Stephen Wallace, 16-year-old racing upstart and son of former Winston Cup Champion Rusty Wallace, claimed his first career Late Model Stock Car win in a 200-lap feature event yesterday at the new Friendship Motor Speedway, a paved four-tenths-mile racetrack near Elkin, NC. “It was a helluva impressive performance,” said Billy Parker, who served as Stephen’s crew chief and who will drive for the senior Wallace’s new Busch Series team in 2004. “Stephen started sixth in a tough field of more than 30 cars. He came from the back to the front three different times. He was tenacious, to say the least. It was a rough bunch there yesterday, but Stephen didn’t back down from anybody. Greg was spotting and we both worked to keep Stephen focused,” Parker said of Stephen’s 23-year-old brother who has also spotted for his famous racing father. “By the end of the race, Stephen was missing the hood and a lot of the sheet metal was either missing or bent up. He got airborne once and broke the right front shock. He was able to keep his poise, though, and finally made the winning pass with less than 10 laps to go. When you can beat the likes of Wayne Grubb, Jason York and Rock Harris, you’ve put in a heck of a day’s work. That’s what Stephen was able to do at Friendship on Sunday and we’re all so proud of him. He had the crowd all standing and screaming and definitely created a ton of Stephen Wallace fans with his performance yesterday.” “Now that’s the way I’d always hoped that Stephen would win his first big race – with sparks flying, emotions running high and a packed grandstand screaming their lungs out,” said proud father Rusty, who was at the IRL finale at Texas Motor Speedway rooting on his Penske Racing teammates Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves and unable to witness his son’s victory. “I’m so proud of him. He’s gonna be a great one, I’ll tell you that.” “It was a real cool deal,” summed up Stephen of his first big win and eerily sounding almost identical to the elder Wallace.( Tom Roberts PR )(10-13-2003)
