Kenny Wallace: “I was embarrassed about it and I didn’t like it.”
Back in August, Kenny Wallace and Paul Bailey were battling for the win at Belle-Clair Speedway. Bailey was hanging onto Wallace’s right rear at the exit of turn two. Wallace ran him up the track a bit and Bailey ended up in the wall.
A caution followed a few laps later. Bailey passed the field under yellow then put a bumper to the #36, who was leading. No terminal damage, just a crinkled right rear. Kenny Wallace went on to win that night.
After the race, Paul Bailey approached Wallace on his drive back to the pits. They talked for a minute or two, it was a heated discussion to begin with. Eventually the trademark Kenny Wallace laugh was introduced to the conversation and things had begun to calm down. It was now a rather calm chat between racers.
Joey Walsh, a member of the Kenny Wallace Racing pit crew came running into the scene. He came into the situation so fast that he didn’t have time to read it. Walsh bolted around the corner at full speed, giving him all of 3 seconds to read the scene.
Walsh knocked Paul Bailey away from the drivers window. Then, he picked Bailey up and tossed him to the ground. Wallace fired up the engine and drove away. A police report was filed that night.
Related: Kenny Wallace crew member altercation (VIDEO)
Months later…
A few months later I still haven’t heard Kenny Wallace speak on the August 2017 incident at Belle-Clair Speedway. I’m sure someone has probably asked him about it. If he has, I just haven’t seen it.
I actually considered calling into his radio show ‘The Last Shift’ on that following Monday. I decided not to put Kenny Wallace on the spot like that on a LIVE show.
Instead, I elected to wait until the next time I saw him in person. A few weeks ago, after his win at The Dome, I asked Kenny Wallace about the pit lane altercation.
What was your talk with Joey after that situation? At least, I’m assuming you had a talk with him.
“I was embarrassed about it and I didn’t like it,” Kenny Wallace told RacingNews.co. It was not a good deal.”
“I did not condone it. I had a good talk with him.”
“That was a deal where, that was a bullring racetrack and emotions got the best of everybody.”
I was the one that filmed that.
“I know.”
I just wanted to make sure you were aware of who’s asking these questions.
“It’s all good man. But, that’s the society we live in.”
“We are in such a different world now. In the old days, we’d go to the bar, hang out and drink a beer. You can’t do it now because somebody’s recording you.”
Right on queue, the DoD camera swung in our direction. It’s crazy how those things happen.
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