Rusty Wallace’s racing debut came in 1973 at Lakehill Speedway near Valley Park, Mo. From 1974 through 1978 Rusty recorded more than 200 feature-race wins. Rusty then moved on to the United States Auto Club stock car circuit in 1979, where he was named rookie of the year.

Adding an ASA ACDelco Challenge Series championship to his resume in 1983, Rusty moved on yet again, this time to the Cup Series, where he earned rookie of the year honors in 1984 after posting two top-five and four top-10 finishes in 30 events -- highlighted by a fourth-place finish in the Southern 500 at Darlington.

Rusty finally got his first Cup checkered flag in April of 1986 at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Valleydale 500. However, Rusty did not earn his first pole until a year later at the Miller 400 in June of 1987 at Michigan International Speedway.

Rusty really started gaining everyones attention in 1989 when he captured the checkered flag in The Winston all-star race and added six more wins and 20 top-10 finishes in 29 events on his way to the 1989 NASCAR championship, beating Dale Earnhardt, Sr. by just 12 points.

Rusty increased his wins to 10 in 1993, but finished second to Earnhardt in the point standings. Rusty visited Victory Lane at least once in a string of 16 years in a row until 2002. The string was the best of all active drivers.