Dale Jr. Download: Rusty Wallace Reveals His Worst Decision

I believe you said a few times that you felt like maybe you might have retired too soon like had a few good years left yeah I you know I think that started because did you ever have anybody come up to you and say hey man how much longer you gonna drive all the time you did okay yeah that started with me and in one guy that's a great friend of mine that got under my skin it was at Indy for the Brickyard 400 with Jerry punch and I like Jerry a lot great friend of mine and he walks up to me ran him say hey rusty yeah he's interviewing me we're talking and one of the last questions was how much longer you think you're gonna stay doing this and I'm like why the hell would he asked me that question you know and then all summer I get these questions from somebody else you know hey yeah how much not gonna keep on going and then I'm down to Daytona one time and Bill France jr. comes up and said I'm just not gonna keep doing this I'm gonna okay I'm getting all these questions there's something going on because because what was going on the reason I'm getting these questions because I was on like a 65 race losing streak you know man things going the wrong way probably the same stuff Jimmy Johnson's getting you know right currently right and so I got thinking about that and then I go to the banquet and I'm hearing these TV guys wanting to start doing this stuff and they start coming up to me when we go to work and do TV ESPN was one of them and asked me to come up and rehearse I did all that and they liked all that and so then I tell RP about it he goes you know what man you've accomplished everything you've really had done this sport I know you want to win Daytona you haven't done that but everything else you pretty well done and he said he said maybe this time started thinking about it you know and I said okay so then I get this offer from ESPN I said let's do it let's pull the trigger let's go some announce it you know and so in 2004 and now so I'm going to quit and I'll never forget I'm at I'm at Homestead Florida 2005 finish like 11th in a race or something pull off the track I'm going this is a stupidest decision I've ever made my entire life what in the world am i doing you know why how did I get myself talked into this how did I go down this road and I got out of that car and I was the emptiest I ever felt in my life and then I go around very next thing I do I go to and he car race because ESPN didn't get the deal to 2007 and I retired in Oh five so I had a oh six nothing going on so I want you to call Indy so I called the Indianapolis 500 I did all this stuff and had a great time doing it but I just felt empty you know mmm man if that took a long time to get over right it wasn't still every five stand in front of your bill a little while ago there's six kids out there as a bunch of diecast cars and so I sure wish you get back in the car man come on get back in a car why'd you do this that wasn't Stu and the guy looked me nice it does a stupid move and how long did it take you to get over five years it took me know it took me longer than a ten eight years get over it I got a phone call from Daytona they want me to go to Daytona and run a Ferrari and a Ferrari Challenge had 123 cars show up and I thought I was just gonna do a show I said no man we want you to go down there and be serious and try to win this Ferrari Challenge event so why you want me he said because you're not driving now and Ferrari said get one of those retired NASCAR guys to compete with our guys you know and the Ferrari Challenge cars or super fast cars you know under two and I'm on on our cars I went to Austin Texas and tested for two days in his Ferrari then I went the Daytona 123 car showed up my finished tenth and I was pretty hype you happy with that and then I got the juices flowing again a cymatic I get back in this car and I said now I'm not gonna do that what year was that I got drunk one night with all my friends and this is true story I was I'm like he gets drunk I was up I was up in the mountains and I'm sitting there one night and a friend of mine was there in there's a guy named Billy Nash and Billy and I were having some beers and he said I have a stupid you getting out of that car and Childress has called me said man he said that as soon as I retired he's like you need to get back and getting one of my cars so I called him up and said all right I'm gonna come out of retirement cars I can't do it I said why so I just hired Clint Boyer I got no room now so did you ever get an offer that you really considered no I did I never did was there any rumor that di called you at one time to see if you wanted to come drive for the no no never to get that Wow not that I know of you that's kind of that stuff yeah I think about it all time when I go to like yesterday at Martinsville I see my old car win the race the two car wins and it doesn't win by a little bit or just dominate you know all right those little wins both stages and when 445 lat I used to call that every time I would wooden use old races I get out of the car and I tell Roger Penske he said man that went good he said what'd you do I said I popped open a can of whoop-ass man's what I did and that's what that was yesterday or the other day at Martinsville without dr. Jerry punch starting the string of questions and without that what year do you think you would have raced to then without the the pressure probably probably probably Oh eight so nothing or five I'll be three more years if you remember Mark Martin and I we announced almost the same time that we're gonna retire together and we retired and we went to Sears Point and Fox brings out rocking chairs for both our desks I remember a sense that to us and a start/finish line and and we're getting keys of the city all year long we're getting all these accolades and all these cool things and three-quarters way through the year mark says nope I've made a mistake I am NOT retiring right and then he just pulled out of the deal and did you look at him and go maybe I should do that too yes right hell yeah I did I said we just saw him out here in his island all by myself now and I'm retiring and that's I'm still think it's stupid but I had one of the smartest guys in the world and that's Penske he said don't listen that noise you're making the right decision you're making the right decision you need to start focus on those car dealerships you need to start focused on business and you need to get that race car stuff out of your head right now you've done that and I said alright he's the one that calmed me down the very most my wife patty patty was like sure it's great having at home you know and it was just she liked that better so being sponsored by Miller all most of your career did you race the other beer cars a little harder than than everybody else yeah it was like the big three in Detroit after Chevy beats afford everybody talks about it well that's Miller guys they did not want to hear that Budweiser car beat that no that is absolutely trial remember from Oh advisor days everybody buys you guys the same way yes they've when they looked at the finishing order they want to know where the Miller car was in the quarters cars yes 100% I asked that because one of the one of our listeners hit us up on social media and said it seems like he always raced you harder than everybody else and I felt that too on the racetrack I felt the competition I think between our sponsors and I was racing the field and the Miller car yeah and the course car you know and but I remember one of the one of the first lessons that you taught me you might not even been intentionally trying to teach me anything but I will racing at Atlanta in 1999 I had a five reschedule and I had never ran on a big track before too many times then had a lot of big track experience and we went down into turn one and you were on my door and I almost spun out I've never been in that situation before where you could take the air off of the side of a car you know and I almost spun out but we've raced all day long it seemed like that race and I learned so much when you're you know when you're in that point your career this is ninety nine you had you were inevitably put with younger drivers his teammates did you feel like you were a mentor did you enjoy having teammates working with teammates teaching younger guys or was that sort of you know kind of on the back burner compared to what you were trying to do with your own career look I gotta tell you I'm proud of what I'm about to say I I was never good at that yeah I was never good at saying I'm gonna get a teammate and I'ma teach a teammate I remember when your dad came up to me and we're Childress that were gonna get a teammate he told me some sick of his teammate craft us and why he said because I'm the veteran and I feel like I got to be spending half my time teaching them he said they're not coming up teaching me they're not helping me the all the information is flowing the other way and it's draining me I don't like it you know and then my particular deal with the Newman it just got competitive he just got competitive and it was just personalities were totally different he got to where he didn't like me and I didn't like him and that's what it was you know and I tried to get better and we we had hot and cold years but I just wasn't real good at all that teammate crap I really wasn't you know and I remember talking about I was talking to Rick Hendrick about it and I told him one time I said man we're talking about getting a young guy and and this and that and he said he'll if I need a young guy go find one to steal from somebody else that's what he said that's right he said I go find one and steal from somebody else you know he said this to turn all this young guy stuff and spending all this money you know let somebody else do it and so I'm but I am I I'm happy that guys like you and guys like Kyle Busch are spent all that money and time bringing these new guys up because nobody else is probably going to do that you

Channel: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media

Views: 633,967

Keywords: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jr., Rusty Wallace, Dale Jr. Download, Podcast, Dirty Mo Media, Mike Davis, Matthew Dillner, Mark Martin, Richard Childress

Id: zZ3W9n7zcBM

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 28 2019