|
|
 |
 |
  |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Wally's new world Dallenbach eager to embark on broadcasting career
By Mark Spoor, CNNSI.com SONOMA, Calif. -- Wally Dallenbach is just happy to be busy. "I knew that there wasn't going to be a whole lot happening in the garage for five or six months," says Dallenbach. "So, basically, I've been laying low and seeing what opportunities come up." A big opportunity came up. Dallenbach, who has 226 Winston Cup starts, launches a television career July 5 when he becomes the color commentator for TNT and NBC's coverage of NASCAR. He said the opportunity really just kind of fell his way. "Actually, it came from my brother," says Dallenbach. "He heard they were looking for a third person in the booth. I called Benny [Parsons] and asked him about it.
"[Parsons] said he was meeting with NBC and that he'd throw my name in the hat." After an audtion, Dallenbach had a contract -- and a new career where he says no one will be spared. "Basically, I call 'em as I see 'em," he says. "If it's my opinion and I believe it's the truth, I'll say it. I'm not worried whose feelings I'm going to hurt. "I think that needs to be done," says Dallenbach, 38. "I think everybody tiptoes around here a little too much these days." Dallenbach, a native of Basalt, Colo., has a pair of second-place finishes in his Winston Cup career -- at Watkins Glen in 1993 and '95. He finished 26th in the 2001 Pocono 500 in a fill-in role for Andy Petree Racing. Dallenbach makes no bones about the fact that if another chance to drive comes along, he'd be interested.
"But those things are hard to come by these days," he says. In the booth, Dallenbach says he's not going to borrow anything from FOX's team of Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds. "That's not to say they haven't done a good job," says Dallenbach. "That's who they are. What you see is what you get, and that's the same in my case." Parsons says there will be some similarties between their product and the FOX package. "We just want to continue with the great job FOX has been doing," he says. "The viewer is going to expect fun. We can't do a three-hour show straight-laced because it isn't going to be accepted well. We've got to make sure we have fun." But, Parsons added, there are limits. "I don't think I'm going to sing," he says. "I'm pretty sure Wally isn't going to sing."
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
