There’s not much that Kenny Wallace hasn’t seen on a race track.
With a few hundred thousand laps under his belt, the former NASCAR driver has gained a vast knowledge for the sport and what it takes to make a car run fast.
But ultimately, Wallace says there is only one thing that matters.
“My strategy is first to finish, to finish first,” said Wallace. “Just get me to the end of the race. I’ve run a lot of these races, I cut my teeth on them. I’ve run Martinsville, Bristol, all the short tracks and you just have to get to the end. That’s what it’s all about, just get to the end.”
This racing philosophy came into play at last year’s IWK 250. The celebrity driver with 905 NASCAR races on his resume finished third in the event at Riverside International Speedway. After post-race inspections, Wallace was elevated to the top position when winner Cassius Clark and runner-up Dave
O’Blenis were both disqualified for unapproved carburetors.
So Wallace went into the books as the 2018 IWK 250 champion and joined Regan Smith (2008) as the only celebrity drivers to win the race. But Wallace said it’s not the outcome he wanted.
“I thought about that and I would have rather finished third and have those two cars in front of me be legal.”
On Saturday Wallace will get another chance to win on his terms when he returns to James River oval for the 7 p.m. start.
The St. Louis native will again drive a car out of Antigonish’s Nova Racing stable as a teammate to Donald Chisholm, winner of the 2016 IWK 250 and owner of the Riverside track.
Wallace is looking forward to another crack at the short-track oval.
“The track provides a lot of excitement because the bottom is the groove and that’s where you want to be at the very bottom. It got to the point where someone was holding you up and they didn’t give you a lane you had to move them out of the way. My deal is, if I’m in their way I either got to get out of the way or they are going to knock me out of the way so it’s that type of racing, it’s a lot of give.”
Wallace will face stiff competition from the likes of Dylan Blenkhorn, who enters the race as the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour points leader.
The Truro driver, who won IWK 250 in 2017, has a pair of wins on the Tour this year but is looking over his shoulder at hard-charging Jonathan Hicken.
Hicken (Brudenell, P.E.I.) has won the last two races — Irving Oil 150 and Canada 150 — and trails Blenkhorn by only 17 points.
Other IWK 250 winners in the field are Kent Vincent, John Flemming, Darren MacKinnon and Shawn Tucker
As the celebrity driver for the IWK 250, Wallace knows he has a target of his back. But the racer who turns 56 next month said last year’s experience was fantastic and expects another great run on Saturday.
“Everybody up here has been wonderful to me,” said Wallace. “All the drivers have given me a lot of respect, We’re all in this together, we are all out here to win a damn race. This is not demolition derby, this is real racing, there is $10,000 to win. These guys are all professionals they know what they gotta do. They were really fair racers.”
Wallace, who is a member of the Fox Sports Racing broadcast team, visited patients and their families at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax on Thursday. This signature event allowed patients and their families to sign their names on his race car.
“It was a beautiful time to see those children get out of their rooms and breathe some fresh air,” said Wallace. “For me and all of us to give them a little bit of love and to see the smiles on their faces to put their names on the car.”
Since its inception in 2007, the IWK 250 has helped raise awareness and more than $481,000 for the IWK Foundation.
When Wallace signs up for a race, it’s more than autographs and pictures. He brings the skills that helped him win three poles and 27 top 10 finishes on the NASCAR Series.
“It’s not like I just show up,” said Wallace. “The reason they ask me to do these events is because I usually run good or win them. So you just can’t show up halfway. When I come to these events, I bring it all. I always go to win, they are a big deal to me.”
