When I arrived at Steve Wallace’s hauler to interview him at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the day before his Nationwide Series race, I could tell he wasn’t having a very good day. He hadn’t said anything yet and he seemed like he’d rather not have to do an interview. As you’ll see in the interview below, the source of his annoyance reveals itself. At the end of the questioning I asked him what his goals are for this year and Steve said, “Definitely win some races, run good. We’re really plenty capable of it. We’ve just had a really shitty start to the year and haven’t had luck on our side. Our cars aren’t handling as good as they need to, so we’ve got a lot to fix.”
I will say, though, that as we went through the questions he seemed to relax and overall I dug his answers, especially what he’d like to hear God say when he gets to heaven.
🙂
For the record at Las Vegas he ended up finishing 16th, which isn’t super terrible, and the following race at Bristol he finished 11th (Better!), then 27th at Auto Club Speedway (Uh oh). So it looks like they’re still got their work cut out for them.
—
What is your favorite word? Dude
What is your least favorite word? Y’all
What turns you on? In what way? (Me: In whatever way you think. Think of it as, like, what makes you happy) What makes me happy. When my car’s fast. Today it’s not. I’m not happy today. Or yesterday. (Me: But you can work on that, right?) Yeah.
What turns you off? People with chips on their shoulders.
What sound or noise do you love? Engines
What sound or noise do you hate? Loud screeching noises, like nails on a chalkboard. Anything that squeals.
What is your favorite curse word? The F-bomb.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Professional fisherman.
What profession would you not like to do? Aw shit, there’s a bunch of them. Anything that has to do with an office would not be good for me.
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? That I’m a badass, that’s about it.
—
Read more of my “Inside the Actor’s Studio” questionnaire interviews in the archives and read about how it all started with Tony Stewart.