Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / St. Louis Gets NASCAR Playoff Race!

Transcript

St. Louis Gets NASCAR Playoff Race! · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Kenny, welcome back to Worldwide Technology Raceway.
• 0:04
  It's it's not an unfamiliar place to you.
• 0:07
  I believe that you raced here for 15 years in the then Bush
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  Series, now the Xfinity Series. You've got that that reputation
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  as being the mayor of the Xfinity Series.
• 0:22
  Tell me a little bit about how that came to be.
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  I am the mayor of the Xfinity Series because for years I have
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  held the most starts. You know, we've got 350 Cup
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  starts. So we ran the Cup Series A long
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  time. But anytime the Cup Series was
• 0:40
  not there for me, I always went back to the Xfinity Series.
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  So we still have a couple trophies that NASCAR presented
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  me. I have the most starts at like
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  545 starts, so nobody's close yet.
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  They keep talking about it. I sure would like to give that
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  trophy and pass it on over to my good friend Justin Allgire from,
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  you know, 100 miles up the road. I think he's close.
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  Yeah, it's phenomenal that we have that kind of talent close
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  to the racetrack. Starts with the Wallace family
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  and Kenny Justin being right up the road.
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  And now we have Jordan Anderson and the Bommarito Auto Sport
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  team with the with the an Xfinity car and well, I get, I
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  believe they have a couple of cars in their team and so
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  they'll be able to be here and then rooting on for the home
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  team for sure. The complete Midwest.
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  We call it the Ozark Region, Lake Ozark, Springfield, MO,
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  Joplin, MO, you know, just to name a few.
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  What makes this race track so great is you got Rusty Wallace,
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  Mike Wallace, Kenny Wallace, the Kenny Schrader, Carl Edwards,
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  Jamie McMurray, the names just keep on going.
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  And then the legends of the sport, you know, Larry Phillips,
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  Mark Martin, right down the road in Arkansas.
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  So it's really is a racing region and everybody is cheering
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  on your racetrack. We love it here.
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  You've made it so much better. We're working hard.
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  You've done it. You've you've done it.
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  We're we are a winning racetrack right now.
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  Some of the best finishes in NASCAR history.
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  All the teams that come here, they brag on coming to this
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  racetrack in this city. Curtis, NASCAR has awarded you a
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  playoff date. Why do you think NASCAR gave you
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  such a big date? Well, you know, I think there's
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  several things. One, the way the community has
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  come together to support NASCAR racing in our region, I think is
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  is surprising to everyone. But Saint Louis always shows up
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  when it comes to big time sports.
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  We always show up when it comes to the playoffs and I think
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  again, the fans have demonstrated they're going to
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  support the racetrack. They are supporting the
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  racetrack, the community supporting the racetrack.
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  The businesses are behind us. Our our local officials and
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  elected officials are all here pulling the rope with us.
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  So you look at all of that coming together and the fact
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  that Saint Louis is a big sports town, playoffs seem to be a
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  natural and it's just great to be able to reward these fans
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  that are coming to the racetrack that they're coming and spending
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  their hard earned entertainment dollar and they're coming
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  because they just love the sport.
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  You got to think that the playoffs going to be a big deal.
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  Curtis, you've got a great racetrack here shaped
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  differently on both ends and it it leaves to some of the
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  greatest finishes in NASCAR history.
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  The last three races have been crowd on their feet to overtime
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  the slide job down on three and four.
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  Tell me about these finishing. Well, you know, when I purchased
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  the racetrack 1314 years ago now, you didn't know how it was
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  going to be when we someday brought a Cup team here and say
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  hey, go have at it on a racetrack.
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  There was no way of knowing how this track was going to really
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  race with a Cup car on it. And I think all of us have been
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  pleasantly surprised in a very positive way how the racing is
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  playing out. If you look at, you know, our
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  first couple of races ending with overtime last year or 2024
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  with this last minute last lap running out of gas and, and,
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  and, you know, Austin Syndrich wins that type of racing.
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  The unknown leads to just excitement and brings these fans
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  back. Curtis, years ago when you
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  bought this racetrack, I said there's no way Worldwide
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  technology, Raceway, whatever, get a Cup date.
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  You have proved me wrong. Why?
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  Why is everything going so good now?
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  Well, I think I had the benefit of hindsight.
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  I, I could see where their challenges were and we went
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  about identifying them and we fixed them all.
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  If you name the problem, we got on it, we solved the problem and
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  we put, we look towards the future.
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  So I think is is that methodology became obvious to
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  fans. They realize that something
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  special was happening here and they've all come alongside right
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  with us to make this place what it is today.
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  Curtis when I arrive to the racetrack, coming off Interstate
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  55, I look to the left and everything looks so new.
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  I realize that you're always making new things here.
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  What's up now? You know, we're always looking
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  towards the future way down the road.
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  So I'm looking towards 2025, the exciting announcements that are
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  coming here with with Cup series bringing the playoffs and
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  Xfinity coming. But that's the immediate future.
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  I'm always kind of looking down the road, sometimes 5 or 10
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  years is to how we continue to lean into this facility and make
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  it the shining light on the hill in an area that really needs
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  some help. And so that has been my MO for
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  the last 12-14 years now and will continue to be as long as
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  I'm able to put one foot in front of the other.
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  I'm going to be at this racetrack trying to make a
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  difference in this community. So Kenny, you are, you're seeing
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  about as many race tracks in this world as anybody these days
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  with your own racing, with the dirt Track World, with all the
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  other things you're doing with your show.
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  And you know, I'm, I'm, I'm here in Saint Louis.
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  My nose is to the grindstone. I'm trying to make a difference
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  here at this racetrack. What are you hearing about what
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  others are saying about Worldwide Technology Raceway?
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  Well, I'll just give you an example of Gordy Gundaker.
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  He'll call me and he'll say, hey, you want to go to the
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  racetrack and you know, go to the Kart Plex.
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  We got all these dirt racers and you got a world class go Kart
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  track keeps UPS physically fit. So we come over here and we get
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  ready for the year. The drag strip man, when the big
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  boys come in for the drag strip, the road course, not to mention
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  when we come here for the actual NASCAR weekend, you've got, you
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  know, the Confluence Music festival.
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  We we love the music. You know, we like seeing the big
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  axe come in. I think all that together you
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  have made it to where all my dirt racing friends are like
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  let's run the go Kart, let's go watch the NASCAR race, let's
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  drink some beers. Let's go to see that.
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  The drag races, you just got so much going on here.
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  Thank you, Kenny. I mean, I think that is, it's
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  good to hear because that's what we're after.
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  We're, I'm a racer, you know, you really are.
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  And so that's where it all started.
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  We would not be sitting where we're at today if, if somehow or
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  another, some way, I didn't make the decision to, to race back at
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  Gateway International Raceway in, in the 80s.
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  And so that's the perspective I come from is if I'm having fun
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  as a racer, I'm guessing most other racers are going to figure
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  out a way to have fun too. Yeah, I want to add one more
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  thing. You never stop because in the
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  winter time my family are like, let's go over to the light show,
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  Christmas light show. So you never end.
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  And I really appreciate you for that.
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  Thank you. Curtis, you purchased this
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  facility and you've made a lot of upgrades and now it's top
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  notch. What is one thing that has
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  surprised you the most nowadays about the Worldwide Technology
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  Raceway? Well, there's been an awful lot
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  of surprises over the the years for sure, but we take it one day
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  at a time and just deal with things that they come up.
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  But, you know, so I think as I look at where we've come and
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  where we're going there and lies, the big surprise is how
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  the community has reacted to us, how the community is supporting
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  us, and also our role in moving the community forward.
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  In 2011, when I first was looking at the racetrack and
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  thought, well, heck, nobody's going to buy this, somebody
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  better. It'd be an absolute crime if
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  this track closed permanently. And at that point, it was about
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  saving the racetrack. But quickly I realized the role
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  that we play in the community with the racetrack and the
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  rewards that we can see going forward for some of the folks
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  that need it the most by making sure that this track is vibrant.
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  And so goes the success of the racetrack goes to the goes the
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  success of all of us around us. It was really an eye opener for
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  me to realize that we could use this is a bully pulpit for
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  change in the Metro East. Curtis, I was here from the
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  start. I want to congratulate you on
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  the golden ticket. You have received the NASCAR
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  playoff date. You earned it.
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  You worked so hard for you and your team.
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  Congratulations. Kenny, thank you.
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  You know you've been there every step of the way along with us.
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  I really have that. That is very true.
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  You have a huge a success story of over 15 years of racing on
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  this racetrack and your career is just amazing.
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  And the fact that I can call you a friend and someone that is
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  right here with us growing along as we we we're on a great path
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  of growth. And and I just feel like that
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  the best is still yes to yet to come.
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  I don't know what it's going to be yet, but I feel like this
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  next decade is going to be special as we harness all these
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  gifts we've been given. The best is yet to come.