Sporting News’ 60 Most Beautiful People: No. 54, Chrissy Wallace
In 60 years of NASCAR racing, the sport has been filled with colorful characters. This year, Sporting News decided to craft a list of the sport's 60 Most Beautiful People.
The selections were made as a result of nominations sent in by readers and NASCAR fans to the Sporting News' publications and Web sites.
The list was finalized and published in a special edition, which is now available on newsstands and at the online store at streetandsmiths.com. SceneDaily is running the list, with one person from the top 60 to be featured each day.
Today's installment features No. 54, Chrissy Wallace.
Chrissy Wallace knows the routine, so let's get it out of the way: She's a female driver with a seemingly bright future, much like Danica Patrick. And while the 20-year-old looks up to Patrick and recognizes her for paving the way, Wallace is hoping to make her own name.
"A lot of people compare me and Danica, but they need to realize IRL and NASCAR are different," she says. "But she's opened the door a good bit, as a lot of people are now wanting to take a chance on female drivers. But it's tougher to get sponsors."
Judging from Wallace's history, she might not have that hard of a time. The daughter of NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Mike Wallace and niece of racing icon Rusty Wallace, Chrissy made her debut for Germain Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in March at Martinsville, Va.
Chrissy enjoyed a successful stint racing late-model cars (and was sponsored by Tony Stewart) before signing with Germain. At Martinsville, she said her goal was to finish in the top 20 on the lead lap and not wreck. Chrissy did both, placing 18th overall with an undamaged truck.
"We exceeded our expectations, so that was a big thing for me," she recalls. "I was really excited and was ready to get back out there."
In 2009, Chrissy will continue to run in the Truck series and hopes to contend for Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Eventually, she'd like to move up to stock cars.
"Right now, I'm just really excited to run in the Craftsman Truck Series," Chrissy says. "Would I like to go to Nationwide and Sprint Cup eventually? Definitely. But taking it slow is definitely what I want to do. The big thing is that this is all a steppingstone. I'm in a learning phase right now."
