Kenny Wallace: Bring Back Dirt Tracks

Several of NASCAR's biggest names and personalities will descend on a tiny Rossburg, Ohio, half-mile clay oval next Wednesday for what has now become the hottest sideshow of the NASCAR season.

Hosted at the Tony Stewart-owned Eldora Speedway, the drivers will be joined by over 20,000 fans and hopefully many more for the HBO pay-per-view broadcast of the fifth annual Prelude to the Dream. Nationwide Series driver and SPEED TV personality Kenny Wallace, though, can't help to think how cool it would be to have NASCAR return to its dirt track roots.

"It would be nothing new, right?" said Wallace on Wednesday. "NASCAR used to run on dirt all of the time."

Indeed they did. Scanning back through the Sprint Cup schedules of yesteryear seems to indicate the last time NASCAR ran a dirt race in its top division was in 1970 in Columbia, S.C., and Raleigh, N.C. Richard Petty won two of three races on dirt that season, with Bobby Isaac winning the second trip to Columbia.

By 1971, the Columbia track had been paved over and left the NASCAR schedule the next season.



Wallace won the first Prelude event at the track and has been back each year.

"We won the inaugural one in 2005 and that was a hell of a race that I'll never forget," said Wallace. "The caution came out with like two or three laps to go and I had limited dirt car experience at the time. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw Tony Stewart in second, Danny Lasoski [World of Outlaws driver] in third and the winningest driver in the history of Eldora, Dave Blaney, was fourth. I said, "Oh my Lord, how am I leading?"

"I just had a really good car that day."

Today, Wallace runs upwards of 40 dirt track races a year after getting that taste in 2005. He also owns another track in Macon, Ill., with Stewart and driver Ken Schrader.

While there's not a dirt track facility currently big enough to host a major NASCAR event, Wallace thinks it should be something to think about in the future.

"People think it would be exciting to do, but just ask Richard Petty or Ned Jarrett -- all those guys used to run it," said Wallace. "It would be neat to bring dirt back."

Formatting the current Sprint Cup cars would certainly take a bit of effort to make them dirt-ready, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility. In fact, the ARCA series that competes with many old NASCAR race cars, has two dirt events each year on its schedule.

The previous editions of the Prelude have donated money to the Victory Junction Gang camp, while this year's events will support several organizations supporting both active-duty and injured soldiers.

Last season, Stewart's foundation cut a check to the camp for $1 million after the race. At that level, Wallace thinks Stewart could have some pull in getting NASCAR to think about heading for a dirt track race.

"I think Tony Stewart has become popular enough that he might be able to bend NASCAR's ears in this modern era," said Wallace. "Dirt was in trouble for quite awhile and I think Tony Stewart and this race at Eldora might have a hand in putting dirt racing back on the map. You've got every dirt person in the world watching it."

"This year it has just gotten so big that Tony has had to turn drivers and teams away. It's definitely the most famous dirt race in the country now."

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More Q&A with Kenny Wallace, driver of the Nationwide Series' No. 28 Border Patrol Chevrolet:

On David Reutimann's surprise Coca-Cola 600 win: "We've seen Darrell Waltrip win the Coke 600 on rain delay, we've seen Casey Mears win it on gas mileage. I think it's part of the sport. I think this puts Michael Waltrip Racing in a different category."

On Sprint Cup teams competing in the Nationwide Series: "I think that's just an old, old story. Look, if you become a Nationwide car owner, you know what you're getting in for. I started in the Nationwide Series in 1989 and I loved it when Dale Earnhardt would come, and Harry Gant would come and Mark Martin would come race. But when those guys came, they came with with their own equipment.

"But what has changed is that for some reason, all of the Cup car owners all wanted to come Nationwide racing. That is what is different. It's not about the Cup drivers because you can outrun them, but their cars are just way better than what we've got with way more horsepower, way more development and new cars every week. But I'm not going to complain about it because I'm thrilled to death to be driving my race car."

On returning to the Sprint Cup series: "I don't see many cars out there. What I'm seeing right now is in the Cup series, we've got about 37 teams that run the full schedule and the rest of them are teams that are just start and parks."

"But to be honest, my schedule is full. My Nationwide cars are my No. 1 thing, the TV deal is No. 2, and Jeg's High Performance is my sponsor for No. 3 because they sponsor my TV shirt and my dirt track program. I run about 40 to 45 dirt races a year. Really, my plate is full. And looking at the economy the way it is right now, I just don't see many new rides opening up. I'm just grateful to have the jobs I have because of this downturn in the economy."

On NASCAR's mandatory Tuesday driver meeting: "First, we've got to ask ourselves: why did NASCAR call the meeting? The reason they did is because there's so much complaining, so much negativity going on right now. When a Cup driver gets up front, its hard for him to get passed unless it's like in 3 or 4 laps."

"NASCAR went out on a limb. They've always ruled with an iron fist. The reason this meeting was brought about was because we've got the same problems major league baseball has -- we've leveled out. I think the baseball season is too long but football is rated so high because its short. You can't get enough of football."

"The whole meaning of the meeting was to look at our sport and get it back to where we sell out everything and people want it so bad."

On potential changes to NASCAR after the meeting: "The thing we've got to be careful with right now is the format of our championship. They can change some things right now, but it might disrupt the flow of the championship chase. I think we need to look at this next year so that way, the game is set. You cannot change the rules right in the middle of the game."

"The things they need to do are look at double-file restarts to get more wrecking involved. The fans want to see more wrecks. But championship drivers don't want to wreck, so they might let off. It would certainly create more excitement on the restarts."

"Also, smaller cubic inches in the motors. One of the reasons we don't run side-by-side is because we get in the corners too fast. You can only run side-by-side on new tires for five laps. Right now, we're entering the corners at 204 (mph). You cannot run side by side at 200 miles per hour going into the corners. A lot of people are saying let us enter the corners at 185, or 190 because then we might get the fans what they're looking for with some side-by-side battles."