Michael Waltrip has persevered through a career marked by triumph and tragedy
By Mike Hembree - Associate Editor
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip has competed in NASCAR for over 20 years.
Sam Cranston
NASCAR Scene
Related stories: Top 35 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers: No. 33, Michael Waltrip
Morning light has not yet reached inside Michael Waltrip’s motorcoach, his home away from home, but still it is quite clear that his big toenails have been painted.
Yes, painted toenails. Some purplish or pinkish color of some sort. And Waltrip’s big toenails are BIG – big enough to have room for a painted M on one and a painted W on the other. Which letter is which? Well, that depends on whether you’re facing Waltrip or standing beside him.
In Waltrip’s world, a lot depends on how you look at him.
This, Waltrip says, is his final season as a full-time Sprint Cup driver. Thus will end a career that began in 1985 as something of a novelty – he was the much, much younger and practically unknown brother of that loudmouth, that television racer, that three-time champion, Darrell Waltrip. He was tall – could he even fit into these cars? – and handsome and determined. And a little goofy. No, a lot goofy, as everyone would discover much later.
All things and races considered, when Waltrip writes the finish to his driving career (he plans to run select races for some time to come) that will mark a significant turn – although not an end – in one of the most remarkable passages in the sport’s history.
The most notable statistic on Waltrip’s résumé is the one that has the big zero at its start. Waltrip ran 462 Cup races before parking his car in victory lane. That’s not a misprint: Four hundred and sixty-two starts, no victories. That long – very long – period in Waltrip’s professional life perhaps is worthy of a book unto itself. For, as Ty Norris, Waltrip’s team manager and one of his closest friends, puts it: “How many drivers do you know today who could be 0-for-462 and still be around?”
Around? Heck, Waltrip is thriving. And he is thriving despite:
• Living in his older brother’s very long shadow.
• Driving almost a decade for an “up-and-coming” team – Bahari Racing, now long defunct – that never made it to up.
• Finally winning in the 2001 Daytona 500 – his initial career victory – only to see himself simultaneously hit in the heart by unspeakable tragedy.
• Gathering his money from all those years to launch his very own Sprint Cup team – the one with the chrome wheels, a touch he demanded – but being battered by a fist to the gut before its first full-season race, the 2007 Daytona 500.
Through the struggle, grief and turmoil, Waltrip emerges as a survivor, a leading team owner, a builder of careers for other drivers and – dare we suggest – now an elder spokesman? One with purple-pink toenails?
“That’s Macy,” Waltrip says, explaining the toenails. “Sometimes I have to let her do what she wants.” Macy, Michael’s 12-year-old daughter, has been along for much of the racing ride enjoyed/endured by her father, who found himself having to explain to her why Daddy really wasn’t a bad guy after the 2007 Daytona 500 controversy involving altered fuel found in his race car.
The fact that Waltrip, 46, not only has two Daytona 500 victories and an improving Sprint Cup team but also perhaps can claim the only toenail paint on the male side of the garage speaks to the two sides of the man. Short of a final retirement and residency at a racers nursing home, we always will have the dynamic blend of Michael
Waltrip, team owner and sporting professional, and Mikey Waltrip, adventurous goofball, auto parts pitchman and a man who couldn’t fully mature even if that’s what he wanted.
And it is at that point in life that Waltrip stands as he looks at a declining driving career and what appears to be a solid future on the ownership side of the sport. He leaves full-time driving knowing that it’s time, that his results in his own cars are lacking, that others can do better.
“My goal this year was to run good enough to justify, in my mind, continuing to drive,” Waltrip says. “We haven’t contended, and we haven’t run at the level that I expect myself to. The smartest thing for me to do was to get Martin [Truex Jr.] to drive my car. I’ve always been a survivor and been able to keep racing and keep running well enough to be on the edge of winning, at least.”
For 2010, Waltrip plans to run at the restrictor-plate tracks – long his favorites – and maybe in a few other races. He also is branching out with pal and team co-owner (and financial savior) Rob Kauffman to run in the 24 Hours of Dubai sports-car race in January and has given some thought to eventually trying, along with Kauffman, the 24 Hours of LeMans in France, the world’s biggest endurance race.
And, along the way, there still will be the Marmaduke mischief for which Waltrip perhaps is best known, including more of those zany commercials in which he outperforms the professional actors simply by being himself.
Another Waltrip Arrives
This all began, really, on the back side of the infield at the old Atlanta International Raceway in 1982 when Michael pulled in with a Goody’s Dash subcompact car to follow Darrell, his accomplished older brother, into NASCAR racing. Few had heard of him – he was 16 years Darrell’s junior, after all, and wasn’t like a slightly younger brother who might wander around alongside his older sibling. However, once it became known that another Waltrip was in the house, a few reporters left the relative comfort of the Cup garage to march over to see what sort of youngster might have the audacity to try to follow an older brother with a big mouth and a bigger future.
Michael, then 20 years old, was tall, gangly, not at all shy and determined, he said, to win at this game. There was no reason he couldn’t. He wanted to, had watched his brother do it from afar and was on his way.
“No one really knew I existed,” Waltrip says. “When I was born, my brother was 16. He was off racing his car. I didn’t even know him, basically. I raced at home and won a championship then went to the Dash series at Atlanta in 1982 and won the championship in ’83. At that point, if you had told me I wasn’t going to win in every series I went into, I would have wondered what was wrong with you.”
Instead, people eventually wondered what was wrong with him.
He got his first big chance by signing with Bahari Racing and team owner Chuck Rider in 1987. The team had an impressive shop, big plans and a fleet of bright yellow race cars. Rider, a nice guy with money to spend and in need of a young driver to build a future around, saw Waltrip as the perfect fit. They could advance together and conquer the world.
Instead, Waltrip and Rider got on a treadmill going nowhere. They weren’t awful, but they didn’t shine. Year after year after year, the team was maddeningly mediocre.
Waltrip had just enough decent finishes and promising runs to make progress seem possible, but there was never a breakthrough. He raced nine seasons for Bahari and saw victory lane only from the outside.
“I wish I had been confident enough in myself at that time,” Waltrip says. “That’s probably the thing I lacked. There was a point in time when I’d been there too long and I needed to do something different and take a chance and be confident in my ability. It wasn’t happening. I didn’t agree with a lot of the choices that were made for me there. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t know what to do. We were right there, but we didn’t get over the hump.”
In 1996, he moved on to Wood Brothers Racing, which was down from its glory years but still held the promise of victory. And he crossed that street – with an asterisk for a disclaimer – in 1996, winning the all-star race at Charlotte. It wasn’t a points race, a fact he would have to read about over and over, but it was a win against the best of competition and, at long last, it proved that hope was alive, that he wouldn’t have to fade into the darkness never having known the joy of a big-time victory in the heat of major pressure.
Earnhardt Steps In
Watching all this, including Waltrip’s mighty struggles, was a very successful championship driver with designs of building his own championship team. Dale Earnhardt Sr. saw a light in Waltrip at a time when others were asking questions about his ability. Earnhardt also saw Waltrip’s commercial value and his unique potential in relation to sponsors.
“I always felt like I could drive a car as good as anybody,” Waltrip says. “I might be an example of the guy who never got the right opportunity at the right time until it was almost too late. Dale and I had been friends since the late ’80s. From the time I showed up, my brother wasn’t 100 percent understanding of what I was trying to do. Richard Petty helped me out, Dale always was my friend and helped me out and tried to give me direction and advice. Through that whole time, he was saying, ‘You’d win in my cars. There’s no doubt.’”
Late in 2000, Earnhardt made that official, signing Waltrip to drive for Dale Earnhardt Inc. beginning with the 2001 season.
It was the spark Waltrip needed and the strong ownership link he had wanted. Earnhardt, smart driver and garage-area lawyer and ultimate racing businessman, could show him the way – in many ways.
“Dale was the first one to say, ‘Let’s go get Michael,’” says Norris, then DEI’s general manager. “‘Let’s go see NAPA about sponsorship, and let’s put Michael in it.’ Dale drove the whole thing in that direction. He felt Michael could do it. He and Michael had talked a lot about race cars. He felt like Michael was better than what he had showed.”
The relationship between NAPA and Waltrip eventually would become one of the best known and most fruitful driver-sponsor pairings in the sport’s history. Waltrip became a television commercial star, blending a goofy nature and perfect comedic timing in a series of memorable spots selling the NAPA name. In time, NAPA, which took a sort of gamble by accepting Earnhardt’s offer to sign on with a winless driver, would become a full partner in Waltrip’s own operation.
Conversely, the relationship between Waltrip and Earnhardt would be tragically short. The two reached agreement on a contract in September 2000 and had barely scratched the surface of what it would be like to work together when Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of their first race together, the 2001 Daytona 500. Seconds later, in a cut-to-the-heart dose of wicked irony that forever will hang over Waltrip’s career, he won the race, even as his mentor lay dying in his battered car inside the fourth turn.
Waltrip’s long search for victory lane had ended, only to be colored by a loss that rocked the sports world and, ultimately, brought a safety revolution to stock-car racing.
Waltrip’s Daytona 500 victory news conference was cut short by word that Earnhardt had been pronounced dead at a nearby hospital and that Waltrip was needed elsewhere. A long night of grieving mixed with necessary planning for the future began.
On a grim Monday morning, at a Daytona Beach news conference called to announce that, yes, racing would go on even as an extensive investigation into the fatal accident began, Waltrip appeared to make a statement and answer questions. Few would have criticized him if he had wandered off into the wilderness, lost in thoughts of a bittersweet day, but he felt obliged to help represent the team in its time of need.
Teresa Earnhardt, Dale’s widow, had spent the night of her husband’s death at NASCAR President Mike Helton’s Ormond Beach, Fla., home, where people were both trying to move a sport forward and plan a funeral and burial.
“Somebody had to take the public lead there,” Norris says of Waltrip and the day after the tragedy. “You couldn’t ask Teresa to do it. Mike and Lynda [Helton’s wife] were trying to help her get her thoughts together and give her some space and privacy. Junior [Dale Earnhardt Jr.] was pretty distraught. Who else is there to say it? Michael was his best friend. He had to be the guy who sort of took the reins there. He knew it.
“I think he absorbed a lot of the grief. He gave Junior his space. He was someone people wanted to hear from at the time. I think the pressure of that role started to wear on him. I walked in the motorcoach after the race. He was in tears. He said, ‘This is supposed to be the best day of my life. It’s the worst day of my life.’ All I could say to him was, ‘He knew you won. He knew when you went into Turn 3 that you had won. I know he felt good about that.’ That’s all you can have comfort in at that point.”
Waltrip, who still sheds tears when remembering that February, says he spent the night after the 500 questioning. “Why me? Why me?” he said. “But that was selfish and immature. I woke up Monday morning, and I knew, ‘Why me.’ I was the one who was supposed to win that race when he died because I don’t have to bask in the glory. I didn’t want everybody to pat me on the back and tell me how great I am. I just wanted to thank him and show my appreciation for what he accomplished. I wanted it to be more about him and less about me.
“It was his victory. Let’s put the focus on him. The words I said that next day were spawned from that type of attitude, of thinking that I believe in God and I believe in fate and I believe that it was his day to die and that I was there for a reason – to be able to put things in perspective for a lot of people. I think I helped a lot of people that day with what I said. It was an opportunity to smile and show people that this was about Dale and that life was going to go on.”
People heard, and they were touched. Eddie Wood, Waltrip’s car owner at the Wood Brothers team, sent a note to Waltrip after seeing him on television. “I told him I was proud to be his friend,” Wood says.
For all that the Earnhardt family and the sport lost with Earnhardt’s death, Waltrip felt a unique loss. Earnhardt was to be not only his employer but also his teacher, and that was gone virtually before the two got to know each other in a new context. And then there was the long year to come, one in which the sport mourned Earnhardt at every turn.
“At every prerace somebody was doing something to honor Dale,” Norris says. “It would just bring Michael back down. I think Michael really struggled with that throughout that year. When we started struggling on the race track, he didn’t feel like he had an owner to go to, somebody who could make the absolute call. We became a company that had too many chiefs.”
Waltrip would win another Daytona 500 (in 2003 for DEI) and would enjoy a relatively productive and emotional partnership on the team with Earnhardt Jr. Particularly memorable during that time is Earnhardt Jr.’s win in the summer race at Daytona five months after his father’s death, Waltrip pushing him along in the draft to victory and their wild frontstretch celebration afterward.
The Ownership Step
The 2007 season brought Toyota into the sport, and Waltrip stood front and center as one of the manufacturer’s debut team owners. He had bought a movie theater complex in Cornelius, N.C., with plans to turn it into a race shop and a spectacular racing-themed “world” for tourists and race fans, and work proceeded toward Toyota’s inaugural race – the Daytona 500.
It seemed that the whole world was watching. Waltrip arrived in Daytona with sparkling new cars – with the chrome wheels, of course, and emblazoned with the neat, swirling logo of Michael Waltrip Racing, a design he obsessed over and modified for months, doodling on it even during sponsorship sales presentations – before finally making a decision.
Then, disaster. NASCAR officials discovered an illegal additive in the fuel in Waltrip’s car, and a period of accusations and rumors began. It was embarrassing for all concerned, and Waltrip took the full force of the heat in a dramatic press conference, one in which he talked about telling Macy, who didn’t quite understand what had happened, that he was not a bad man, despite what she had heard.
On yet another grim stage at Daytona, it seemed that Waltrip was again explaining a death. It was not the start anyone associated with the effort had imagined. But Waltrip took the darts, shielding grim-faced Toyota executives from the worst of it. “I spent three and a half hours in the NASCAR hauler that day,” says Toyota executive Lee White. “But Michael took the responsibility for all that. He took that off us. We didn’t do it. Someone on his team did. But he stepped up and shielded us from all that.
“From the beginning, Michael has helped make us what we are here. He helped erase the stigma of, ‘They don’t belong; they don’t have a place here.’ He did that for us.”
But the racing beginning would continue to be difficult.
“When we left the test in Miami [late in 2006], we were as white as ghosts,” Norris says of MWR’s preparations for 2007. “We knew what was around the corner. We knew we couldn’t make up the gap between then and Daytona and California. We were in trouble. We started throwing everything we had at it – money, people, everything. We couldn’t make up the time. We got way behind and it hurt us.”
Humiliation and penalties followed the violation at Daytona, and they turned out to be harbingers of more bad times at MWR.
Waltrip failed to qualify for a string of races, and he battled through trying to put a foundation under his team and work through problems trying to launch his showplace in Cornelius. The team was on the rocks and was saved only when Kauffman, who showed up with ideas and money the next season, bought a co-owner’s share in MWR and enabled it to begin upward acceleration.
The team steadily began to show its strengths, and Waltrip was not afraid to call on Toyota for extra help. Toyota field manager Andy Graves spent extra time at the shop helping the team get up to speed.
The shop, including the fan showplace, was completed, and it is perhaps the most fan-friendly facility of the long list of racing headquarters in the Charlotte area.
Now MWR seems to have established itself as a solid young team. David Reutimann scored MWR’s first Cup victory this season at Charlotte and is 16th in the Sprint Cup standings.
And Waltrip the driver? What will be his legacy with only four wins in more than 700 starts, despite the big moments?
Says Waltrip: “When you hear somebody say, ‘Well, what’s he ever done?’ Well, first of all, I survived because I was passionate and I did whatever it took to race. That’s lasted for 25 years now. Secondly, I won the Daytona 500 twice. There are only eight men walking on the face of the Earth that have done that. F--- you on that, too.
Thirdly, I won the all-star race. Now I’ve won the Coca-Cola 600 as an owner.
“I understand it [criticism]. It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. I laugh at it because I understand it’s just perception. Ignorance is bliss. I just get up and go get in my car and race it like I have every other time I’ve showed up – with my heart. If it doesn’t work out on that day, I’m pretty dejected for that night and Monday, and then after that I’m thinking what can we do to do it better next weekend.”
As the driver moves toward retirement, the search for a certain kind of stability will continue, even within the unstable story that has been Michael Waltrip’s.
This story originally appeared in the Nov. 19, 2009 issue of NASCAR Scene.
Popular News
-
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS: Which Sprint Cup star will snap his long winless streak first?
Comments (186) -
For Dale Earnhardt Jr., life as an Earnhardt is not easy, especially when you're not winning
Comments (139) -
Jeff Owens: Should RCR’s black No. 3 return to NASCAR’s Cup series?
Comments (118) -
Hendrick Motorsports’ Mark Martin more prepared mentally and physically for 2010
Comments (105) -
Dale Earnhardt Inc. plans for Jeffrey Earnhardt still in flux
Comments (96)
Recent Headlines
-
Elliott Sadler, Kyle Busch among 39 entered in Daytona Truck race
Post Comment -
Aric Almirola to drive truck for Billy Ballew Motorsports in 2010
Comments (3) -
Nationwide season-opener has 14 Cup drivers among 53 entrants
Comments (4) -
Joe Nemechek hopes making Daytona 500 sparks full season of racing
Comments (4) -
Food for thought: Bob Jenkins uses restaurant business as model for Front Row Motorsports
Comments (6)
Poll PositionView All
After qualifying and the Budweiser Shootout, who is the favorite to win the Daytona 500?
Promotions
-
Tweet your thoughts about each race and join the conversation with other fans.
-
Drive an authentic NASCAR Sprint Cup car at the NASCAR Racing Experience.
Comments
22 responses to "Michael Waltrip has persevered through a career marked by triumph and tragedy". Post a Comment.
amalycke said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 12:12 PMWhat tragedy? Everyone in his camp is sti11 living & breathing & swimming in tons of nice do11ars.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportbhstoneman said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 12:21 PMWhat a great article on Mikey! I am so glad that he is still holding his head up and proceeding with his race team. We all know he has never been the best driver in the sport (winning even less than my pal Kyle Petty), but he certainly has a great attitude and is a sponsor's dream spokesman. His brother may have been the better driver of the two, but Michael wins personality-wise all the time!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportmssgreendot said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 12:39 PMWhat a great and deserving article. Mikey is such a fan friendly person and that means so much, I have been his #1 fan since 2001 and will continue wherever life takes him. I wish the other drivers had the compassion that Mikey has. Love him. I look forward to seeing MWR shine now that he has the time to lead.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 1:03 PMhe's very shrewd...DW taught him well...he'll do anything for $$$...
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportBill8848 said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 1:06 PMGreat ,Great, article,nice guy,Hope being just a team owner now,I hope it only gets better for you.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportTuxcatmama said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 1:21 PMMichael's greatest gift to the world is the ability to make others laugh, even (especially!) if it's at his own expense. Many a Monday I've been in the dumps, but when "This Week in Nascar" comes on I'm like a new person after watching (though it is getting tougher with Spencer on the show now). I'm an SHR gal, but I wish only the best and much success to Michael and MWR. Their time to shine is here!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportbuenperico said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 1:40 PMI always liked Mikey best
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportlordthrash07 said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 1:54 PMwinning alot of races does not make you great. Being a fan favorite and a compassionate driver will make you great, and Mikey is just that. Here's to many more years of great racing with MWR!!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportamalycke said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 2:06 PMIn the 4th paragraph to go, near the very end of this article, where is the end quotation after the 'F--- you on that too' quote??
Report as AbuseI can't find the apostrophe to end his quote. So does that mean he told someone 'F--- you'??
His own quotes vs. the writers quotes are very hard to distinguish here.
Report Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 2:17 PMFunney guy.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportwmvjr1960 said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 2:20 PMMaybe if JWT keeps racing for 450 races he will get a win too. This is the first time I ever read that MW was Dale Sr's best friend.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportnascarnutsheeler said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 2:59 PMWerner, you went and hit the nail on the head again.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportcdeshon said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 3:42 PMI've always liked Michael, and I'm glad to see this great article about him. I'm relatively new to NASCAR so I didn't know that he was that close to Dale Sr. I wish him and his team great success in the coming years!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportgwen_susie388 said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 4:25 PMMW can be a funny person as I have laughed at some of his remarks myself. It doesn't surprise me that DW wasn't 100 percent understanding as to what MW was trying to do with Dale Sr and DEI. I doubt Sr went and asked DW for his blessings before asking MW to join DEI. DW spent a lot of his racing career putting Sr. down and making fun of him. I still remember DW saying, " People have asked why would Sr. want Michael to be a part of DEI?" Then he said, " this is why folks," referring to MW being in the lead at Daytona in 2001. DW was answering his own question of not being sure Michael was making the right decision when he joined DEI. After Sr. died, he had a lot of, "best friends," and I never knew MW was his best friend either. I also want to address that Dale, Jr. did get on National Television and give a statement while he was distraught and grieving his Father's death. He got up there and defended Sterlin Marlin and said He would not have it and he would not stand for these death threats toward Marlin. He also said that what happened wasn't anyone's fault and he wanted it stopped. That had to be the hardest thing he had ever done!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reporttinynascarfan said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 4:38 PMWMVJR1960 you must be an idiot! John Wes Townley could race until the year 3000and not even get a top 5 with 6 cars starting the field! all these whiney baby's crying about this article! saying mikey's swimming in money, and how dw taught him to do anything for money, you just dont get it! When you get in that race car and strap in, you want to do everything you can to win that race, but your car, luck, and oh yeah, other drivers have a lot to do with how you finish! HEH John Wes Townley drives a roush car, and next year a Childress car, he has not ever been in a bad car, Let's put him in the Racer's Group #71 and see how many races he makes, i know how many! NONE, that is the same car, comparatively speaking Mikey drove for the first 9 years of his carrer, and he ran middle of the pack most of the time, he didnt finish 35th or worse most of the time.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 4:42 PMSr took MW because he knew he was marketable...hey i used to like the guy, but there's things he's done and said that made me think twice about him...
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportdaviclar38 said:
Nov 29, 2009 at 6:40 PMMike has done just about everything a man could do to stay in this sport that he obvious loves so much. He's proved that marketability is the key to do it. He's given a few laughs along the way as well.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportsibbi173 said:
Nov 30, 2009 at 10:26 AMI thought his wife Buffy arranged the big financing he needed to start his own team....was I wrong?? Also, I can't stand his phoney enthusiasm doing the commentary for the truck races.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportrspweaver55 said:
Nov 30, 2009 at 9:36 PMI am a big fan of Michael Waltrip and of MWR. I enjoyed this article on Michael Waltrip very much. He is a fantastic person. He is a kind and generous person. He is a good driver and he is a very good Team owner. I will be pulling for him and his team for a long time to come. I have a good feeling that they (MWR) will be around for a long, long time. Good luck next season Michael.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportCarol-88-fan said:
Dec 1, 2009 at 8:20 AMI wonder how different his career would have been, if Dale Sr hadn't died.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportRacinGurl said:
Dec 1, 2009 at 9:58 PMI can't stand his whiny voice and those eyes in this picture are creepy...
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportHateda88 said:
Dec 2, 2009 at 1:09 AMI got news for you Sr would've never EVER have hired him if he'd known Mikey would go to Toyota. Dale was a very very loyal Chevy man. The good side is Mikey's career is back to being what it was before DEI. STINKY!!!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report