Pull it over, Bud
Rusty Wallace pulls over good drivers as part of CHP campaign
Posted: Wednesday June 24, 1998 07:16 PM
| |
Wallace: "California is huge for us. I don't think we pulled over anybody today who didn't know who we were."
(AP) |
SONOMA, California (AP) -- Imagine getting pulled over on the highway for excellent driving. Then imagine that the guy handing you a ticket is NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace.
In a California Highway Patrol car with lights flashing, Wallace pulled over a number of good drivers on Wednesday morning and issued them tickets -- to this weekend's Save Mart-Kragen 350 at Sears Point Raceway.
"They all have the same look, `Oh! What did I do wrong?' They think, `I wasn't speeding, maybe my tags are expired,'" Wallace said.
Wallace's stunt was a promotion both for the race and a safe driving program in Sonoma County.
"There's a little bit of shock," CHP officer Wayne Ziese said of the general reaction to the ruse. "They don't expect somebody to come up and thank them for safe driving. So the shock kind of turns into pleasant surprise."
One couple Wallace targeted chatted nervously as they spotted the CHP cruiser bearing down on them. Once stopped, Zeise approached the couple and asked them to step out of their car.
Then Wallace walked up, decked out in his racing suit.
"We're going to give you a ticket for not speeding," Wallace told Dan and Sonja McNamee, who were vacationing from Denver.
"It's really funny," Dan McNamee said. "We were just talking about it [NASCAR] in the car and I was naming a couple of drivers and Rusty was one I mentioned."
Wallace is no stranger to pre-race stunts in the San Francisco Bay area. Two years ago, he barreled down the steep hills of San Francisco in a taxi cab for charity. Last year, he roared his show car across the Golden Gate Bridge to promote the span's 45 mph speed limit.
Wallace likes coming here, in part because he has had success in Northern California's wine country. He won on the road course at Sears Point in 1990 and '96. He has six road-course victories in his career.
The 1.95-mile course has been reconfigured to include "The Chute," a straightaway that cuts between turns four and seven, eliminating the carousel.
Wallace predicts it will make the course faster -- and a bit more challenging.
"The carousel was always a real good place for me to set up a pass," he said. "So now I'm going to have to find a new spot."
The race is typically the largest single-day sporting event in Northern California, where NASCAR racing is steadily gaining fans -- a fact that was evident on Wednesday.
"California is huge for us," Wallace said. "I don't think we pulled over anybody today who didn't know who we were."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
