Saturday was a good night for Kenny Wallace. He scored three wins among the four features he competed in at Crowley’s Ridge Raceway in Paragould, Arkansas.
“How did it feel? Exhausting, but so much fun!” Wallace, of St. Louis, Missouri, said. “This is part of my journey. Dirt racing saved my life. It gave me something to do when guys older than me were screaming from the top of their lungs, ‘Don’t retire!’”
Crowley’s Ridge Raceway promoter Trent Francis invited Wallace to return to his dirt oval after he won there a year ago. Francis and Wallace are longtime friends.
“Kenny asked me to find a car for him last year,” said Francis. “This year, I found four cars for him to drive.”
A late model owned by Kyle Downs.
An IMCA modified owned by Jimmie “Pappie” Leonard.
A Ridge Runner owned by Cameron Gay.
A street stock owned by Jeff Rothe.
He won in every car, except the street stock. Wallace placed fourth with that.
“It was awesome to be able to drive so many disciplines of race cars,” Wallace said. “They were all great cars.”
Wallace finds it hard to turn down a safe ride. He previous record of competing in three classes came at Hibbing Raceway in Minnesota. Wallace planned on driving a late model and a modified.
“I was signing autographs at Hardees across the street from the racetrack, when a young driver offered me to drive his street stock,” said Wallace. “I told him I always inspect the cars first to make sure they are safe. He disappeared for a few minutes and then returned to the Hardees parking lot with his car, which was very safe, so I drove it.”
A similar situation occurred at Crowley’s Ridge Raceway.
“Pappie [Leonard], who is 78 years old and is a veteran with five Purple Heart medals, came up to me and said he wanted me to drive his IMCA modified,” Wallace said. “I told him I was a UMP modified guy and hadn’t driven much in an IMCA modified. I asked him why. He said he never watched his own car race. The last person who said that to me was Larry Phillips, Terry’s dad. That brought back some emotion, and I said sure.”
Wallace won his first race in 1982 and more than 40 years later he’s started to slow down in racing.
“Last year, I ran 76 races; this year 30,” Wallace said. “I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to return to Crowley’s Ridge Raceway.”
While Kenny Wallace may be racing less, he still seems to be moving just as much. On Monday, he participated in the famed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
“I’m living my best life,” Wallace said. “I’m having a balanced year. I finished second last night in Quincy [at Adams County Illinois Speedway], and now I’m heading to Sturgis with Rusty [Wallace].”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
