Chrissy Wallace bests dad, Mike, in history-making run at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Not only did daughter race against her much more experienced father on Saturday in the Mountain Dew 250, she beat him.
In a first for a NASCAR national touring series race, a father raced against his daughter as Fast Track Racing’s Mike Wallace competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event along with Chrissy Wallace, who was driving a Rick Ware Racing truck.
Mike, who won the first Truck race ever on a high-banked superspeedway at Daytona in 2000, ended up getting involved in an accident and finishing 28th. Chrissy, a 21-year-old in her first Truck event at Talladega, finished on the lead lap in 13th.
“She gets bragging rights,” said Mike, who is 50. “The crazy thing is we did a lot of things promotion-wise and appearance-wise, and all the fans kept saying was, ‘Beat your dad.’
“She deserved what she got today.”
Early in the race, they both stayed out while the leaders pitted and were running first and second. They eventually pitted and worked together in the draft at times in the race.
“My uncle Kenny [Wallace] was spotting for me and he was letting me know where my dad was,” Chrissy said. “Following my dad for the first part of the race is what helped me out the most learning the lines and learning the drafting part.”
For Mike, it was a proud moment. And he was nervous as he watched Chrissy race over the final 30 laps.
“I don’t know how my wife goes through this stuff, standing at these race tracks watching,” Mike said. “I was nervous with those [few] laps to go. I think she did a remarkable job finishing 13th with no damage.”
Chrissy hopes the solid finishes leads to more races.
“What can I say?” she said. “Started 27th, finished 13th. I can’t really ask for much more.”
