SCR: Do you remember the first race you entered on that go-kart?
Waltrip: My first race on my own go-kart was in Olney, Illinois. Jeff Green and all the Greens were racing there. There was a series called SIRA, Southern Indiana Racing Association. I remember going out and they had a cool go-kart track, like a road course. It was fun to drive on. I'm challenged mechanically, even today somewhat. I know just about enough to get me in trouble on a lot of occasions. When I was 12, I was only worse. I was buddies with Jeff Green and his family helped me with my go-kart. My kart was the same as the type the Greens were all running. I told Jeff it wouldn't run right coming off the corners there at Olney. You had to adjust the carburetor mixture as you're riding and I had done all that, but it still wouldn't work right. So Jeff, who was only 13 at the time, took a screwdriver and tore my carburetor apart right there on the side of the track and rebuilt it and put it back together, and I went out and won the class. That was pretty neat.
SCR: Do you remember your first race in a stock car?
Waltrip: It was at Kentucky Motor Speedway and it was just like my first go-kart race because I won it, too, a Mini-Modified event. Newt Moore, who is now crew chief for (Kenny) Schrader, towed from Nashville to Kentucky Motor Speedway in Owensboro. I went out and broke the track record. We had practiced and had a cool car, the Mountain Dew No. 11, just like Darrell's (Cup car). After I went out and broke the track record, Newt went out and broke the track record, so he was the fastest qualifier. There were four of us in the trophy dash and I started third, he started fourth. I got the lead first-it was only like five laps-then he passed me and won the trophy dash. In the heat race, same deal. I get through the traffic, lead the race, then he passes me and wins the heat. In the feature, I get out there and I'm leading. I would pay no telling what for a video of this, but I'm sure there isn't one. But in the feature I get the lead and he passes me. I don't remember how but I passed him back and won my first feature event, but I never will forget my dad being there and what a big night it was. Mini-Modifieds, 1981, at Kentucky Motor Speedway. I went on to win the championship that year.
SCR: Then in 1983 you won the Goody's Dash Series title. How involved in your career was Darrell at that point?
Waltrip: He offered a lot of advice. He won the Winston Cup championship in '81 and '82, so I can't put a price tag on what that meant because it did so much for me. It enabled me to find sponsorship and get people to help me because of my last name. Then my first real sponsor, my first big sponsor, was Komfort Koach, a van company in Louisville, Kentucky, and Darrell put that deal together.
SCR: How do Darrell's experiences as a team owner factor into your possible career as a full-time team owner?
Waltrip: The reason I have a Busch team is because of Darrell. I always liked how he had a car of his own to fiddle with. He was off driving for Junior Johnson, but he had his own shop and had his own guys. It was something that I always looked at and thought one day that's what I want to do. So in '96 I started my Busch team and we've been successful, won some poles, and won some races. When you look at an operation like Dale Earnhardt Inc., and try to figure out how to compete against it, you have to really make sure you have your ducks in a row when you start thinking about moving into Winston Cup as an owner. It's all about people and money-the money you can attract from sponsors in order to hire the people you want to do the job. I think I have a real good understanding of what it would take to be successful. But time will tell whether I ever wind up owning a team or if I just drive.