Wally Dallenbach Jr.

Wally Dallenbach Jr.

Dallenbach in 2004
Born (1963-05-23) May 23, 1963
Basalt, Colorado
Achievements

1985, 1986 Trans-Am Series champion

Four class wins at 24 Hours of Daytona

Three class wins at 12 Hours of Sebring
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career
226 races run over 11 years
Best finish 18th (1999)
First race 1991 Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 (Atlanta)
Last race 2001 Pocono 500 (Pocono)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 23 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
16 races run over 4 years
Best finish 61st (2004)
First race 2002 Cabela's 250 (Michigan)
Last race 2005 Ameriquest 300 (California)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 3 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
2 races run over 2 years
Best finish 68th (1995)
First race 1995 Subway 100 (Sonoma)
Last race 1996 Lund Look 225 (Topeka
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of December 2, 2011.

Wally Dallenbach Jr. (born May 23, 1963) is an American racing driver who formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He competed in 226 Winston Cup races from 1991 to 2001 and had 23 top 10 finishes. The son of open wheel racer and former CART chief steward Wally Dallenbach Sr., Wally Jr. is also a road racer. Aside from NASCAR, Dallenbach has raced in SCCA Trans-Am, IMSA Camel GT, CART, and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Largely retired from full-time driving, Dallenbach was a race commentator for NBC Sports and Turner Sports. His primary responsibilities are for TNT's NASCAR coverage, a position he had held since 2001, and NBC Sports Network's IndyCar Series coverage, which he has been a part of since NBC was bought by Comcast in 2010 until 2014. Dallenbach worked with Adam Alexander and Kyle Petty on TNT and with Leigh Diffey and Jon Beekhuis on NBC Sports Network. In 2015 Dallenbach joined Fox NASCAR on NASCAR Race Hub.

Racing career

Early career

Dallenbach was born in Basalt, Colorado. He grew up in Denver with his father Wally Dallenbach Sr. and mother. After graduating high school, Dallenbach left Colorado for North Carolina to start a racing career. He began his pro racing career in the SCCA Trans-Am Series. Immediately he won the Rookie-of-the Year title in 1984, and followed that up with two Trans-Am championships. The first one in 1985 driving for Jack Roush in a Mercury Capri. This made Dallenbach the youngest Trans-Am champion at the age of just 22 years. The following year Dallenbach joined the Protofab team and drove their Camaros to another championship. The success garnered him an invitation to race in the International Race of Champions in 1987. Dallenbach followed up those accomplishments by winning the 24 Hours of Daytona four times and the 12 Hours of Sebring three times.

NASCAR

By 1991, Dallenbach was ready to make a jump to the world of NASCAR, racing in the Winston Cup Series. He made 11 starts that year driving one of Junie Donlavey's Fords. In 1992, former boss Jack Roush called Dallenbach up to have him drive as a teammate to Mark Martin in the #16 Ford. He drove for Roush during the 1992 and 1993 seasons with two top-5 and five top-10 finishes.

In 1994, Richard Petty put Dallenbach in the famous #43. He was the second driver other than Petty to drive the #43. Dallenbach was released part way through the season. 1995 was an up-and-down year as Dallenbach did not have a full-time ride. However a one race deal with Bill Davis in the #22 Pontiac almost got Dallenbach his first Cup win at Watkins Glen, but he fell in the closing laps to finish in 2nd. Dallenbach was considered as one of the better road course drivers and was often recruited to drive at such tracks as Sonoma and the Glen, as many drivers struggled on these more demanding tracks.

Dallenbach's 1996 Winston Cup car at Pocono Raceway

The following years saw Dallenbach jumping around to different rides including the #15 Ford for Bud Moore Engineering in 1996, and the #46 First Union Chevrolet for Felix Sabates from 1997 through part of 1998. Later that year Dallenbach stepped in to sub for Ricky Craven in the #50 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. The combination worked out well and Dallenbach signed on to drive the #25 Chevrolet for 1999. It resulted in his best position in the standings of 18th.

In 2000, Dallenbach joined the new Galaxy Motorsports and drove the #75 Ford. It was a difficult season and proved even more so when promised sponsor opportunities fell through leaving Dallenbach rideless right before the 2001 season was to begin. In fact, Dallenbach was listed in several season preview media sources, despite never attempting a single race that season. Dallenbach would also sub for Joe Nemechek in the Pocono event in 2001.

Broadcasting career

Without a ride, Dallenbach took up TV commentating in 2001, covering the NASCAR races for NBC and TNT alongside Allen Bestwick (later Bill Weber, then Adam Alexander) and Benny Parsons (later Kyle Petty). In doing so, he became known for his pre-race "Wally's World" segment, where he takes celebrities for a ride around the track. The commentating also allowed Dallenbach to drive in a few Busch Series races and do some live commentary from the car. Dallenbach and Weber also teamed up to commentate several CORR-sanctioned off-road races, with Dallenbach pre-running the track in a Pro-4 truck. With the NBC and TNT partnership splitting at the end of the 2006 season, Dallenbach stayed with TNT's new six-race package, and also reunited with Weber during NBC Champ Car broadcasts.

Dallenbach has not given up on driving however. He has since run Daytona Prototypes with his brother Paul at the 24 Hours of Daytona and in 2006, won the open wheel division at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb with Paul finishing right behind in 2nd. On September 22, 2014, Dallenbach announced he would return to Trans-Am for the season finale at Daytona in the TA2 class, stating the "broadcasting phase of my life is over".[1]

Personal life

Dallenbach is married to Robin Dallenbach, who is the daughter of legandary drag racing driver, engine builder and team owner Bob McCall. The couple has three children; Wyatt, Jake and Kate. All three of the Dallenbach children were involved in various forms of motorsports.[2] Kate Dallenbach is currently a member of Richard Childress Racing's driver development program.[3]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

References

  1. ↑ DiZinno, Tony (September 22, 2014). "Wally Dallenbach Jr. is coming back to Trans-Am". NBC Sports. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Dallenbach Racing Drive Profiles". Dallenbach Racing. 24 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "RCR adds two female teenagers to driver development program". Foxsports.com. January 28, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Tom Gloy		 Trans-Am Series Champion
1985, 1986 		Succeeded by
Scott Pruett
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