Motorsports

Wallace racing for pride

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - His championship hopes are over, leaving Rusty Wallace little to race for in the final three events of his storied career.

But Wallace has too much pride to simply ride around the next three weeks before he drives off into retirement.

"I'll be going as hard as I can to salvage what we can," Wallace said. "I think the remainder of the year, my goal now is to win a race and get back in the top five in the points at least."

Wallace had hoped to leave the sport with a second Cup championship, but his chances ended last weekend in Atlanta when he was involved in an accident seven laps into the race. It was his third straight wreck and dropped Wallace to eighth in the Chase, 257 points behind leader Tony Stewart.

"It's been real upsetting the last three weeks," Wallace said. "This deal at Atlanta was just unbelievable. Seven laps in the race, a fellow blows a right front tire, spins in front of me, there's nowhere to go. That's three in a row.

"That really, really hurt. We've got the car to be in the top one or two in points easy, but we just haven't had the luck."

This isn't the way Wallace wanted to go out after 22 full seasons. He started the 10-race playoffs maintaining that simply being eligible for the title was not enough for him - Wallace wanted to win it.

It marked a resurgence of sorts for the 49-year-old Wallace, who had put his career back on the fast track after several disappointing seasons. The 1989 series champion had been a model of consistency throughout his career, winning at least one race in 16 consecutive seasons and finishing in the top 10 in points from 1993 through 2002.

He hit a drought midway through 2001 and went almost three years without a win. He also found himself outside the top 10 the past two seasons, an also-ran in a sport that was shifting toward younger, tech-savvy drivers.

"I'm going out going to New York, (so) I'm not beating myself up," Wallace said. "If I wasn't in the top 10, I wouldn't have felt good about it. I'm in the top 10, everybody knows I've run well.

The late Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time NASCAR champion, heads the latest class of inductees to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.

Earnhardt is joined by team owner Jack Roush, NASCAR ace Harry Gant, female racing pioneer Janet Guthrie and racing executive H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler in the class to be inducted April 27.

"This is one heck of a class for 2006," said Jim Freeman, executive director of the Hall.

Earnhardt became one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR history, posting 76 victories and 281 top-five finishes en route to winning more than $40-million. He was a three-time Driver of the Year and won 21 Busch races and four IROC Series championships.

He was killed in a crash at the 2001 Daytona 500.

Roush Racing team has claimed titles in the Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck series. Roush's five-car team has won the last two Cup titles.

Gant won more than 300 short-track races, including 21 in the NASCAR Sportsman series, now the Busch series. Gant left Winston Cup in 1994 with 18 wins and 17 poles. In 1977, Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and in the Daytona 500. She finished ninth in the 1978 Indy 500 with a team she formed, owned and managed. It was the best showing for a woman at Indy until Danica Patrick's fourth-place finish this season.

Guthrie's top Cup finish was sixth at Bristol in 1977, and she qualified ninth at both Talladega and Bristol that year.

Wheeler has been the innovative president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., for nearly three decades. The track was the first to use an advanced lighting system to host night races and offer extensive VIP suits and condominiums.

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 01:07:13]