Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Mom & I Talk Racing & Life
Transcript
- 0:03Happy Saturday morning. Would you look at my hairs?
- 0:11Everybody that watches these, they they say you see that walls
- 0:16with his hair sticking up. Mama wanna tell you a quick
- 0:20story about that? So many years ago I just started
- 0:24giving my opinion in the mornings after I'd watched the
- 0:28news, and I really wasn't worried about my look.
- 0:31So we go out to Sturgis. We're out in Sturgis and Google
- 0:36Don Pradome. His nickname is the Snake and
- 0:40Don is one of the greatest drag racers of all time.
- 0:44So right in front of my brother Rusty, Don Pradome goes Herman.
- 0:48I love those coffee with Kenny's and he kind of named it He goes,
- 0:53I like it when you do those coffee with Kenny.
- 0:55He goes your your hair is all messed up.
- 0:57You got your glasses on. So it was really kind of Don for
- 1:00Dom that egged me on to well, you know, I could make myself
- 1:06look a little better, but it's coffee with Kenny.
- 1:10So that's the reason. I mean, you know, it's in the
- 1:19morning or it's just the way it is.
- 1:21So anyway, today's story is my mom.
- 1:28Every single time I race, every single time whether I win, run
- 1:342nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, Mom says to me
- 1:40in a high pitched voice. Ken.
- 1:45You're just doing so good, you can't expect any better.
- 1:49You're 60 years old, so I want you to tell everybody so you you
- 1:56think you think I'm old and I'm doing good.
- 2:01No, I, I I had trouble realizing you are the age you are because
- 2:10you think young. I do and, and the racing makes
- 2:17you so excited. You really, really want to do
- 2:21that. And you can see that it comes
- 2:23through and every time you race, I think, my God, he's out there
- 2:29racing 20 year olds. And, and now you have to admit
- 2:35we we've heard a lot of guys that have hung around you and go
- 2:39to the races with you and they say, man, I can't keep up with
- 2:44him. I mean, you have the energy of a
- 2:4720 year old guy and and I just get tickled every time you
- 2:55finish. Like, I mean, if you win, that's
- 2:58fabulous, but you finished second, third, fourth or fifth
- 3:03or something and you're excited, you're happy.
- 3:06You're, you're talking about the guys you were racing against and
- 3:10how good they are. And they are good.
- 3:12They're all, they're all great racers because at any local
- 3:17track, you, you've got your hot dogs, so to speak, and they're
- 3:23there and they're coming for you.
- 3:27They might not admit that's what they're doing, but they're
- 3:30coming for you. And it's just a great
- 3:36combination because all your enthusiasm and then when they
- 3:40get to meet you, I think it's a plus plus for them.
- 3:46And I'm not saying this just because we're talking about you
- 3:50and you're my baby boy, but these kids realize that not only
- 3:59are you a good guy, you got a great personality.
- 4:03You have a feeling for people, You feel them.
- 4:09You can kind of look at them and you, you kind of automatically
- 4:13know what they're thinking, how they're feeling about it.
- 4:17And after they meet you and talk to you, they realize, oh, what a
- 4:23good friend he could be, you know, a true good friend.
- 4:28Do do you think sometimes So you, you and myself, we fought
- 4:35the people in the grandstands all the time because they hated
- 4:38Dad so much. You know, Dad won 11 weeks in a
- 4:41row. What was it, 10?
- 4:43Dad won ten straight weeks in a row over here at Tri-City
- 4:46Speedway, and you and I were in fist fights.
- 4:50All the time. Yeah, 'cause they, they hated
- 4:53us. And that's the reason I think I
- 4:55took a liking to Jimmie Johnson. But so you think it's odd this
- 5:01is a different dynamic now because I went NASCAR.
- 5:06You had a great career in NASCAR and now I'm doing it backwards
- 5:09and I'm coming back and, and these drivers, they want to hate
- 5:13me because I made it to NASCAR. They're so fucking mad at me.
- 5:17But but then, but then if they beat me, they feel like they've
- 5:20won. So it's it's a much different
- 5:23thing than you and I grew up with because we grew up with
- 5:26hatred our whole life. I mean, they fucking hated us.
- 5:29Well. Now I I remember saying to
- 5:32somebody once that confronted me, which was a big mistake.
- 5:38We both jumped that son of a bitch, yeah.
- 5:42That has happened before, but I said I don't understand.
- 5:47You explain it again. You want him to come to the
- 5:50racetrack to lose. You don't want him to come to
- 5:56the racetrack to try to win this race.
- 5:59You want him to come, just show up and lose.
- 6:02So listen to this. OK, so you all saw that video
- 6:05from last night and mom come up out of bed this morning and she
- 6:08goes, she goes, man, you were excited last night.
- 6:10Now, that's always a good run. So the story behind that and I
- 6:14was, I was jacked up on Mountain Dew after the race.
- 6:18So that guy, he approached me early in the night.
- 6:21I didn't know who he was because I don't race there.
- 6:24It's that that's Lincoln, IL. It's 2 1/2 hours up the road.
- 6:28I might run there once or twice every two years.
- 6:31So I went up there because our local track was rained out.
- 6:35This guy approaches me in this weird manner with this weird
- 6:38disposition. He comes up to me with kind of
- 6:41an angrily, he goes and he, he doesn't introduce himself.
- 6:44He just goes, what are you doing here?
- 6:46And I'm like, oh shit, I did. He goes, well, I said, well, I
- 6:50said all our tracks are rained out.
- 6:54And you know, he just kept kind of roughing me up a little bit
- 6:56to where I calmed him down. I, I put the fire out.
- 7:01He was kind of like pissed that I was up there.
- 7:04You're challenging him. He was ready to win that night
- 7:07till he saw you there. I see she's a racer.
- 7:12Mom won a lot. So so he was dealt with and I
- 7:17didn't do a good job explaining it last night.
- 7:20So Kelly Kowski shows up. So some hot rods show up last
- 7:25night, Some really good cars. Kelly Kowski, they're an elite
- 7:29dealer. They'd sell Nick Hoffman's cars.
- 7:31Well, Kelly's super fast. What what was funny about last
- 7:35night was this guy that's really fast.
- 7:40He kicked our ass on the high side.
- 7:43He run that outside like I run the bottom.
- 7:46But I just wanted you to share with everybody.
- 7:49Mom's always amazed that I'm still racing because I am old.
- 7:53Mark Martin just texted me. Mark Martin from NASCAR just
- 7:57texted me. He goes, he says you are my
- 8:01hero. You have so much energy.
- 8:03I said Mark, I'm tired today. Well, but, but like you should,
- 8:09you've got to want it and, and you want it, you, you, you get
- 8:13as much out of it as you put into it, and you put a lot into
- 8:18it. I just like doing it.
- 8:20I'm retired. I don't need to do this.
- 8:22I just like doing it. But but but the good thing about
- 8:25this is I don't want to pump your tires up or.
- 8:30Anything. Don't worry about that shit
- 8:31people. Mom, I'm a third child.
- 8:34It's rusty. Might need fucking people beat
- 8:36me down 24/7. They you know, it's fine.
- 8:41Go ahead and brag on me for a little bit.
- 8:43But anyhow, you're, you have always, always had this people
- 8:50personality from the time you were a baby.
- 8:55I could push you. Around.
- 8:57So it's not an act, huh? Pardon.
- 8:59It's not an act. Hell no, no, it's not an act.
- 9:05It, it's, it's your deep personality that comes at and I
- 9:08like I always say, I said once people get to talk to you, they
- 9:13knew. They're not mad at me.
- 9:16They look at you and they think now that is a trusted friend.
- 9:22They know you're not going to put them under, you're not going
- 9:25to throw them under the bus for any.
- 9:27Reason, and I'm going to do a lot for.
- 9:29You anything you're going to build them up, you're going to
- 9:32build their confidence in themselves right, that maybe
- 9:36they're doubting, but if you say something to them productive, it
- 9:42makes them think, well, I'm I'm I'm not so bad, I'm good.
- 9:47I I could be probably be even. Better, that's my people ask me
- 9:51all the time. They say, how do you get along
- 9:53with your brother Rusty? He's so good.
- 9:54He's such a prick. And and I tell everybody all the
- 9:58time, I said, listen, there's only one way to get along with
- 10:00my brother. Let him stand one inch taller
- 10:03than you, because Rusty's the man.
- 10:05Rusty does not tolerate people around him that challenge him.
- 10:09And I always say, look, you're going to go to Victor Lane with
- 10:11Rusty. Just don't fuck with him.
- 10:13Don't challenge him. So yeah.
- 10:16And I, and I know my job in life is there's people are so sad.
- 10:19They've got so much guilt and everybody's so depressed.
- 10:23I'm like, oh God. Because I, I tell people, mom, I
- 10:26said. When I came out of my Mama, I
- 10:28was excited. Well, he came out and he's got.
- 10:34A. Got a cut on his hand Where?
- 10:37Right there, point to see it, Mom, see that point right, right
- 10:41there, OK, right there. So I was cesarean my I came out
- 10:46backwards. I came out backwards of her and
- 10:49the friggin Dr. cut me. Oh mom, we got to quit.
- 10:52We're at 11 minutes. Well, that's good stuff, all
- 10:55right. Well, we both look natural this
- 10:57morning. No makeup, no hair.
- 10:59We're all fine. Yeah.
- 11:01By the way, So the reason we did this coffee with Kenny is
- 11:05because every morning she's been here, you know, she's here for a
- 11:07while. And every morning she's just
- 11:10basically, you know, really raising her voice.
- 11:14But you're 60 years old. I guess I'm supposed to be, I
- 11:21guess I'm supposed to be. And I tell you, a mom or I'll
- 11:24win like this. It does piss a lot of people off
- 11:26that I'm racing these. These older guys, They're like,
- 11:29what are you doing racing? That's called jealousy.
- 11:33That's jealousy. They want to do that too.
- 11:36Yeah, well. A lot.
- 11:37Of them can't I love them? All right, Say goodbye, Mom.
- 11:41Goodbye, Mom.