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NASCAR WCUP: Dallenbach takes on mountainous challenge before Bristol

18 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

MOORESVILLE, N.C.-- Understandably many drivers rest up before the grueling 500-lap races at Bristol Motor Speedway. Not World Championship Wrestling Ford driver Wally Dallenbach.

Dallenbach's way of preparing for Bristol will be an arduous two-day ride through the rugged Colorado Rockies Tuesday and Wednesday. He will take on harsh terrain on a dirt bike during the 25th annual "Colorado 500 Invitational Charity Dirt Bike Ride." The ride was founded in 1975 by Dallenbach's father, Wally Sr. It grew into a charity affair that has raised nearly $1 million through the years for area schools, churches, medical centers and even three separate $10,000 scholarship funds.

Some 325 riders will embark on the ride that ends in Aspen, Colo. How long or difficult a path one takes is up to the individual rider.

"It all depends on where you ride," Dallenbach said. "From Point A to Point B, there's probably 15 different ways you can go. It just depends on how you want to ride and how far you want to ride. Guys put 600 miles on their dirt bike in four days easily. I take the rough road. I don't have a whole lot of friends by the end of the day. My brother and I start out with about 12 or 15 guys that want to ride with us and by the time lunch is around, 99 percent of them have bailed."

Considering Bristol is the next stop on Dallenbach's schedule, some may question the timing of his participation in such a demanding dirt bike ride. But to the contrary, Dallenbach says the timing is perfect.

"It's a great prelude to Bristol," Dallenbach said. "After you ride a couple of days on the 500 you can run a thousand laps at Bristol, providing you don't come back with anything broken. The riding I like to do, we call it the 'single track.' It's not even a road that a four-wheel drive could go on. It's challenging because you have some of these deals that are 15 miles long and it's basically a cow trail. It's tough riding. It's awfully challenging depending on what kind of climate you have. If you get one night's rain then it's going to be slicker than owl poop. You're on rocks and roots and it's really tough riding."

The ride stops in such picturesque Colorado towns as Crested Butte and Ouray. There, the riders get needed rest overnight in comfortable hotels. "Anybody that rides dirt bikes knows that it's a great way to stay in shape," Dallenbach said. "I was really brought up on a motorcycle. Basically I ride two days a year now, and that's the two days on the Colorado 500. It works a lot of muscles you don't normally work. We'll put on 100 to 140 miles a day of hard, dirt-bike riding and that's a lot of riding on dirt. You definitely feel it. You definitely sleep well at night."

One of Dallenbach's companions for his two days on the four-day ride is fellow driver Ken Schrader. According to Dallenbach, Schrader nearly engineered a clever way to make an early exit off the taxing path.

"We were halfway on this trail called Timberline and Schrader had it figured out for the $10 conservation fee he paid for the entry fee on this deal, he figured he could burn the motorcycle, get the insurance on the motorcycle and then he could get a free helicopter ride out," Dallenbach said. "He had it figured out that he could be in the hot tub within three hours. He was thinking about it real seriously. I had to persuade him to finish it out.

"Schrader can hang. He does a good job. I've taken him on probably the roughest stuff you can go on on a motorcycle and he's there."

Thursday, Dallenbach will reluctantly quit the ride and fly to Bristol for another mental and physical challenge -- the GoRacing.com 500.

"Personally, most of the time after leaving Bristol I'm just ticked off," Dallenbach said. "It's just a crashfest half the time. The best part about racing at Bristol is when I'm leaving. To me, that's how it is there. As a fan and a spectator, it's probably the coolest place, the first place I'd go to watch a race. But as a competitor, I just like a place where you can use your legs a little bit more."

Dallenbach's eyes will have to adjust from admiring the tranquil beauty of the Rockies to keeping a wary watch out for the likelihood of frequent, ugly crashes at Bristol.

"Your eyeballs and everything in your body just shake so much on that concrete because it's so rough all the way around the track," Dallenbach said. "It's hard for your eyes to stay focused for that long of a race because your eyes are just shaking so hard and you're being thrown into the corners so hard that it's hard to get a clear picture."

And unlike the Colorado Rockies, it's seldom a pretty picture.

Text provided by Brian Hoagland

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.