WIN Series Presents - Kimberly Wallace
I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Kimberly Wallace, wife of Kenny Wallace, mother of daughters Brooke (24), Brandy (22), and Brittany Wallace (20). Kim is pictured above at the celebration of the couple's 25th wedding anniversary. Kenny and Kim renewed their vows and celebrated with their family and friends on June 23rd, 2009.
During our chat I learned that the couple had actually met in high school. Their meeting had nothing whatsoever to do with NASCAR. During that time Kim had attended races with a family member, never knowing she’d ever meet Kenny. Kenny didn’t really start racing until after the young high school sweethearts had married.
My Chat with Kimberly Wallace
Kim Wallace at the age of 1. |
KW (Kim Wallace)- I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri (to parents Charlie and Dee, seen in above photo). I have two sisters and one brother. One is in Charlotte near me and the other two live in St. Louis still.
LB- Was racing in your family prior to Kenny or after Kenny?
Kim in junior high. |
KW- I played volleyball and softball in high school. We did the normal things. We were just normal kids. We were in girl scouts. We were just normal kids.
LB- Did you attend college?
KW- No, actually I could have. I had the grades to do that. But I basically met Kenny and ended up moving south with him and did not do college. I’m a party planner. Had there been the opportunity to go to school for party planning back then, maybe I would have ended up going to some college for that.
LB-So you’re a party planner. I didn’t know that ...
KW- Yes I love it! I think it comes from having such a huge family. My mom is the oldest of 10 children. So there are tons and tons of family members when we get together. I think in the immediate family there are like 125 of us.
You just learn how to deal bigger groups of people and stuff. In fact, right out of high school I worked for a local cafeteria chain. It was a restaurant based in executive buildings so we were their restaurant so sometime we’d stay after hours for their executive parties. So I learned a lot through there.
LB - So was that your aspiration when you were younger or did you have something else you were thinking of getting involved in?
KW- No, that’s probably where I was because I enjoy planning parties. To this day I will get a bunch of girls together, and when I say bunch, I mean like 45-50 of us. We’d get together in my game room at my house and have like a ladies night bingo. Just events in general. Like helping with the fan club meetings, and planning stuff like that. I've also held some benefits for family members who were ill. It's a lot of gathering and thinking and planning. I’ve always just been good at being creative.
When my kids were little I sewed their clothes, and now I’m making Halloween costumes at the last minute. Or my sister has a wedding next month, so I did all of her flowers for the wedding, and decorations in general. I have a creative mind, I guess.
Kim and Kenny when they were dating. |
LB- How old were you and Kenny when you first met?
So we hooked up. He kind of thought I was teasing with him. So I’m the one who actually made the first phone call to see if he wanted to get together and have dinner or whatever. He said sure and we ended up being together ever since. 30 years.
LB - So what was your first date?
KW- Believe it or not, my parents went to a wrestling match. I was babysitting for my little brother and sister so he came over there. It was really kind of strange but Kenny was helping Rusty race, and Rusty was paying for his car insurance and gave him a car to drive. He (Rusty) wasn’t paying him a salary, so Kenny’s wallet was completely empty all the time. So there wasn’t any of your so-called dates.
I remember the first time he ever had a $20 bill in his wallet. Rusty gave it to him for something. We went to the Ponderosa. Then I couldn’t even eat in front of him. Back then girls were always nervous and would never eat in front of the guys when they went out. I don’t understand but we just never did. So he sat there and ate a meal and I just sat there and talked to him.
LB- You're such a busy busy woman. Mother of three girls, wife of a race car driver and you plan parties. How do you get it all done?
KW- I raised my girls to be very independent. They are good girls. Never got into any real trouble which having the lifestyle we did traveling all the time it would’ve been very easy for them to get into some kind of trouble, they but never did. One is a dental hygienist, one is a hair stylist, and the other is a sophomore in college for fashion merchandising and marketing. So they’ve all picked career paths they are happy about. I was the kind of mom that said if you don’t want to go to a four-year college you don't have to. That’s not what it's about. Find something you can fall back on in life because you don’t know what life is gonna deal you. So that’s what they did. It's kind of great. They were able to choose something that they are very happy with going to everyday. Kind of like Kenny. He wanted to be a race car driver and he’s happy. He picked something he really wanted to do and is happy doing it. That’s what he does for a job. That’s what the girls did by following in that path.
But I’ve always been there for them. They come to Mom and Dad for certain things. Like Kenny taught all of them how to drive. I couldn't, I am nervous in the car. That was his job. When they need money they come to me. Then I can tell dad that they need money. That was when they were growing up. They've never missed a birthday party. They've always had spectacular birthday parties and graduation parties.
We always had a deal with the girls growing up. When they turn 16 they got a car, when they turned 18 and graduated from high school they got to pick a trip within the United States and the Caribbean - They could take two friends and go. When they turned 21 we took them to Vegas for three or four days. That’s really all the time we had. We couldn't just take them for week long vacations with our racing schedule.
Raising them we’ve always had group, family meetings in the living room and it doesn’t mean because someone was in trouble. It could be because (it was) just an informative meeting. Kenny sees on TV that kids are using Mickey Mouse tattoos that are laced with LCD or something so we’d pull them into the living room. TV would be turned off, and no phone calls coming through. They were young at the time. We’d sit down and tell them you can’t do this or we don’t want you to do this because this can happen. We didn’t start out to have these family meetings, but somehow someway they’ve become very influential in raising our kids because they don’t forget any of that stuff. Not at all!
Whenever Kenny was home for those two or three days, he would spend as much time with the girls as he could. I was never the mom that said just wait until your dad comes home. I would take care of the discipline right then and there, because there was no reason to bring it up once he got home.
Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Kenny Wallace |
A special thank you to Kim, Kenny and their daughters Brooke, Brandy and Brittany for speaking with me and providing me with great insight into growing up in the Wallace household. It was a pleasure to work with you on this post and on our special Mother's Day tribute.
WIN Series Presents - Kimberly Wallace
Reviewed by Lindi Bess
on
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Rating: