Legend of NASCAR Kenny Wallace is refusing to let the elderly man in.

It’s fitting that motorsports legend Kenny Wallace is fully embracing the spirit of a 2019 song, “Taken to Heart,” during a week when the entire nation is honoring the life and legacy of Toby Keith.

At sixty years old, Wallace is aware that there is much more to see in his rearview mirror than just his windshield. At a time when those victories were the hardest to come by, 904 NASCAR national touring starts include nine victories in the current Xfinity Series.
During the height of NASCAR’s success, he made the switch to a television analyst position, and his contagious personality greatly contributed to the sport’s expansion while also connecting it to its historical roots. Wallace was for everyone in a sport when so many people have so many different opinions.

Wallace, who announced his retirement from FOX following the 2018 season, has devoted the last six years to his UMP dirt modified, truly living the high life as he chases victories and tells tales in pit stops around the nation.

However, he didn’t even realize that he was thinking about life beyond racing until some time during the previous two years.

At the Volusia Speedway DIRTcar Nationals on Wednesday, Wallace said to Sportsnaut, “I never knew that I was going through that process until after it started.”

Because my brother Rust recently started Southern Country Customs, a motorcycle company, I traveled to Sturgis. I was surprised to see some of the best race car drivers in the world there. There was Walker Evans, who won Baja and has incredible stats, and Don Prudhomme, who has won everything in drag racing. One evening, when Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin were up there, I accidentally revealed that I was considering making that my final racing season.

Prudhomme and Evans, according to Wallace, leaped from their chairs and demonstrated simultaneously. Evans said to Wallace, who was then 59, that he had won his final championship at the age of 62, and it had stuck.
Wallace claimed to give his accountant, Ashok Chudgar, credit for acting as a kind of life coach and that even the CPA shied away from talking about retirement.

“I’ve always believed that Ashok would make all of his clients wealthy, and that they would eventually give up on their hearts,” Wallace remarked. They would respond, “I’m so bored,” when Ashok would contact them back after a year, or even two or three. I wish to relaunch my business.

“And last but not least, there’s this song by Toby Keith called “Don’t let the old guy in,” which is from the Clint Eastwood film.

After all those moons, Wallace claims that working on the car by himself or having to remove it from the trailer is when he hurts the most. After his aches and pains disappear in the hot tub, he finds it extremely difficult to let go.

In an attempt to wind down his racing goals and spend more time with his family, he skipped the 2023 DIRTcar Nationals to spend a week in Cabo San Lucas.

That also has a line in the lyrics.

Wallace then traveled to Volusia for the yearly World of Outlaws @ Volusia Bike Week event in March 2023. Alongside his brother Rusty and nephew Stephen, he served as grand marshal. The entire experience made him realize how much he enjoyed the competition and the community.

He was not ready to retire, not after Volusia’s Bike Week, nor after what his friends had told him. The instant his best friend Kenny Schrader ordered him not to stop, the thought was finished.

Wallace remarked, “I had to figure out the plan when we left Volusia.” “How will I go about doing this? The only things that tire me out are the maintenance tasks I perform on my own, such as adjusting the tires and working on the automobile.
He made the very serious jest that he was getting to the point in his life where all he needed was a mid-afternoon sleep and that there was no shame in it.

“But I think I can make it work by running 30 races a year, mostly around my house, and that’s what happened last year,” he remarked. It’s crazy that I don’t feel tired when I’m busy. All I know is that I’m exhausted from the previous night if I wake up early and begin working on my automobile.

“I used to say, hey honey, let’s go to Denny’s at ten o’clock.”

These days, those are delivery or takeout nights.

The most crucial aspect of this, though, is that his wife and daughters—along with the rest of the family—support his desire to continue racing. They actually find it impossible to imagine a world in which he ceases. What more is Kenny Wallace expected to do, really? Less than that, and the old man will come running.
Wallace remarked, “I’ve just been asked not to miss the birthday parties.” As my eldest daughter puts it, “you can’t live without a race car.”

He is now competing in a UMP Modified at Volusia, which is being prepared by renowned chassis builder and late-model racer Nick Hoffman. It was his first DIRTcar Nationals victory since 2012. He had won earlier in the week.

Wallace has a lot of assistance in this endeavor and is able to relax.

The other part of this component is the Trackside Live show that he will do for a second season at all the Speedway Motorsports tracks and at Gateway with John Roberts. The stage production is a copy of the hugely successful show they co-hosted on SPEED in the past.

Wallace continues to live the dream when you take into account his around thirty races.