- 6:03So why is he over here running this dirt car?
- 6:05Hey, Kasey Kahne, you've saved millions of dollars.
- 6:08Why are you running that old dirt car, my friends?
- 6:13The kind of money you can make in NASCAR, in the millions, a
- 6:18World of Outlaw Sprint car. Listen, those motors are $90,000
- 6:24nowadays because Jennifer and Richard Marshall, Priority
- 6:28Aviation, they sponsor my car. They tell me what they spend on
- 6:31these motors for the Knoxville Nationals, things like that.
- 6:35So I know what I'm talking about.
- 6:37Somebody's these motors for these World of Outlaw Sprint
- 6:40cars. They're insane.
- 6:42So you're saying yourself, you know, why does Kenny Wallace run
- 6:45that dirt car? Why does Kyle Larson chance it?
- 6:48Why does you know Kasey Kahne? Why did Tony Stewart, why did he
- 6:54run dirt? Because we love it.
- 6:59Truth be told, at this point in my life, I'm living my very best
- 7:05life. I'm having so much fun.
- 7:08See, it's a double edged sword. I've had people come up at me.
- 7:12What do you like better? Kenny?
- 7:15Do you? Did you like running NASCAR or
- 7:16dirt racing? I said hold on now, that's not
- 7:19fair. Everybody dreams of going NASCAR
- 7:24and I know some of you are going to go, oh, NASCAR sucks and hold
- 7:27on. Nobody thinks that.
- 7:30That's just stupid stuff to say every Jonathan Davenport, I
- 7:35interviewed him on Kenny Conversation.
- 7:38All these dirt racers dream of going NASCAR because you can
- 7:42make real money and then when you're done, you're set for
- 7:45life. Like me, I'm set for life, but I
- 7:50couldn't fold my tent. What am I going to do?
- 7:53So that dirt car saves my life. I love it and I do a lot of
- 7:58other things in life. So when you look at Kyle Larson,
- 8:02truth be told, he's having a blast.
- 8:06He's living his very best life running that dirt car and he
- 8:09loves it. That's all there is to it.
- 8:11There's no more to it. He loves it and I love it.
- 8:16And I run a modified because that's what I can afford.
- 8:19And if I don't do good, it just don't matter because it's not my
- 8:24life. I'm having fun running that dirt
- 8:27car. Kyle Larson's having fun running
- 8:30that dirt car. He makes that real money over
- 8:33there and come. And who doesn't want to see Kyle
- 8:36Larson run that dirt car? All right, I hope that explains
- 8:41a lot. Everybody, when you're not
- 8:44racing dirt for a living, it's fun.
- 8:48Plus, dirt racing the surface is fun.
- 8:51You can, you know, if you're not running good.
- 8:53Hell, I think I'll go over here and try this.
- 8:56That's what I love about dirt racing.
- 8:57You're never out of it. You're never out of out of
- 9:00contention. No eggs can move that car around
- 9:03and search out different grooves.
- 9:06All right. Have a great Friday, everybody.