{"id":20449,"date":"2025-07-19T02:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20449\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T02:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:35:07","slug":"how-kenny-wallace-dealt-with-being-compared-to-brother-rusty-in-their-racing-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20449\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kenny Wallace Dealt with Being Compared to Brother Rusty In Their Racing Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest problems about being siblings, especially when they\u2019re famous siblings in NASCAR, is when fans, media, and even fellow racers make comparisons between brothers. Such was the case with the three Wallace brothers \u2013 Mike, Rusty, and Kenny Wallace.<\/p>\n

The trio grew up in St. Louis, following in the footsteps of their father and local racing hero Russ Wallace (who won over 400 A Main features in his career), before each staked out to earn their fame and fortune in NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Oldest brother Rusty, born in 1956, was the most successful of the trio, earning a NASCAR Cup championship in 1989, winning 55 races in 706 career starts, and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2013.<\/p>\n

Middle brother Mike, born in 1959, was a NASCAR lifer, competing in 197 Cup races (with no wins), 497 Busch\/Xfinity races (winning four), and 115 Truck races (winning five).<\/p>\n

And then there was the youngest Wallace brother, Kenny, born in 1963. He didn\u2019t start racing until the late age of 22, but made up for lost time quickly. He made 344 Cup starts (0 wins), 547 Busch\/Xfinity starts (nine wins), and then barnstormed across the U.S. and Canada for a decade behind the wheel of his dirt modified.<\/p>\n

Kenny and Rusty also went into broadcasting, both during and after their racing careers. The irony is that while Mike was pretty much on his own, Kenny was constantly being compared to Rusty.<\/p>\n

Kenny recently appeared on The Last Lap podcast with AJ England<\/a> and reflected upon the comparisons with his older and more successful brother. But the eldest Wallace brother also helped his kid brother because of the sacrifices Kenny made early in his life working as a fabricator, mechanic, and crew chief alongside Rusty as he was going up through the ranks in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

As Rusty became successful, he helped \u201cspeed up\u201d Kenny\u2019s racing career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no money, but Rusty called me up and said, \u2018Herm\u2019 (Kenny\u2019s nickname is Herman), I want to pay you back for everything you\u2019ve done for me,\u201d Kenny recalled. \u201cI\u2019m going to move you south and put you in the Busch Grand National Series.\u2019 November of \u201988, (Kenny and wife Kim) we move everything (to Charlotte).<\/p>\n

\u201cRusty put me right into the big time. I mean, I raced three years (in the Midwest) and then, boom, put me right in the big time, and before I knew it, I was in the Cup Series. I was like, \u2018Holy moly.\u2019 So, I went to the big time quick.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moral of the story is this: when I was in the Xfinity Series, I was a hero because I won nine races, Dale Earnhardt loved me, everybody loved me. But then, when I went to that next level, the Cup Series, I didn\u2019t get what I wanted. I didn\u2019t win. And then came the whispers: \u2018He\u2019s not his brother. He\u2019s not as good as his brother.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I was like, \u2018Oh, God, no. I could have told you that before I started.\u2019 I worshiped Rusty, I worshiped my father, my mom, my brother. That\u2019s when I realized I was different. I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my god, these people think I\u2019m better than my brother.\u2019 Then, when I got older, I realized (critics) were just being mean. And I\u2019m like, \u2018This is crazy.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenny Wallace also helped Dale Earnhardt Jr. realize he\u2019s his own person<\/p>\n

Among the countless friends Kenny acquired in his racing career was Dale Earnhardt Jr.<\/a>, and Kenny gave Junior a life lesson that he\u2019s never forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at Sears Point (now Sonoma Raceway),\u201d Kenny recalled. \u201cJunior and I had been friends way before he was a race car driver (due to Kenny\u2019s and Rusty\u2019s friendship with Junior\u2019s father, Dale Sr.). <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was pouting. I could tell he was upset because I know him. I went over to him, and he\u2019s super mega famous. I said, \u2018What\u2019s wrong?\u2019 He looked at me and goes, \u2018I\u2019m supposed to be Dale Earnhardt\u2019s son and I qualified 25th.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said, \u2018Oh my god, Junior, quit listening to those people.\u2019 And I realized right then it was everybody and everything, Junior\u2019s not his Daddy, Michael Andretti is not Mario Andretti. It goes to the nth degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople gauge you and me more than we gauge ourselves. And of all people, it was Britney Spears (who) said it best. She said, \u2018It is none of my business what you think of me.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Damn, that is brilliant.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cI had to learn what happened to these people (who unfairly compared Kenny to Rusty). Why are they mean? Why? What? And then what if I was better than Rusty? What would it be then? Would Rusty\u2019s feelings be hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n

In giving a valuable life lesson to Junior, Wallace touched on how the nature of competition requires athletes to have the thickest of skins. Constantly under the radar and scrutiny for their every action, one cannot simply let outside noise affect how they perform, and listening to outside noise does exactly that\u2014affect your performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the biggest problems about being siblings, especially when they\u2019re famous siblings in NASCAR, is when fans,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[425,99],"class_list":["post-20449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}