Wallace turns down offer from Childress Racing
Quote selected text Published August 13th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Rusty Wallace told ESPN on Monday that he turned down an offer to drive for Richard Childress Racing next year.
“I’m retired and am a broadcaster now,” the ESPN motorsports analyst said.
Foxsports.com reported Monday that Wallace “still has the bug” and that Richard Childress Racing was interested in hiring him to drive for the team in 2008.
- Klien Turns Down Red Bull Champ Car Offer
- Klien turns down Red Bull Offer
- Childress nearing deadline for 4th Nextel Cup team
- Childress to decide on 4th Cup team soon
- Childress denies Jack Daniels leaving at season’s end
Good for Rusty! I think he does just fine as a broadcaster and doesn’t need to make the same mistake that so many athletes make when they hang on too long. Better to leave people wanting more than stick around too long and have them wish you’d just go away…
I wish Rusty would just go away…
You can’t have done something for as long as Rusty did and not feel the pangs of wanting to still get in a car agine. Rusty is where he needs to be now and good for him he realizes that.
And for those that just want Rusty to go away, Turn the sound off on your TV
Agreed Axel. As least Rusty knows his place. I do get tired of Rusty and DW’s name dropping with “everyone being their friend”. DW likes to say he and Tony are friends and I laugh to watch Tony call DW out like the chump that he is.
I miss Benny
If you want Rusty to leave the booth, who do you propose they put in there? DW? Ned Jarrett? Wally Dallenbach (who’s actually not half bad)? Mikey Waltrip???? Rusty is head and shoulders above a lot of ex-drivers who have moved to the booth, IMO.
Another thought. With all the rumors of the drivers that may go to RCR, Childress wants to recruit a has-been out of retirement. What can that say about these other drivers?
Hm. Hadn’t thought about that, Marty… What it probably says is Past Champion’s Provisional. DJ and Bobby Labonte would still trump his provisional, but he would knock out Awful Bill if someone recruits him again.
There are still some decent drivers out there that have some good upside, like the recently available JJ Yeley that I would think are better choices than Rusty, though.
Please Rusty just go away.
Please Rusty just go away. How about putting Dale Jarret in Rustys place. Dale is a much better broadcaster, and much, much easier to listen to for an entire race.
He may be able to drive a little better than his son Steve. I don’t recall one race
where the “66″ was not tore up!!!
Very good point, Jeff. It would seem strange RC would pick Rusty over other younger talent. And Rusty certainly isn’t high on the list for the champion provisional. The only other thing I could think of would be sponsor support. It may be easier to sell a sponsor with Rusty Wallace than, say, David Reutimann, Regan Smith or Aric Almirola.
I really have no beef with the veterans like Rudd, Dale Jarrett or Bill Elliott for example. They deserve the respect they earned, but they just haven’t been able to perform. Mark Martin is barely hanging on competitively but it is obvious he will be grooming a protege once this Ginn/DEI mess settles down. I don’t think Rusty was necessarily past his prime but more like a cry-baby who took the easy way out because Newman showed him up on a weekly basis. But performance is what it boils down to. I don’t see a competitive team stuffing a wore-out veteran behind the wheel merely for nostalgic purposes. Sorry.
Rusty seems a bit dry on the air but is still far better than the snake oil salesman DW. I am impressed by Jarrett behind the mic, though not the showman Rusty is. Someone mentioned Wally earlier and I’ll agree with that a bit - he is okay, but the Wally’s World plug-fest has got to go.
Haha, I had to laugh when I read this. Rusty is such a stubborn b@st@rd, that he has never gotten along with any teamate he ever had. To even be considered for a four car team is hilarous. Rusty needs to go back to Missouri and take his brothers with him.
Petty was actually pretty good when he did his summer stint. At least he didn’t say “hot rod” every 5 freakin’ minutes. But this in-car analyst stuff sucks, they need to ditch it.
Yeah, these guys don’t really have that much to do behind the wheel except for things like keeping the damn car on the track.
“Hey there Dale, this is DW in the booth. You got a copy on me there, bud?”
“Yeah, but I’m kinda busy with trying to win the race and all and keeping Montoya from slamming into me. And what’s this ‘you got a copy, bud’ stuff? This isn’t the 1978 CB radio scene, man! Back to you, jackass!”
Petty at Sonoma was classic! One minute he’s praying over the team radio and the next he’s yelling ‘f**k’. It was great!
I can handle Rusty more than DW in the booth and I have a fondness for both of them in certain situations. Like several of you above said, the name dropping and sense of entitlement they seem to have on air is very annoying. Also, they have a level of bias toward certain drivers that isn’t present with guys like Jarret and Kyle Petty.
Often when Larry and DW tag teamed in the booth I would turn on MRN and mute the TV coverage. It wasn’t just them however, it was a lot of the reporters providing coverage on FOX and NBC, and it was possibly the magic combinations they found which made it even more annoying. They constantly buddy buddied each other and reminded us what loose and tight means. We all have Google. There’s better things they could be talking about.
I want David Hobbs commentating for NASCAR! And throw Jarret or Kyle Petty in there with whatever pretty boy ESPN wants.
I miss Benny too, Marty, but he was just too damn nice.
I just hate when Rusty talks about his son who crashes all the time during
Busch series races. I don’t remember what race it was but there were 7 laps
to go and Steven Wallace was multiple laps down but they showed him for about
3 laps. What the hell?! NO ONE CARES ABOUT 30th position at the end of a race!