Trucks and trucks in pieces are all over the place, so many that the infield and pit road at Martinsville Speedway could be mistaken for a junkyard.
Chrissy Wallace’s No. 03 Tundra is among them and the 19-year-old — soon to be 20 — is outside of hers at her pit stall at turn four. Her family is there. Tony Stewart, the sponsor of her late-model car that won the championship at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway last year, is there.
She had finished 18th, bringing home the top-20 finish she had set as a goal for herself. She had kept the Germain Racing truck in one piece, another goal and perhaps the hardest considering the demolition derby Martinsville can become. And she had finished on the lead lap, her final goal.
Someone asks, “Do you want to be on John Boy & Billy tomorrow morning?”
And a thought strikes me as I glance back over my shoulder at all 5-foot-4 of her with family trademark strawberry-blonde hair falling in waves down her back:
“Maybe she’s the one. Maybe she is the female driver who will finally break through.”
Women in racing are pretty much divided into two categories — trailblazers or pioneers and the ones who have followed them here a generation or two later.
Janet Guthrie, Shirley Muldowney, Louise Smith and Lyn St. James — those are the pioneers. Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher, Angelle Sampey, Erin Crocker and Ashley Force — those are the followers.
Among the followers, Sampey has been by far the most successful as a motorcycle drag racer. Patrick resides among the biggest stars in the sport despite still being without a single IndyCar Series victory. She is known unapologetically for her sex appeal, which has eclipsed her ability by a wide margin.
Fisher never got the great ride and made some poor business decisions early on that stymied her career as did the general health of the IRL, despite popularity among IndyCar Series fans. Crocker has never established herself at the higher levels of racing, despite solid backing.
Like Wallace, Force has the family name, but has been rushed into the spotlight and is still without a victory.
If those stories seem kind of familiar, it’s because there are others such as Katherine Legge, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Tammy Jo Kirk, Patty Moise and Leilani Munter who have similar resumes.
But Wallace, daughter of veteran NASCAR driver Mike Wallace and niece of former Cup champion Rusty Wallace and driver/commentator Kenny Wallace, has laid the foundation of her career with carefully planned steps. She has been successful at every level — Legends, Bandolero, arena cars and late models with more than 80 victories, including the first by a female in 50-plus years of Hickory Motor Speedway.
She is not just a pretty face. She has not been rushed toward the TV cameras because her marketability exceeds her talent or because of her surname. She had the substance to survive Martinsville, which, as Stewart said, was no easy place to start a career in one of NASCAR’s three national series.
“I learned so much — so many things that are going to help me in the near future,” said Wallace, whose deal with Germain Racing is both limited for this year and performance based, with a smooth, professionally placed nod to her crew and sponsors. “This is going to help me go to Mansfield (Ohio) and run better there.”
She will also continue to run her “Smoke”-sponsored No. 20 at Hickory and Tri-County speedways and continue to test in the Germain truck as her father looks on from above as her spotter.
There are many variables and “ifs” in any career. There is no small amount of luck involved, but Wallace showed a confidence and a patience beyond her years as more experienced drivers found themselves caught up in the mayhem of Martinsville.
It was only one race, and maybe it’s unfair to try and read so much from the tea leaves of some 250 laps.
But, maybe, just maybe, she’s the one.