NASCAR WCUP: Kenny Wallace talks about his 'Supermom'
10 May 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
CHARLOTTE, N.C.,-- The reason Mother's Day comes around once a year is because moms are too busy to take two days off. If you want proof, just ask Kenny Wallace, driver of the Square D/Cooper Lighting Chevrolet.
Kenny married Kim Wallace on June 23, 1984 at St. David's Church in Arnold, Mo. While the NASCAR Winston Cup Series lifestyle is very demanding on families, Kenny is amazed at his wife's strength and dedication to their family.
"Kim is a great wife and a great mother," said Kenny. "Anybody who puts up with the NASCAR racing schedule has got to be a strong person. Let's face it, we're on the road from Thursday to Sunday. It's a full-time job being a mom, and she goes out and runs the fan club, goes to the races, keeps the house clean, gets the kids up in the morning and then has enough energy to throw parties. I asked her why she did all these things, and she said it's because she loves to do it. When Mother's Day rolls around, she has truly earned it."
Kim's schedule may seem like a lot of work to the average person, but she says it comes naturally to her. As a mother, wife and president of the Kenny Wallace Fan Club, Kim says she is living her life as she always envisioned it.
"Motherhood is a full-time job, and it's all I ever wanted to do," said Kim. "I've always wanted to be a wife and a mother. I'm really involved with the kids, and it's important to me that they live a good life. We tend to let them do almost anything they want to do within reason. As long as they follow our boundaries, they're okay.
"Being a Winston Cup wife is the toughest job of all," continued Kim. "There's a lot of sacrificing. Kenny and I have been together for 20 years, and he's been racing for 13 of those years. Our life is unpredictable and it constantly changes at the last minute. You just have to accept it because it's something you can't change. Things have gotten easier as his career has gone on. When I think about the struggles of the past, I appreciate the times we have together now."
She appreciates the time so much, that she is willing to share her life with the thousands of Kenny Wallace fans. Kim runs the Kenny Wallace Fan Club out of an office in Kenny's 5,000 sq. ft. shop located just down the road from their house. The office has a full-time employee, and it's adorned with memorabilia from Kenny's racing career. The fan club is one of her proudest achievements, and Kim loves working with Kenny's admirers.
"I think this Winston Cup fan club is different because the driver's wife takes a 'hands-on' approach," said Kim. "Since I do run the club, I can go that little extra mile for the members. We always try to give them something that many people can't obtain. With the help of our sponsors, we send out a package that's full of souvenirs that they can use at home or at the race track. We also send out a quarterly newsletter and we have fan club meetings that are really just a big party. There's not a whole lot of business that goes on during those meetings. The motto of our fan club is to just have fun."
And fun is something they've always had ever since Kenny met Kim in the dark room of their high school photography class. Kenny said that she played hard to get when they first met. He compared it to trying to catch Dale Earnhardt in a Winston Cup race. Fortunately, Kenny knew she was worth the chase and he's happy she pulled over to let him catch up.
"She is the best mom in the whole world, no doubt about it," said Kenny. "Kim doesn't deserve a grade, she deserves a lot of love and appreciation. She does anything a kid would need. She wakes them up in the morning, teaches them right from wrong and helps them read books. She is a supermom."
Text provided by Chris Hunt
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot photos
and racing art, please visit The Racing Image
Galleries and The
Visions of Speed Art Gallery .