SPEED™ Captures Historic Father -Daughter Racing
10-27-2009 10:02 am

Mike Wallace: "How many people really ever get to compete against their kids in a sports setting?"

At an early age, it is instilled in most children not to dare cross or challenge their parents …

But don't tell that to 21-year-old Chrissy Wallace and her father, Mike Wallace, as the duo prepares to make history Saturday in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET live on SPEED™; NCWTS Setup with Krista Voda at 3:30 p.m. ET) by becoming the first father/daughter combination to compete against each other in a NASCAR national series event.

While Jimmie Johnson appears destined to make NASCAR history with an unprecedented fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship this year, Chrissy is just as proud of the opportunity awaiting her at Talladega.

"It really is a big deal to me and my dad and our whole family because it's one of the first things that Dad and I have been able to do just him and me spending quality time doing it together," said Chrissy Wallace, driving for Rick Ware Racing. "It has brought our family a lot closer."

Father-son pairs have been represented in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series before - Mike and Dustin Skinner, the late Bobby Hamilton and Bobby Hamilton Jr., and Ron Hornaday Jr. and Ronnie Hornaday have raced each other. But never dear ol' Dad and his little girl.

"We never set out to do anything like this," said Mike Wallace, piloting the No. 48 Chevrolet for Andy Hillenburg. "I never even thought my daughter would drive race cars but then I realized she was pretty good at it. And being able to have the opportunity to compete with or against her is very rewarding. How many people really ever get to compete against their kids in a sports setting?"

Mike and Chrissy first etched their names in the NASCAR history books last year driving for Germain Racing by becoming the first father and daughter to drive for the same team (Mike in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Chrissy in the Truck Series).

That stint with Germain, in which she competed in six Truck Series and two ARCA Series events, including a ninth-place effort at Talladega, revealed something to Chrissy about herself and her future ambitions. Prior to her foray into NASCAR, Chrissy had won races in everything from Bandoleros to Legends, Thunder Roadsters and Late Models, but wasn't entirely convinced she wanted a professional career behind the wheel.

"When I first started racing, it was more for fun because I was more interested in boys, playing softball and basketball," explained Chrissy, the first female driver to win a Late Model stock car race at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway. "Then, last year running with Germain proved to me that I could do the same thing I'd always wanted to do and prove that girls can do it just as well as guys can."

Perseverance is just one trait Mike admires in his daughter … and leads him to believe she just might be a chip-off-the-old-block.

"I see the determination and the desire (that he sees in himself)," Mike said. "As a race car driver, there are many times people doubt your ability, but you just keep continuing on. A lot of people would have given up and walked away by this time but she's said, 'I don't know how I'm going to make it but I'm going to keep working at it.' I like her tenacity and never-give-up attitude."

But while he is one of Chrissy's most ardent supporters and mentors, Mike doesn't necessarily relish watching his little girl, the middle of three children, negotiate traffic at speeds near 200 miles-per-hour.

"I'm still her father and I don't want to see anything happen to her - I don't want to see her get hurt," Mike said. "I watched her run the ARCA race last year - Kenny (Wallace, Chrissy's uncle) and I spotted for her - and to be totally honest, I got very nervous. I have confidence in her ability but you're just not sure what the competitors around her are going to do."

With Mike behind the wheel instead of atop the spotter stand for Chrissy this time around, she plans to have her uncle Kenny Wallace, driver of the No. 28 Border Patrol Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series and NASCAR RaceDay analyst, serve as one of her two spotters Saturday afternoon.

"This weekend is what the Wallace family always has been about," Kenny Wallace stated. "I remember my dad racing and mom dragging me to the pits when I was four years old, so I feel like this has come full circle for Mike and Chrissy and our family. She's a good driver, is well-qualified and has been through all the steps NASCAR requires. I'm extremely proud of her."

And if maneuvering through those "NASCAR steps" necessitates passing her "old man," Chrissy plans to take it all in stride … and not look back.

"If it comes down to the last lap and there's a chance I am able to record the first win in the history of NASCAR as a female, I definitely would do it (pass Mike on track)," she confessed. "If it came down to the last corner, last lap and we both had someone pushing us, it could be a really good battle and we could finish one-two. Hopefully, it will end up with me winning and him finishing second."

… Spoken like a true daughter …

NOTE: Mike and Chrissy Wallace will be in-studio guests on Tuesday's edition of NASCAR Race Hub at 7:30 p.m. ET on SPEED.

SPEED, now in more than 79 million homes in North America, is the exclusive home of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Gatorade Duel at Daytona, NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The only network delivering live, at-track programming all season long, SPEED offers the definitive pre- and post-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series programs - NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane, as well as other popular NASCAR programs including Trackside Live, NASCAR Race Hub, NASCAR Performance, NASCAR Live!, This Week in NASCAR, NCWTS Setup and NASCAR in a Hurry.