Rusty Wallace Takes an Open-Wheel Spin

Rusty Wallace just can’t help being hands-on.

The longtime NASCAR Nextel Cup star is trying his hand at a new role now, becoming a television color commentator for ABC and ESPN on its IRL IndyCar Series telecasts that begin with the March 26 Toyota Indy 300 in Homestead, Fla.

To get a better sense of what he will be talking about, the former stock car champion took a little spin Thursday behind the wheel of Sam Hornish’s Penske Racing Honda Dallara, running eight laps around the 2.21-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road course.

“I feel like I’m going on my first roller coaster ride,” Wallace said before firing up the car. He noted that Team Penske teammates Hornish and Helio Castroneves gave him all the information he needed.

“Then Helio said, ‘It’s not a qualifying lap. Go out and have fun.’ ”

Wallace, who finished his NASCAR career driving for Roger Penske, did just that, although he failed to heed Castroneves’ final word of advice: “Don’t stall the engine.”

It took Wallace a couple of tries to get off pit lane. Once he did, though, Wallace ran a best lap of 1 minute, 18 seconds -- about 7 seconds slower than the best lap of the session by two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves.

“I’ll tell you, I never could have reported on this sport the way it needs to be reported without getting to drive this car,” Wallace said.

“I was really impressed with the brakes, they could stop on a dime. The acceleration was incredible. But the biggest surprise to me was how you go out and get such great speed, and as you turn down off the back straightaway, I can’t believe how hard the wheel gets going into turn 10. As you arc off into there, the steering wheel’s locked up. It’s amazing.

“That was the only place that was spooky,” Wallace added. “The slow corners were fun, the upshifts were fun. These are incredible hot rods. I’m glad I did it.”

It was obvious he still has the competitive fire burning.

“I’ve been coming to Homestead forever and ever, always running the oval, and I’ve never seen the road course before today,” Wallace said. “It’s a great road course. I can’t believe how beautiful it is, and I never saw it before. Every time we came here it was covered with motorhomes.

“If I started off in the morning, I think by the end of the day I would have been within a second and a half,” he added. “I knew in my mind where I gave up stuff. The biggest thing I needed was the car to fit me better, and getting more seat time to build confidence that this car will stick. I don’t know the operational envelope of these cars and how far you can take them.”

While Wallace joked about talking team owner Penske into running a third car for him in the Indianapolis 500, he said he was serious about getting more track time in an open-wheel car this year.

“I’m going to do it all year long in the two-seater, run all the tracks and get a good idea of what’s going on,” Wallace said.

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Jack Roush is returning to drag racing, where he began his motorsports career in 1966.

Roush, a team owner who has found success and fame in NASCAR, winning championships in Cup, the Busch Series and the Craftsman Truck Series, will field a multi-car program through his Roush Performance division in the National Mustang Racer’s Association Denso Ford Drag Racing Series this year.

During the summers, the Roush family often goes to Milan (Mich.) Dragway on Wednesday evenings for amusement and informal test and tune sessions.

“I have never lost my love for the sport of drag racing,” Roush said.

“It is where I first began my career in motorsports, and now drag racing has become a way for me to spend some fun time with my son [Jack Roush Jr.], daughter [Susan McClenaghan] and her husband [Dale McClenaghan]. I have enjoyed drag racing nearly my entire life, and I am thrilled that it is now something my family can share together.”

The NMRA program will feature up to five cars, but the goals are different from those of his stock car program. While the teams will still be very competitive, these vehicles are being used for research and development for the new Competition Line of Ford parts from Roush Performance.

The Roush Performance team begins the season March 9-12 at the fifth Annual Nitto Tire NMRA Spring Ford Nationals at Bradenton (Fla.) Motorsports Park. Driving for Roush will be his son, daughter and son-in-law, as well as Doug Thompson and Dan Bowles.

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Roush Racing star Mark Martin, who initially planned to slow down in 2006, will drive in at least 56 races this season.

After being talked by the team owner into staying in his No. 6 Nextel Cup car for one more year, adding 36 more points races and two non-points events, Martin also had to make good on some other commitments, including seven races in the Busch Series, seven more in the Craftsman Truck Series and four in the International Race of Champions series.

The four-time Cup runner-up already has run five of those events, winning his first two truck races and finishing 12th in the Daytona 500, ninth last Sunday in the Cup race at California Speedway and seventh in the non-points Budweiser Shootout.