Rusty Wallace

Rusty Wallace Profile

Rusty Wallace, the legendary and now retired racecar driver, brought personality and charisma to the sport of auto racing that is unmatched in the history of the sport. A 55 time race winner and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, he is one of the greatest racecar drivers in America.

When Rusty retired in 2005, he ranked as one of the top five earners in NASCAR’s history, making nearly $50 million during his career. He has the third longest winning streak in racing history, winning at least one race in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series for 16 seasons in a row.

Rusty is a member of several halls of fame including National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. He is one of only 20 people to achieve America’s racing halls of fame “triple crown” distinction. Rusty’s firsthand experience with the world of racing has earned him acknowledgment as one of the world’s top authorities on NASCAR racing. He became the first driver in history to design a pro racing facility, The Iowa Speedway.

Rusty is permanently honored at nine NASCAR tracks, and more than a dozen city, state, and county seats of government have declared race day as an official Rusty Wallace Day. Rusty is also the prime stakeholder of The Rusty Wallace Automotive Group in Tennessee.

As a board member for The NASCAR Foundation—an organization that helps children play, learn and live—Rusty oversees the foundation’s development committee.

• View Extended/Alternate Bio

  For over 40 years, racing legend Rusty Wallace has delighted racing fans not only with his hard-nosed and aggressive approach to racing, but also with a personality and charisma that are unmatched in the sport.

  Wallace—the 1989 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, 1984 Rookie of the Year and 55-time Cup Series race winner—will go into history as one of NASCAR’s finest drivers. For 16 straight seasons, Wallace won at least one race in NASCAR’s Cup Series, marking the fourth-longest such streak in history. His 55 victories mark the 11th-best career total and his nearly 20,000 laps led rank him eighth all-time.

  Rusty’s on-track success was not limited just to NASCAR, however. He is also a former winner of the International Race of Champions (IROC). In 1991, he bested a bevy of the world’s greatest drivers for the series title, becoming the only driver in history to win three of the series’ four events in a single season.

  Wallace’s accomplishments both on and off the track have been widely recognized. He is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.

  As one of the main protagonists during NASCAR’s meteoric commercial rise of the 1990s and 2000s, Rusty is often credited as being one of the catalysts behind the mainstream appeal the sport enjoys today. He is the 2024 recipient of one of NASCAR’s most prestigious accolades—the Buddy Shuman Award—given for lifetime efforts and contributions to advance the sport of stock car racing. He is also the 2005 recipient of the NMPA’s Myers Brothers Award, given for outstanding lifetime contributions to the sport of stock car racing.

  Following his driving career, Wallace’s undertakings have allowed him to continue putting his immense experience and charisma to work. In 2005, he became the first NASCAR driver to design a modern professional racing facility, when he inked the plans for the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway. The facility opened to rave reviews and currently hosts rounds of the NASCAR Cup Series and the NTT Indycar Series.

  In 2006, Rusty was named Lead Auto Racing Analyst for ABC and ESPN, providing analysis for the networks’ 2006 and 2007 broadcasts of the Indianapolis 500. He went on to headline the networks’ return to NASCAR in 2007 and maintained that role through their exit from the sport at the end of the 2014 season.

  Currently, Wallace serves as Lead Analyst for MRN Radio—the Voice of NASCAR—where he is heard on more than 700 affiliates nationwide and on Sirius XM Radio. He is also a sought-after public speaker and the principal stakeholder in the Rusty Wallace Automotive Group, Eastern Tennessee’s premier automotive dealer. The Rusty Wallace Automotive Group consists of nine new car dealerships, representing brands such as Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and Toyota.

  Aside from his business interests, Rusty also serves on the board of The NASCAR Foundation—the sport’s foremost charity initiative. In that role, he heads the foundation’s development committee, charged with fundraising for the foundation’s mission of helping children live, learn and play.

  While he remains as intense as ever, Rusty Wallace’s hobbies include golf, motorcycles and flying; he is an avid pilot with nearly 12,000 flight hours. Wallace has three adult children and resides near Charlotte, NC with his wife, Patti.