Wallace to take NASCAR consultant role?
With only 17 Nextel Cup races left before he leaves the racecar driver's role that's been his livelihood for more than 30 years, Wallace is considering where his future time is going to be spent. And he's decided he would like to give back to the sport.
At Pocono Raceway two weekends ago, Wallace said that if he were asked, he would serve as a special consultant to NASCAR to solve problems and fix racetracks.
"I haven't had any conversations with [NASCAR]," Wallace said. "But I would definitely be interested in doing it. I want to help this sport grow [and] I see a lot of negative things that I can help on, so we'll see what happens."
Wallace acknowledged that NASCAR has a history of listening to everyone in its garage areas. The sanctioning body has taken Wallace's unofficial "proposal" under advisement.
"It's important for everybody to understand that we take in all the input that's out there already, from as many sources as we can," NASCAR spokesman Herb Branham said. "We'll always consider other options to make the racing better and safer for all of the competitors."
Wallace was adamant that an individual — not a group of drivers — was needed to find solutions. He cited NASCAR's success over the last 57 years as the reason for his philosophy.
"I think they need a driver that they can trust, not a committee," Wallace said. "The drivers disagree and they get too many things going on and it screws everything up."
Since William H.G. France formed NASCAR in the late 1940s, the final decision on NASCAR policy has rested with him, his son William C. France and now his grandson, Brian France.
That's fine with Wallace. "I do like the dictatorship the way it is," Wallace said. "That's the reason NASCAR has worked the way it has — they make the decisions [they have to] and it's not a committee decision [because] if you had a committee decision you'd never make the progress they have." More at NASCAR.com