Wallace, 53, qualified for the World Finals as the IHRA Summit SuperSeries track champion at Xtreme Raceway Park. He talked about the tough competition in Texas, and named his dad as one of his racing heroes, along with Scotty Richardson, Jeff and Jeromy Hefler. He also mentioned growing up racing with the Lopez family.
“The Richardsons, Heflers, Lopez family, you learned a lot of lessons from those guys the hard way,” Wallace said. “It was great racing with them and they sure taught us a lot.”
Wallace works for Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, Texas and also has a part-time business, Scotty’s Racing Transmissions. His path to the championship included posting a .008 reaction time in a semifinal win over Mike Donnell from Quaker City Motorsports Park.
In the final round, Wallace had an awesome .005 start and backed it up with a 6.417-second run at 105.29 mph against a 6.41 dial-in. Joe Soucek Jr., who qualified by winning the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular at Dragway 42, was his final-round opponent. Soucek was dead-on his 6.11 dial time at 114.65 mph. He had a solid .014 start, but came up just a fraction short for the win.
The Top champion’s prize package included a $20,000 check from Summit Racing Equipment, a World Championship Ring, IHRA Gold Card and a special IHRA Ironman trophy for the Summit SuperSeries World Finals.
“It’s something you dream about. It’s not something I thought I would have ever done,” Wallace said. “When we first got started, things weren’t looking good. The Good Lord turned things around for me and I was fortunate enough to turn on win lights. I was good when I needed to be and lucky when I needed to be.”
His longtime race car, a 1978 Chevrolet Malibu with a 427 small block Chevrolet, is a good fit for Wallace. He’s had the car over half of the 38 years that he’s competed in the sport.
“I’ve had the car 20 years and it’s just a good working car for me,” Wallace said. “It has pulled me out of a couple of binds. It has won more races for me than I’ve actually won.”
Racing since he was 15 years old, Wallace might be selling himself short as he’s obviously got the skills to win against champions from all across North America. While winning the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Championship is a dream come true, he most enjoys the way racing allows him to spend time with those closest to him.
“I love the family aspect of racing,” he said. “My brothers, brother-in-law, niece, daughters have all raced. Then we have the extended family, the guys from up North. It’s just one big family.”
