Categories: This Day

August 14, 1956 – NASCAR racer Rusty Wallace is born

NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rusty Wallace was born on this day in 1956 in Arnold, Missouri. Before hitting the NASCAR circuit, a young Rusty made a name for himself on short tracks across Florida. This included winning two local championships. After grabbing Rookie of the Year honors for the United States Auto Club’s Stock Car division, Rusty leapt into the ring with the big boys.

Rusty Wallace by Darryl Moran Top: Number 88 rookie car by Ted Van Pelt

In his NASCAR debut at Atlanta in 1980, Rusty drove a Chevrolet for Roger Penske, and earned a second place finish. Over the course of the next three years, the young driver only appeared on a NASCAR track nine more times. In 1984 he was finally able to earn his rookie credentials when he joined the circuit full time. That year he drove the number 88 Pontiac and had seven top ten finishes. With a fourth place best, he was just out of reach of the podium. At the end of the season he was 14th on the points bracket, which earned him Rookie of the Year.

Rusty would snag his first checkers at the 1986 Valleydale 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. During his 25 year career, Rusty snagged 55 first places and 349 top tens out of 706 races. His best overall year came in 1989, when he was crowned champion of the Winston Cup Series.

Rusty Wallace 2005 Nextel Cup carBy Brian Snelson CC BY 2.0

Following his racing retirement in 2005, Rusty turned to broadcast, covering racing events for ESPN. He also maintained car ownership over several NASCAR racers. In 2005 he broke ground on his own race track in Iowa, which held its first NASCAR event the following year.

Rusty has won many awards and honors over the years. This includes the 1988 and 1993 Richard Petty Driver of the Year award and in 2013 he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Brian Corey

Recent Posts

April 24, 1957 – Origins of the Nissan Skyline

Prince Skyline. By I, 天然ガス, CC BY-SA 3.0 When it comes to JDM cars, one…

1 day ago

April 23, 1947 – The 1,000,000th Packard is built

1947 Packard Super Custom (Not the actual 1,000,000th Packard. By Rex Gray- fvr2, CC BY…

2 days ago

April 22, 1996 – Mercedes SLK class debuts at Turin

Since its inception, the Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class (R170) has epitomized the essence of a compact luxury…

3 days ago

April 21, 1983 – C4 Corvette is introduced

The C4 Chevrolet Corvette, which debuted nationally on this day in 1983, marked a significant…

4 days ago

April 16, 2014: Mazda Honors a Quarter-Century of Driving Joy with the 25th Anniversary MX-5 Miata

By Alexander-93 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132180377 On April 16, 2014, the vibrant…

1 week ago

April 15, 1964 – Who bought the first Mustang?

On this day in 1964, two days before the official Ford Mustang on-sale date, one…

1 week ago