Page 8 - AAA Northwest Ohio - AAA Now! March/April 2013

8 MARCH/APRIL 2013
Behind the Wheel With Michael Waltrip
When the green flag fell at Daytona
International Speedway, signifying the start
of the first Sprint Cup race of the 2013 season, one
team owner wasn’t satisfied with just sitting on the
sidelines watching the action take place. Instead,
he was behind the wheel of the No. 30 car—a car
owned by a rival team.
That’s right. Michael Waltrip, two-time Daytona
500 winner and owner of Michael Waltrip Racing,
stepped in for David Stremme and raced for new
NASCAR team Swan Racing, created from the
acquisition last fall of Inception Racing. The race
marked the debut of the team.
“Part of the goal running for Swan Racing is to
bring that team more recognition so people will
know they're serious about racing,”Waltrip told
ESPN about this one-time deal prior to the race.
And who can argue with that reasoning? After
all, seriousness about racing is something Waltrip
knows all too well.
Drive toWin
“America has always had an obsession with the
automobile,” says 49-year-oldWaltrip. “Ever since
I was a kid, I liked cars. And to be able to race cars
was something I dreamed about doing.”
Waltrip fondly remembers the days as a child sitting
in the back of his parents’car as they traveled across
the country, from racetrack to racetrack, following
the career of his older brother Darrell, also a NASCAR
champion and now a TV analyst and race commentator.
“Driving across the country to
races was how I was raised; it’s
how I grew up. It’s just a part of
my culture,” he notes.
It’s also a big part of our nation’s
culture. Today, NASCAR is one of
the most popular sports in the
country, with 75 million fans who
fill the stands just about every
Sunday and some Saturdays from
mid-February throughmid-
November or tune in to watch
the races onTV. In fact, in terms
of TV ratings in the U.S., NASCAR
is second only to the NFL when it
comes to professional sports. Races
are also broadcast internationally
tomore than 150 countries.
In the early 1980s, Waltrip
followed in his brother Darrell’s
footsteps—or, shall we say “in
his tire marks.”Michael’s stock
car career took off in 1981,
when he won the Mini-Modified
division track championship at Kentucky Motor
Speedway. In 1983, he won the NASCAR Dash Series
championship, a series that involved racing V-6-
powered cars over relatively short distances.
In 1985, Waltrip made his Sprint Cup debut at the
Coca-Cola World 600 at Charlotte (then Lowes)
Motor Speedway. Driving the No. 23 car owned by
Richard Bahre, he started 24th and finished 29th.
His brother Darrell was the race winner.
Since then, Waltrip has run an
additional 769 Sprint Cup races (by
the end of the 2012 season), and he
won the Daytona 500 in 2001 and
2003.
“I’ve had a lot of great wins, a lot
of wins that are very dear to my
heart, but winning the Daytona 500
is probably my favorite thing I ever
did,” he says. “It’s how I’m defined.
When someone announces
‘Michael Waltrip,’ they always say
‘two-time Daytona 500 winner
Michael Waltrip.’”
While winning may have been the
culmination of a childhood dream,
it wasn’t without its hardships and
heartbreak. Waltrip’s first Daytona
win was one for the record books—
but as any NASCAR fan knows, not
because of who won but because of
who the sport lost that fateful day.
February 19, 2001, was a routine
day by NASCAR standards. After
nearly three hours of side-by-side racing, the drivers
passed under the white flag that signifies the
beginning of the final lap. Waltrip, driving the No.
15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Monte Carlo entry
for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, and teammate
By Rebecca L. Rhoades
The NASCAR driver faced
a long road to success as a
team owner.