WALLACE HAS MEMORIES APLENTY WHEN IT COMES TO SEARS POINT
-Qualifying Record Holder & Two-Time Race Winner Looking To Add More
Memories This Weekend-

SONOMA, Calif. (June 19, 2002) Rusty Wallace could fill a book with memories of his 13 prior years of racing at the Sears Point Raceway road course near Sonoma, Calif. He is hoping to enjoy additional memorable experiences this weekend in the Dodge/Save Mart 350.

"There are certainly a lot of memories of Sears Point and all of them aren't just about what happened at the race track," offered Wallace, whose 54 career NASCAR Winston Cup wins entering this weekend include six on road courses and two of those at Sears Point. "Yep, there are memories and most of them are fond memories -- just a couple of glitches along the way."

The fond memories?

The early years.

"When we first went out there (in 1989), for the first couple of years it seemed like it always came down to me and (Ricky) Rudd battling for the win," Wallace recalled. "In the very first race, I won the pole and he had me out in the dirt coming down for the finish of that one. He won it and I finished second. Then the next year, he won the pole and I won the thing. Heck, people think we've stirred up some excitement together in just the last few seasons. The folks who saw those races back then saw some helluva' battles -- running all over each other and dirt flying all over the place. And the records will show that the win there in 1990 was the last win ever for the old Blue Max Team as that
deal was coming to an end. That'll always be special."

The 1990's.

"Man, it seems like we were right there going for the win in every one of them, so close but we didn't win again until '96," said Wallace. "That was such a cool race. We dominated the thing all race long. We just killed 'em all. When we took the checkered flag, somebody said on the radio, 'Rusty you just killed 'em out there today.killed 'em all.you better name that thing 'Killer.' We always name our cars after their first wins, so we named that car 'Killer' that day after winning that one. Now that was a special car, too, because we took the thing over to Suzuka (Japan) later that year and won the first international race with it. That was something that I'll always treasure."

The off-track memories.

"Wow, now you wanna' talk about some fun times? Maybe a little on the weird side, but they certainly have been a lot of fun," said Wallace. "The PR guys at Sears Point have always been on the ball, I think. My hat's off to them because they knew they'd have to come up with something really unique to go up against the stick and ball sports and get some ink in a market like San Francisco.

"Well, they really came up with some unusual gimmicks and they all hit home runs. It was neat to be part of them. They had us drive show cars across the Golden Gate (Bridge) one year and they let me drive the lead car. We had the wire service writer (AP writer Anne Peterson) riding with us and there she was over on the right side hanging on to the roll cage for dear life going over the thing.

"Then one year, they had me driving a cab through the streets of San Francisco and the fares I took went to a local charity. I took one TV crew down that curvy street (Lombard Street) and just about threw 'em all out. Then I ran up on the curb in front of a big hotel and the cops pulled me over. The poor PR guy had to come to my rescue or they were gonna' throw me in jail. And I'll never forget the last fare of the day. The cameraman for the top-rated TV station in the city was riding in the front seat shooting the whole deal. We picked up a gal down at the wharf area and took her back to her condo and dropped her off. Turned out that she was a 'porno' star. She had me playing a guessing game at what she did for a living all along the way and the TV guys had
all of that on tape.

"The last time we helped 'em out was a few years ago. We rode with the California Highway Patrol, pulled people over and gave them tickets -- not tickets for speeding or nothing, but free tickets for the race. I wore my uniform and we really surprised some people. We got this one couple from Washington who were really big fans of ours. Heck, they had their poodle wearing a Rusty Wallace T-shirt and the lady even had No. 2 car earrings on when we pulled 'em over. I know that (Dale) Earnhardt did the same deal later on at Talladega, I believe, and it was a big hit
with the media there, too."

The glitches along the way?

"Well definitely, you have to look back at that race in 1993," said
Wallace. "It probably cost us the damned championship that year. We'd had the big crash at Talladega in the race just before it. I broke my wrist and had a pin put in my arm. They had me wearing a brace that really restricted the movement. I was pretty stubborn, but I was determined. Roger (Penske) had a kid (Scott Sharp) who was really an ace on the road courses standing by. There I was leading the thing with 10 to go and I stripped the transmission out of the thing. Instead of winning it and keeping the points lead, we fell out and finished right at the bottom (finished in the 38th spot) and lost the points lead to Dale Earnhardt."

"And I'll never forget that deal two races ago (the 2000 Sears Point race). We absolutely blistered 'em in qualifying and we set the track record," Wallace said of his lap of 99.309 mph (70.652 seconds), which is the current track qualifying record. "Well, I guess NASCAR was tired of us winning all the poles that year (it was sixth of nine poles for the season) and they wanted to get back at us.

"It was unbelievable. They didn't have garages or anything like that. They tore our engine down and made a public spectacle out of it all. They just tore the motor down and put all the parts right there on a table for everybody to see. There must have been three or four hundred people gathered around watching. People were gawking.'ooohing and awwwing'.and a bunch of photos were taken. I'll never forget that Robin (Pemberton) was the crew chief then and Roger (Purcell) was our engine tuner at the track. They both said that they felt like they were almost molested there that day. It was a dark day in the sport and still is if you ask me."

And, this time around?

"Well, we're certainly looking to add to the fond memories, that's for sure," said Wallace. "We started on the outside pole and were pretty strong all day long at Sears Point last year. I just missed the setup a little bit. I dropped some air pressure out of the rear tires and, man, it slowed me down. I should have never done that. We were just too soft on the rear springs. We needed to stiffen them up front and back. We learned from it all and will be putting out our best effort this weekend to get the job done."

Friday's 2:05 p.m. PDT single round of qualifying will award all 43 starting positions for Sunday's 350-kilometer race. Saturday's practice sessions are set for 9:30 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. until 12:00 noon. Sunday's Dodge/Ave Mart 350 has a 12:00 noon PDT starting time and features live coverage by Fox TV and PRN (radio).