← Herm & Schrader
Herm & Schrader
Kaulig CEO Chris Rice: Return of RAM & Playoffs vs. Points
01:07:34
Kenny Wallace talks it over with his old crew chief Chris Rice, who's now the new CEO of Kaulig Racing
Loading summary
Transcript203 lines
- [00:00]
Expedia Narrator
Martha listens to her favorite band all the time in the car, gym, even sleeping. So when they finally went on tour, Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live. She saved so much she got her seat close enough to actually see and hear them. Saw dog. You were made to scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you more Expedia made to travel Savings vary and subject to availability. Flight inclusive packages are atoll protected.
- [00:30]
T-Mobile Advertiser
Everyone deserves to be capable connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T Mobile is in US cellular stores.
- [00:49]
T-Mobile Advertiser Disclaimer
Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.
- [01:01]
Kenny Wallace
Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation brought to you by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. Remember to go to JEGS.com for anything you need to fix your everyday vehicle up or even your hot rod. Well, you're looking at him, one of my longest friends in racing and now man, he's got a big time leadership role at college racing. My dear friend Chris Rice. Chris, how you doing man?
- [01:36]
Chris Rice
I'm doing great and as always you make me smile no matter what you're doing. So thank you for that.
- [01:42]
Kenny Wallace
Oh man, you know, let's go right here right away as I was studying for our Kenny Conversation. I like what you say on your social media. You know everybody's got a headline and in on your headline it says trying to make as many people smile as you can. You, you've always been a fun, good person. Where does that come from? Mom, dad?
- [02:09]
Chris Rice
Well it comes from both sides of my family. But my mom really my mom is very loved by the sport and has been for a long time. But you know, as back when I was a bigger guy my jolly self, I could make people laugh and now I'm changing that and trying to change people's lives and their health. Looking into starting some sort of charitable giving to try to get people's health in check. Anybody that's having fear of doing something like that. So if I can make people smile doing that, it comes from my mom and dad side.
- [02:40]
Kenny Wallace
Really, I love it. Okay everybody listen up. We are going to talk about colleague racing's role with Ram. The Ram trucks are coming back to nascar and they have chose colic racing and you're looking at him, Chris Rice, to lead this. And we're going to even go back to Chris's early days when he joined the Sadler brothers back in South Boston, Virginia. But let's, Right now, let's just stay right where we are. My disclaimer is you were my crew chief and I ran good with you and you were, you were a bigger man. And then you even taught me some, some good foods. So when did you decide? I mean, you are in excellent shape right now. I watch you work out. When did, what moment made you go, I'm gonna lose weight and I'm gonna get healthy.
- [03:34]
Chris Rice
So if you remember the 09 truck and the 09 car you drove, family farmer's truck. My dad had heart surgery, then he had open heart surgery. And my family has always had, you know, heart issues or whatever. And it didn't hit me until about three years later when I left that team. Rab, Robbie, Ben was great to me. Don't have a bad word to say about him. And I left that team and I thought, man, I'm going to be out of racing. You know, I got to fix myself, I got to do different things. And then I, we built this program. I met Matt and we built this program and I started looking at myself as I was putting sports coats on and just different things. And I thought to myself, man, I just kind of look bad as a person. Like, I have a great personality. Why doesn't my body follow that? And mentally, I went through a lot of hardships trying to build this, trying to find an OEM that would help us and push us. We had Chevrolet, but not really that big key partner. And I mean, mentally, I just, I needed a space. And it's two things you can do, Kenny. You can go to the bar or you can go do something for yourself. And I chose the gym. Some people go to the library, some people go do different things. I chose the gym. And when I chose the gym, I went in there, big guy, and I guess kept staying hurt. And I'm like. And a sign hit me, it says, you can't out work out a diet. And my redneck ass, you know, just kept that word like, you know, I just kept going, what does that mean? I'd come and welcome North Carolina and eat hush puppies and all this stuff. And I just, finally, two years ago, I said, hey, it's time to fix Chris Rice. I went from 270 pounds over the last two years. I'm 202 this morning with about 52 pounds of muscle weight. And I don't want to be bulky. I don't want to be that guy that, you know, it's like ra. I don't take anything to, to grow my muscles anything like that. This is all very natural. I do peptides and stuff like that because I've learned about that through my doctor and you know, because that, you know, they call it a fountain of youth and thank gosh, we have the fountain of use. Not I'd probably dead because you know how hard I ran back in the day. But I decided that two and a half years ago it was time to put it out to the world that I have a problem and I need to fix my body. And I have. Dude, when I don't do those motivational videos and you know, I'm going to talk about you tomorrow in my motivational video but if I don't do them, I just get beat up. Where you at? And when I do do them, you know, people love them and they hit me up and they thank me and I just see that person behind that keyboard smiling. I hate keyboard warriors that get mad, right? But I love keyboard people that smile. And when I see that Kenny, it makes me so happy. It makes my day. So I've been, I've been really working hard on how do you do a charitable thing to bring. Raise money for the people that are not, they don't. Not mentally strong enough to get out and change their body. They don't think they can. They don't feel like they're, they can make things happen. So I'm going to do something like that because in the world of nascar, it's hard. So I take the gym and that's my stress relief. 5:00 clock in the morning, 4:55, I get up, I go to the gym. We have raised this to be a couple of guys that push me. We have a group text that we eat each other up pretty hard on and it is very stress relieving. I come in a way better mood. I got a really nice shower in my office that Matt allowed me to build. I come in here and shower. You can see behind me. I got a bar back there that we entertain people at. And so I did it two and a half years ago. Really. It was a very conscious effort to really fix my body.
- [07:26]
Kenny Wallace
I can relate. Back in 2012, I went to the, you know, you know, I, I came into NASCAR when there was not such a thing as a NASCAR physical. You know, it was just like we're going to Daytona, run across to the hospital and, you know, Halifax and, you know, get a little checkup. And the doctor goes, you're okay. Well, then NASCAR said, no, we want to see physicals. And my doctor said, okay, your sugar's at 120. If it gets to 122, we're gonna have to put you on a sugar pill. And I remember going, stop. You know, I called Mark Martin and, you know, you and I are kind of like minded in being happy. And there was a quote that changed my life and really just punched me right in the face. And it was. It was one that I shared. It's the one that it goes like this. Your life won't change until you change your life. And it really reminded me, oh, my God, I'm in charge. You know, sometimes we blame everybody on everything that's wrong with us.
- [08:29]
Chris Rice
Yeah.
- [08:29]
Kenny Wallace
And I like your story, how you just took hold and you look good, buddy. You look lean and mean. And I look very lean.
- [08:40]
Chris Rice
I'm proud to say I got to 16 of body fat last month. Yeah. And I'm. I'm working on getting rid of the loose skin right now. I will not do any surgery. I don't believe in that. I think you personally can do it. It's going to take a little longer, and once I get rid of that, I might post a picture of it. I've been very, very private about keeping my shirt on and stuff like that. So, yeah, maybe when I do. And it's not the gloat. Right. Because it's people out there that can't get there. They mentally think they can't get there. Right. And I want to be that guy or that person that can help them get to wherever they want to be. They might not better get to where I'm at. They might not be. Kenny, I remember when you and I were together and I'm going to tell this story, and you taught me to be honest to race car drivers. You did. I will never forget this because I would always, you know, just like. Which is kind of hurt me a little bit because some drivers don't like for me to be honest, but you taught me that. I remember standing in California. I will never forget it. You know, you had went cup racing. You came down to drive our cars, and if you remember correctly, our engines weren't that great that year, but we were really. We really pushed hard in different things. And you pulled me to the side to trail and you said, and I'm not going to use the F bomb. But you used F bomb. And you said, what's this effing rumor about I can't drive with a right side window in? And I said, oh crap. Like, because you remember that's what people always said. Kenny Wallace can't drive with a right side window.
- [10:06]
Kenny Wallace
And that means a super speedway, a big track, big track.
- [10:10]
Chris Rice
Yeah, like a big. This two mile track back to California. I said, let me tell you something, Kenny. I don't listen to that. And that is what they say. And I was just perfectly honest with you and I pressed you to show people. And we had had some trickery stuff going on and we were pretty good. You went out running the top three all day at California. Best run you'd had in them places forever. And we went on to contend and you won Charlotte. And when you got in that other car and you just from your end of your career, what I call the end of your career, you took over the right side window and you showed people that you could drive in anything you wanted to. But you taught me to be honest about what people say, which fired you and I up and that's what I needed when I get fat. Like I need people to be honest to me like you taught me to do with drivers. Right. And I love that story when I tell younger kids because that's. I remember that like it was yesterday and it was a scary part of my life because I had to tell Kenny Wallace. If you don't forget, you had the sponsor like you. You own the sponsor. Stacker 2. And you know you. I know you remember that, that California day we had that deal going on with our sway bar.
- [11:21]
Kenny Wallace
And we were.
- [11:21]
Chris Rice
We were really good that day. We were. I will never forget it.
- [11:25]
Kenny Wallace
I will never forget. Now you're making me think. I will never forget Charlotte. When I wasn't sure what the car was doing.
- [11:33]
Chris Rice
Oh yeah. And.
- [11:34]
Kenny Wallace
And you were watching my hands and you come in and you. You put a. For a lot of people that don't understand, we. He put a full. What they call a black rubber in the right front. It. It amounts to a hundred pounds. So if we had a 17 pound. 1700. 1600. It made it. And I took off. I mean, you did. I mean I took.
- [11:58]
Chris Rice
You unlapped yourself. If you remember. We were running 10th one lap down. You unlapped yourself. And we finished sixth that day. And we were bad. Like we were just. You were screaming. I was mad. We were. And I. We luckily had the in car camera. And every time you drive in a corner, I won't you would turn right. And I'm like, you're not going forward. And not like, we just. We did that, and we ran well that year. And if you remember, it was the year that Bill Davis. Late Bill Davis, which was good to both of us. Obviously, it's racing and everything doesn't fit what we want to do. But that. The. The truck program was coming in, the Xfinity program was shutting down, and. But you went on to carry that Momentum onto the 22 car, if you remember. Like, you. You. You carried that on with Todd Gordon and those guys, and you ran phenomenal from that time on. I will never forget it in the Xfinity series. And, you know, I think it's time for you to think about running a Ram truck one time.
- [13:00]
Kenny Wallace
Hey, okay, we're gonna move on, everybody. But that is a disclaimer. I'm gonna add one more. I got another one that really helped me. Tough times last a while. Tough people last forever.
- [13:13]
Chris Rice
Look at us.
- [13:15]
Kenny Wallace
You gotta battle through it, everybody. There's things, you know, to. To this day, I'm on social media, and you gotta have thick skin, you know, because that's where we are in life right now. And this is the way, you know, this is the way it's all done. This is. Our new advertising is digital social media, and the sponsors love it. And, you know, I. I tell everybody, Chris, I say, you know, my sponsors don't care about my dirt car. They want to know my numbers for social media.
- [13:47]
Chris Rice
So that's everybody, bro. That's. See where we put these logos. Look.
- [13:51]
Kenny Wallace
Look at them. Yeah. Yeah, it looks good. Okay, everybody. So by accident, okay, we're gonna have a little fun. Sea rice. That's Mr. Chris Rice, everybody. As my friend, you know, we would call him C. Rice because he's. He's a badass, and he. He gets things done. And now he's a businessman. So let's start like this. So many months ago, you know, breaking news in the garage area. And it was kind of confusing because this word, Stellantis slash Ram, it's kind of like, well, Ram, where's Dodge at? But now Ram is coming back into nascar, and, man, listen, congratulations. They chose you and your team. Colic Racing, your owner, Matt Collick. They chose you all. So just kind of start from there. From the day that you heard about this and what happened to the word Dodge? And then we got Ram, who is still Stellantis, and just them choosing you. Kind of take some time and talk about it all.
- [15:03]
Chris Rice
Yeah, I'll do a two Part and I'll get to the Dodge thing at the end. Two and a half years ago, almost three years ago, I heard that some OEMs wanted to come into NASCAR. This is a small world, right? Like, everybody listening to this, it's a very small world. So I'm like, how do we get into conversations? Nobody's going to put us in a conversation. We got to put ourselves in a conversation. So I was like, you heard Honda's coming? Well, I got a good friend that, that is in the Honda world, Michael Shank. So I'm like, hey, can I reach out to Michael Shank? How do I get in the. The Ram side or the Dodge side? We called it Dodge then because we kept hearing Dodges coming back. How do we do that? So two and a half years ago, maybe even. Yeah, a little over two and a half years ago, reached out to a guy and, and was able to acquire. Talking to him. And I don't know that I'm available to say his name yet. He hadn't gave me that. But everybody can kind of figure it out. And became a good relationship with this guy and he got us in the door. Well, what we didn't know is obviously they're doing their due diligence. They're looking at us over the last two years. They're watching us. They're watching what we're doing, how we act on social media, how we act as a race team. Who are the partners that we're picking up? What are the drivers are we picking up? Who are some of the people we're hiring? Are we for real or do we just want the money? We didn't know none of that. And the next thing we didn't know is that they were talking to three other teams. So we were going to be a four team. We didn't know any of that. We got the opportunity to go and sit down with them and present our, you know, colleague racing to them. We said, hey, do you want a deck? Do you want anything like that? And they said, nope, we just want you guys to come up here and talk. So we, we went up there and we worked pretty good as a team. Matt and I have been best friends since we started this. We work pretty good as a team. He's trained me up how to run this business like he did leaf of the gutter protection. So it was like, okay, so let's sit down and just be as brutally honest with them as we can be. Because if they want the true colic racing, we can provide that. If they want Us to be somebody different. We can't provide that. Like we just, we are us, we are different than anybody else in the sport. You notice we've stayed far out of the news. That's been in the sport forever. We've, we've not said a word. We've not been involved in it. You don't see our name come up much. We just are different type people. We're very aggressive in our social media world. Myself, Matt, our race team, you know and we, we have companies that are aggressive like Celsius, Grizzly nicotine pouches. We have aggressive companies. So we sit down with these guys, Tim Kaniskis, Nate, Ty, myself and Matt, we were all in there and we had a great conversation. We stood up after about a four hour meeting. They were showing us around a little bit. Tim shook our hand, said we'll be talking and the other guy was like, hey, we want to do X, Y, Z. What's that? What do you think that's going to be cost wise? We'll talk tomorrow at 10 o'. Clock. This was 6 o' clock at night. Wow. We'll talk tomorrow at 10 o'. Clock. We, Ty and I work kind of all night talking back and forth what we thought we could do. It started out as three trucks. That's what we were thinking. And four months later we were picked.
- [18:35]
Kenny Wallace
Four months. Wow. That was a long time. You had to wait a long time, dude.
- [18:39]
Chris Rice
That's why I got a 5 head now instead of my head.
- [18:43]
Kenny Wallace
Brutal.
- [18:44]
Chris Rice
Yeah. And, and we work with those guys and their, their procurement people and their, their lawyers along with why they were still making. I think we won it the day we went up there. But they've never told us. But we're so much like Ram. We're so much like them. We're very aggressive. We will do anything they want to do. Whether that, you know, I mean it's some great stuff coming out that they're going to have in January that you're going to love Kenny. You're going to have Kenny conversations, coffee with Kenny that you're going to talk about and go. I mean you go to bed at like it's like when you and I text, right? We privately text and we don't talk about it. But you're gonna be like why this Chris? Why that? Yeah, I'll let it tell you. And it makes sense to it. But you know when you talk about the Dodge for me and you, we always. You drove a Dodge, you call I dram. Yeah, they used, called Dodge Ram. So the Company was put together and they had an old CEO that, that separated it. Right. And. And the market share. Rams sell a lot of Ram trucks. And so they, I think they wanted to kind of put that in one bucket. Dodges in another bucket. And what Tim Kaniskis has done is unheard of as a CEO. And you go back and look at it, guys, you can, you can do it. So when they separated Dodge and Ram, Dodge is a car, Ram is the truck. So it's that simple. It's. It is not. It's not overthought about. It is nothing other than Ram is the truck, Dodge is the car. We're getting ready to go for immersion, to get understood. Get us to understand everything they do. Because it's a lot, right? Like when oem, you talk to oem. It's a lot, but it's super simple for the Dodge and the Ram. Yeah, we used to call it Dodge Ram, but now Dodge is a car, Ram is a truck. So the question is, when does Dodge come back to cup? Not Ram is already in trucks. When does Dodge come back? Right. Which is owned by Stellantis. Wow. Which is fca, which used to be Fiat, if you remember.
- [20:42]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah. Hey, this is Dalenhardt Jr. And for the latest Herman Schrader gear, you need to go to shop.dirtymomedia.com We've got plenty of options for everybody and we're adding new stuff all the time. So go to shop.dirtymomedia.com Everyone deserves to be connected.
- [21:01]
T-Mobile Advertiser
That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch. And now T Mobile is in US cellular stores.
- [21:17]
T-Mobile Advertiser Disclaimer
Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits. Plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.
- [21:29]
Chris Rice
We know you'll always find ways to look out for the people you love. And with Amica life insurance, we'll help build a plan to make sure you always can. Visit amica.com and get a quote today.
- [21:45]
Kenny Wallace
That. That's a lot. So they just separated Dodge's cars, Ram his trucks.
- [21:50]
Chris Rice
That's right.
- [21:51]
Kenny Wallace
And Stellantis is over all of it.
- [21:53]
Chris Rice
That apparent company.
- [21:55]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah, I'll be darn. Okay, so you're looking at him, everybody. Once again, Chris Rice has just been named the CEO of Color Gracing. I mean that, that's that's a big title. When was the moment that, that Matt Colleague, the owner of Colleague Racing, when do you remember that? I mean, you get this big boost which is Ram, and you're going to run three trucks and then Matt says, okay, we're going to make you the CEO. Tell me, was it a phone call? Was it. Come here, sit down. That's a big deal.
- [22:33]
Chris Rice
It is a big deal. And I actually have the paper over there. So Matt was the CEO and owner forever and I was the president, which I was the boots on the ground. I was here running it. But Matt, you know, everybody knows he owns a company, he lets me run it like it's my race team, has always did that. And I'm very fortunate that I've learned the business side from him. Well, when you get a company like Ram and you got grizzly nicotine pouches and you got Celsius and you got C. Best and you got all these companies coming to you, they want to talk to the CEO, right? Like they want to have a conversation with the CEO. And I'll be honest with you, Kenny, I've never been a big title guy. You know this. I'm a worker. I'm the guy. Like you see me right now, my college shirts under my, my sweatshirt because I'm always cold. But like I'm not that guy that thinks if I get a title, I mean, better than anybody in the shop. So when we went up to an event, Matt had us all up to an event where they had just acquired a huge company. Because Matt owns companies. He invested or owned over 75 companies. They had just won a bid to buy another company. And it was, they wanted to have a good get together. We had just signed ram. They wanted to have a company exec style get together. And we went up there and he had this really nice picture that I actually gave to my mom and dad. They hung in their, in their house to where he named me CEO. And it was, I had no idea. Like, I really didn't. He did it in front of all of our peers and our people that work for us. And you know, and when I didn't know the impact changing your title from president to CEO, how big a deal that was gonna make. And it's made a pretty big deal. And I, and I'm not gonna lie, he allows me to do things like a CEO, but what comes with it, and I've always said this, I understand the pressure that's put on people when they get that three letter word right, CEO like Cause it's pressure.
- [24:32]
Kenny Wallace
Well, C. CEO, to me, it's. Now more people than normal are going to want to talk to you because they know either the buck stops here or you can help make things happen. So, yeah, I get you. Where, you know, we're racers. You know, we're, we're in the pits, we're on top the pit box. We're, you know, part of this race team. But, you know, it's like crew chief or car chief, and it's like, oh, what's the car chief do? Oh, he's the one that does what the crew chief wants to be done. So, yeah, CEO is a big deal. Congratulations on that.
- [25:10]
Chris Rice
Thank you. Thank you. It's like winning a race. It was, you know what I mean? Yeah. It can't take it unless you do something stupid. That. So I'm not gonna do anything stupid. I'm gonna keep working on me so I don't do anything stupid.
- [25:22]
Kenny Wallace
Does. And I mean this in a fun way. When he named you CEO, was there a moment in the next week or month or day you went, oh, damn.
- [25:34]
Chris Rice
I gotta, I, I, I'm still doing it, Kenny.
- [25:37]
Kenny Wallace
I, I'm still Chris, but I gotta be, I gotta be a little more mature and I gotta watch my words.
- [25:42]
Chris Rice
And so I get a, if I'm gonna have anything to drink, I get a driver now. So. Because I know that's a, that's a big deal, right?
- [25:50]
Kenny Wallace
Like, they cannot mess up.
- [25:52]
Chris Rice
You can't mess up. If I, if I'm going to do something that, that is related to having to, to, to have a conversation with a lady here at work, I have somebody in here with me now because I can't. You just can't mess up. And the big thing that I think that I realized is at the racetrack, I can't be as accessible because I can't get to where I'm going. You know, Dale Jr. I know he owns Dirty Mop. I never understood the, that part of it. I love the fans. I would love to be out there with them. Talladega Boulevard, this, that, you know, I would love that. But I've had to.
- [26:27]
Kenny Wallace
You get in trouble.
- [26:28]
Chris Rice
Not a little bit. You just, you can't do it. And I have my group of friends that doesn't look at me like the CEO. They still look at me like Chris, like you do, which is fun.
- [26:39]
Kenny Wallace
And I'm excited for you, though.
- [26:41]
Chris Rice
It is fun and I love it. I do. When I, when I lay my head down at night, I know we have over 150 people here now, and I know that my job is to get up so they can pay their house payments, they pay their boat payments, they can pay their car payments or their Ram truck payments. That's my job, to make sure that they're comfortable and they can do that. Because you remember the days at Homestead when everybody was getting laid off and you didn't know if he was gonna have a job. And now it's my job to make sure that these guys and girls have a great life to live.
- [27:13]
Kenny Wallace
I always zone in on things that I remember, you know, and I remember we all had a nickname for that Monday after the last race and Miami, Homestead, like, you know, Black Monday. It was our NASCAR's Black Monday, where, okay, everybody's going to get fired and all the teams. But, you know, that really is something that I think about in the sport now that I'm older and more mature. In your position, you're looking at. How many employees did you say you have?
- [27:45]
Chris Rice
We're over 150 now. We're going to end at about 155 to 160 this year. I would say in the next four years will be 280 to 380.
- [27:55]
Kenny Wallace
So now. So, yeah, so now my point is, is now you look at every one of those people. They're married, they have children, and they're looking at you. And in a roundabout way, you and Matt are in charge of their whole life.
- [28:12]
Chris Rice
Whole life. Whole life.
- [28:14]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [28:14]
Chris Rice
It's the way you and I looked back in the day when we were. We looked at Bill Davis. Right? The late Bill Davis. Like when you and I were together or Robbie or. Or Brack. They remember Brack, Maggot. Like, yeah, like that. They kind of had our. And I hope we get to this. They. They had our life. You were fortunate enough. You made it in Cup. That and for the guys and girls that don't know this, Kenny done a really good job of saving his money and he actually gave me great tips with. Right. Like.
- [28:44]
Kenny Wallace
Yep.
- [28:45]
Chris Rice
And so when we built Colleague Racing, I built it on some of your values, Kenny. We, we give people 401ks, we give them insurance. We have a great benefit package. Because I remember you saying racing would not provide you with a retirement plan. I will never forget you telling me that. You told me that before. It was at Daytona, before we went to Rockingham. Missed the damn race. Sorry, I didn't mean to say damn. But anyway, it's okay. It's all good or whatever. But we give them the opportunity to retire here with A good life. And the Ellsworth car that you see me post the other day for my first win, that is our company that takes care of that. And you look at those people because you want to give them that good life. And if you give them that good life, they'll work so hard for you that, that you don't have to worry about succeeding. Right? You don't have to worry about it.
- [29:37]
Kenny Wallace
And we all learn, I might add my viewpoint. I like this subject and we're going to move on in a little bit here, everybody. But we all learn whether mine was from, you know, my great philosopher Dick Trickle. Rusty was very strong minded. But I had a childhood friend that worked for a union and he said, Kenny, one thing that changed my mind, he says, I was in a, I was in a meeting and this older man stood up and he, and he looked at everybody and he was, he was picked to give a little speech to try to make a difference in these, these employees brains. And he looked at them on, he said, okay, it's too late for me guys, but it's not too late for you. Max your 401ks out. Max them out. You'll thank me when you get to be, you know, 62 or 65. And I see that they do that in the NFL now when these players make 40 million a year, they literally have a program, you know, to say, okay, you're making a lot of money, you need to learn what to do with it. But yeah, that's part of life. And you and I have definitely done more than just race. Okay, we're moving on, everybody. Same subject matter, but we're moving on. Okay, now you're gonna have three trucks. Are you all gonna have any other teams or are we focused on three trucks? At college racing we have five trucks. Five. Whoa, I've lost count. I'm looking at this free agent truck which we're gonna get to go through them all for me.
- [31:14]
Chris Rice
Yeah. So we have the 10 truck that is, that is going to be at Daniel Dye. We have the 12 truck which is going to be Butterbean Queen, which is going to be. He's a. If you don't follow, you need to follow him. And Daniel die. They're going to interact so good together. And then we brought back Justin Haley. Justin lost his job in cup. Got him back. He's going to be in the 16 truck. The 14 truck is a secret. It's a top secret that you'll get to know about in January. So which is cool. And then a 25 truck is the free agent truck. You will know what driver it is every Monday. I think the Daytona driver might get announced a little bit earlier so people can enjoy it for a little while, you know. But the cool thing is every Monday, you'll get to see who the driver will be in the 25 truck.
- [32:04]
Kenny Wallace
And I like that idea. That's exciting.
- [32:06]
Chris Rice
It's so exciting. And what's so fun about it, Kenny, is we're trying to get the audience outside of nascar, like, right. We have our audience. Like, you know, we have our people. We. We love our people. I love our fans. You know, I have probably, I don't know, you know, 4,000 that are just dedicated Chris Rice fans. And when you see them, they, you know, they're just so excited to see me where if. And I love them, but we're looking for that global person. I don't know if you've watched this lately or not, but watching Dana White with colic racing on his shirt at a US I see it all, like, is awesome. And. And I was able to present that guy with that shirt, but I can't say that right. I can't, because that's his. That's him. We're trying to get the global part to come into NASCAR now that all the rigmarole is over. Get them to come in here, buy entire sport, train us up what they want to see, and all five trucks are going to be exciting. There's going to be something exciting inside of all five trucks that we're not telling everybody, but every now and then.
- [33:12]
Kenny Wallace
And I love it, they're all saying on the Internet, Tony Stewart's gonna drive that truck. Now, whether it's true or not, it's got everybody talking. So y' all did the right thing.
- [33:24]
Chris Rice
You get them talking. Yeah. What did that. What did they say? You build it, they will come. You get them talking. Maybe Tony will call us. You know, maybe he will. So, I mean, I think he left with pretty bad taste.
- [33:37]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah, I don't.
- [33:37]
Chris Rice
I don't think he left that scar too happy.
- [33:40]
Kenny Wallace
And I wanna. And when we get. When we get done celebrating you. And that's next. When we get done celebrating you. I do want to talk to you about nascar, so hang in here, everybody. Once again, we're talking to Chris Rice, the CEO of Color Racing. They've recently been awarded, as Chris just says, five Ram trucks. And they're all exciting. Butterbean Queen, man, he deserved this. I mean, he has won in the cars, all the stock cars around South Boston, and then he Goes on and wins everything there is in Arkham. And Daniel Dye, I love his. His full. I want his hair. I want Daniel Dye's hair. But you got two good guys right there, don't you, Chris?
- [34:20]
Chris Rice
Yeah, we do. You know, if. If you had. If I had Daniel dies hair, I wouldn't worry about my.
- [34:26]
Kenny Wallace
I don't.
- [34:26]
Chris Rice
I don't have it. He cut it so he could look better. And Daniel's gonna get his helmet on. Yeah. He made that sock like you used to wear. You know what I mean?
- [34:36]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah. Yeah.
- [34:37]
Chris Rice
What you should do with that sock. Can we. Can we sponsor that sock next?
- [34:41]
Kenny Wallace
Let me tell you, that sock started. My helmets smelled so bad and the salt was absorbing. And somebody from Stacker to the wife of Bob Aquafino, she gave me those. And it just kept me cleaner because I can't. I'm a clean freak. I don't like smell. And I wear those socks so when I sweat, it stays contained and, you know, you see the football players wear those socks.
- [35:08]
Chris Rice
Well, I want to sponsor it next year, so just tell me what it'd take to get college in the sock. Okay? That's what I want to do. You know what we said? We can tattoo our forehead so we can put our name on that sock.
- [35:20]
T-Mobile Advertiser
Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math. @tmobile.com switch and now T Mobile is in US cellular stores.
- [35:38]
T-Mobile Advertiser Disclaimer
Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans, plus the cost of optional benefits. Plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.
- [35:51]
Lowe's Advertiser
Member week is on at Lowe's. Get up to 40% off hundreds of items like appliances, home essentials, decor and more. Perfect for your January reset. Plus earn five times the points on an eligible purchase shop. Member deals in store and online from January 8th to the 14th. Still not a member. Join for free today. Lowe's we help you save. Point Booster. Subject to exclusions and more. Terms apply. Loyalty program subject to terms and conditions. Visit lowe's.com terms for details. Subject to change.
- [36:21]
Chris Rice
You know, Daniel has a big heart for Ram and Dodge because his dad has a dealership. Randy Dye and stuff like that. So Daniel's got a lot of pressure on his shoulders to do good in the Ram. Yeah, Butterbean man, he is just so thankful he made it right. He's Made it to the ram trucks. He knows that this is his time. He's got to go. He. There's a pathway to cut through at college racing. So he's got to go. He's got to get after it. It's a race inside our shop really. There's five trucks. Who's going to be first one out of the five? You know, today marks our first time on our first truck in the wind tunnel. Super excited about that. So Butterbean and Daniel, they're going to have a big fight on their hands because I'm going to tell you, Justin Haley has a little thorn in the side right now to show everybody he belongs to. So that's going to be a fun three guy race to run for the championship and drivers and owners before we move on.
- [37:16]
Kenny Wallace
I guess I'm a little nosy because there's the racer in me. What did you do with your O'Reilly Auto Parts cars and your cup cars?
- [37:25]
Chris Rice
So we still, we still going to do cup racing. We. And it's actually in this, the area I'm at. Like we do. We're. I'll start with the cup. We got to stand on our own. We have no more alliance with rcr. We're done. It's over. Like the relationship was great. No hard feeling. Everything's great. So they were, they were basically could not help us anymore because obviously everybody's thinking Dodge is coming back to cup, which they haven't announced or even said whether they're coming back to cup. They're focused on the Ram product right now. And so we got to stand on our own. So we build our own bodies. We have our own seam. We're doing all that. We're working through that. They will be Chevy's inside the cup series with AJ Almendinger and Todd Dillon driving those cars again one more time or next year. Yeah, O'Reilly cars. We got rid of. We, we were able to. We ran so well in those cars. We were able to sell over 20. Over 20 cars to that new Peterson group.
- [38:19]
Kenny Wallace
Holy moly.
- [38:20]
Chris Rice
Yeah, well, that's just one side of it. We sold over 20 cars to those guys, the Peterson group and we sold over 10 cars to the Viking Motorsports. So we, we two people acquired both. All of our xfinity stuff. We don't have spindles. We don't have anything. All of that stuff's gone. They have a relationship with rcr, an alliance. So it worked out for everybody. RCR was able to provide them with good cars to start their alliance well. And we were able to get rid of them and we sold them pretty cheap, Kenny. You know, we got. We wanted them. I mean, we got five trucks inside of our truck shops. To the. To my right, your guys left. When you have that many trucks, we don't have 38 trucks. I think is where we're going to end more. Yeah. So, like, you got to have some room.
- [39:07]
Kenny Wallace
Hey, just want to add this real quick. You are in welcome, north carolina. You are on the richard childress racing properties. Is that correct?
- [39:16]
Chris Rice
No, we own our property. We own 14 acres. We own two buildings. We actually just acquired another building across town and we. We rent a space up top. So we own all our. It's an industrial park. It's called the welcome industrial park.
- [39:30]
Kenny Wallace
Okay.
- [39:30]
Chris Rice
Richard built in here and Richard owns. I I don't want to say. I think he owns like five buildings in here. And we would buy all the buildings in here we could because we could use them with all of matt's companies. Because this is a great central. We built the program. We built it in case matt quit. This is a great central location for distribution for leaffilter action industry and the doors, all the stuff that he does with erie construction. Like, this is a great central location that you can get to. Interstates are close 40s right up the road here. 85 is right over there. 52s right here, 77. There's a ton of interstates to get things where you need to go. So when we. When we came in here, Davidson county welcome us with open arms. This is why we are here. And it worked out that it was richard children's racing. So we have two great buildings and 14 acres that we have that we own right here inside of the welcome. I think it's a welcome industrial center. I don't know exactly what they call it, but they always call it. You're a Richard children's property. We're not on richard children's property. We. We own our own buildings.
- [40:36]
Kenny Wallace
Well, you know, when you and we.
- [40:38]
Chris Rice
Have these, Kenny, we have these. We have these. These key things that it takes to get in the building. You know where you got a little fob.
- [40:47]
Kenny Wallace
I don't even know what fob means. But hey, you know what? I would. I would not be doing a good job if I didn't ask you about matt colleague, the owner. Is he the owner of leaffilter still?
- [41:02]
Chris Rice
So Matt does own a. I think 30% of it still back. We were in race in two years and a private equity come in and bought a lot of it. And he acquired part of it back and he now he's in with that private equity company called Gridiron. They're very, they've been very loving to us to. We kept leaf filter on the car, so he does still own a portion of it. But you know, Matt colleague is my best friend and I got to tell you this, when, when Matt came into my life, it changed my life and I didn't even know it. He's taught me how to business. He taught me that. You know, I, I am now invested over six different deals with Matt. So I, I, I can proudly say if you want some wine glasses, gabrielglass.com and get you some wine glasses, I will appreciate that because I'm invested in that company with him and he's just taught me a lot. Matt is, I wish that I met him 20 years ago. Right. And everybody says that, but he is just an awesome human being. Every Giving Tuesday, I don't know if people know what Giving Tuesday is. He gives every employee that works for him $1,000 to give to any charity that they want to give it to. So if we have 150 people here and all of them take it as $15,000 he gives away out of our place. So is that right?
- [42:23]
Kenny Wallace
I don't know.
- [42:24]
Chris Rice
Yeah. But anyway, it gives a lot of money away. He's a great human.
- [42:29]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [42:30]
Chris Rice
Wow.
- [42:30]
Kenny Wallace
That is you, you, you know, you guys do spread PMA positive mental attitude. I, I first learned about that PMA years ago when Alan Quickie was racing, I think Lonesome Pine, Virginia in an ASA race. And, you know, it was coming down to the very end. Caution comes out and Paul Andrews takes, you know, back then we had the black chalkboards and, and Paul Anders wrote PMA positive mental attitude. Basically, hey, Alan, get rid of all the demons in your head. Let's finish this race off. You're going to win it. And that's what you guys spread there. You spread a lot of positive mental attitude. I think that's important. Man. You do a good job. I like that.
- [43:16]
Chris Rice
Well, thanks. A lot of good people been around me, you know, all my life to be able to, you know, I, I personally went through some rough times in the last little bit, but I never brought that outside of me, you know, because of positive mental attitude. If I can continuously focus and push that out, my girls, my grandbabies, and, you know, they, they definitely will follow along. When my grandbabies see me, it's the most gratifying thing ever because they come running to me and hug me and kiss Me and like they love me and I, I wanna just like you and your kids, right? Like you.
- [43:49]
Kenny Wallace
Oh, man, they're everything.
- [43:50]
Chris Rice
Daughters, they're everything. My grandkids and my daughters are everything. And that, that. The positive mental attitude I try to push towards them too.
- [43:57]
Kenny Wallace
My, My childhood friend Terry Phillips, his dad was Larry. Terry said to me, herman, he says, them grandbabies are so great. I wish I could have skipped my kids. It was just good comedy, you know.
- [44:12]
Chris Rice
You know why grandbabies are so good, right?
- [44:14]
Kenny Wallace
No, why?
- [44:15]
Chris Rice
Because you can give them back.
- [44:18]
Kenny Wallace
Yes. 100. But boy, they are the best. And okay, now everybody. Man, that took a while. But you guys got so much going on there and I know we could keep going, but Chris, I want to celebrate you and I, I listen, I'm jaded. It means I know too much. I know all about you. But I gotta let you talk. Let's just start like this, okay? You are Chris Rice. Your dad built race cars. Your mom runs South Boston Speedway. Let me just say this. When did you know you were in a racing family?
- [44:54]
Chris Rice
You know, I wanted to play football. Kenny, I'll be honest with you. You're.
- [44:59]
Kenny Wallace
You're a tall man.
- [45:00]
Chris Rice
Well, I was a big dude and I was 300 and some pounds in high school, so I wanted to play football. And my dad, I do this honestly for my dad. Like I'm proud to have my dad. And he came to the Christmas party this weekend. I do this because he. When we were with Jeff Burton in 1989 and we ran against you in the, in the Bush Grand National Rookie of the Year. Rookie of the year. And that was when I first met you, met you in the coxcart. My dad had to make a tough decision in 1990 and I was a 14 year old kid going on a road with him all the time. You know, I had still wanted to play football. I just went with him. I still wanted to play football. I wanted to go to the NFL. I thought that was what I wanted to do because I could. I was a defensive player, so I thought it'd be easy, you know. Well, I hurt both of my ankles and I didn't make it. So I had to make a decision like he had to make a decision decision. In 1990, my dad made a decision not to go to AG Dillard's and be the crew chief and wherever they were in Virginia because of his kids. I have a, I have a brother that many people don't know about. And then myself and my dad made that decision. And Jeff Burton's dad helped my dad, my late Uncle Earl, start their, their race business. And I knew then that I had to do something to make my dad proud. He wasn't proud watching me on the football field, I can tell you that. I just know that. And what I didn't know at the time, Kenny, is we wasn't fortunate enough to have insurances to be able to take care of me if I broke my leg. I didn't know that like I did. I was selfish. I was a selfish guy that just thought money grew on trees and you know, I wanted to get what I wanted. But my dad made a decision to start a business so he could be at home with my mom and be at home with us to finish raising us at our late age, you know. And so with that I was able to meet Hermes Sadler and the Sadler Group and they were able to fulfill that part of competition in me that I had. And you know, I had to make a super tough decision when I got out of college. Did I want to go and run my dad's business or did I want to move on and be a crew chief? And I made the decision to move on and be a crew chief. Such a tough conversation with my dad that I was not going to come and run the business. But what I did do, what I didn't know God had planned for us is we built race cars. And Elliot Sadler, I went on, I had worked with hermes, you know, 90 in the late model stuff and then he started running Busch Grand national in 93 and I was able to start spotting for him in 1993, I think. You know, I'd been to Daytona one time but never been like a spotter at Daytona. And I won't never forget. He's like, tells me three weeks for the race season. Hey, you're going to spot for me this year in Bush Grand National. It's different spotters then than it is now. You would go up, you would work on the car, then you go up spot, right?
- [48:03]
Kenny Wallace
Like give me time to get up top before you go out, right?
- [48:08]
Chris Rice
One radio and that's all. No waters, no nothing, right? Like you go up there and I won't never forget we were running an Oldsmobile Cutlass, if you remember. Had a big old bubble window in the back and our car was pretty fast. The spotter was terrible and he goes down the back straightaway. And I said clear. I was spotting the wrong car.
- [48:28]
Kenny Wallace
Oh no.
- [48:29]
Chris Rice
I'm like, my gosh, it was unbelievable. So long story short, I went, became crew chiefs for Elliott Sadler. My dad built the cars and we went on to win 15, 18 races in one year. And rocket shipped my dad's business and it was unbelievable how many cars he had to build, how many people he had to hire and that was all because, you know, he had me as a crew chief, Elliot as a driver and it rocket shipped Elliott's career and it rocket shipped my career.
- [48:59]
Kenny Wallace
I didn't know was that R and R, what was the name of that.
- [49:02]
Chris Rice
So it was A and E race cars back then, but now Marcus has bought it. Marcus Richmond and it's called R and S Race Cars Barnes.
- [49:09]
Kenny Wallace
That's it.
- [49:10]
Chris Rice
Yeah. So it's still in the same shop. Marcus is at it. Really.
- [49:14]
Kenny Wallace
Wow.
- [49:15]
Chris Rice
So it's just awesome that my career went that way and I struggled after I left Elliot on what to do and this is when my career really jump started. I met Buckshot Jones and his dad and was really good and he allowed me to, to just help him really. And then I came and that's when I was at Built. I went to Petty's with Buckshot and I did some, you know, cup racing for a while with him and then I went to Bill Davis. Did cup racing with you. Hill's brother's car, if you remember.
- [49:45]
Kenny Wallace
You've been to college, my friend. In a good way. You didn't jump around from team to team. It's, it's where you were taken. And now look at you. You're so much smarter. Yeah. So much knowledge. Now you know how NASCAR got to where they're at. I'm sorry. Keep going there.
- [50:02]
Chris Rice
But yeah, and I'm speeding through it. And then I, you know, I was able, I wanted to do the crew chiefing job back when you were, you were going to do cup racing. And I was selfishly, that's all I wanted to do. And I was like, if I don't get Scott women's crew chief and job because you remember Booty left.
- [50:16]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [50:17]
Chris Rice
With I don't know, about four or five races to go and I actually built the shocks for. Did the things like that. Helped them out.
- [50:23]
Kenny Wallace
You're good. Good at building shocks.
- [50:25]
Chris Rice
Yeah. Yeah. So I helped him and so, you know, I got the crew chief job and I didn't do the best job I could, looking back on it. But who does? And then we got you and you believed in me and we did a really good job.
- [50:39]
Kenny Wallace
You changed the right front shock for me at Kansas and got me going. I was too loose getting in and we had it held down and I'm I know you. There's little things we all remember. But let me just brag on you for a minute. Everybody listen up. You're looking at a guy that has kind of done it all. Can take a shock apart which was one of the most integral parts of any, any race car today. And look at you now. But okay, so you know, it's hard to go two hours on Kenny conversation. But yeah, so, so keep going. Your dad and we got to get to your mom too.
- [51:17]
Chris Rice
Yep. So we, I, I made my career and then met Matt Colleague. You know, I, we did the things we did. Met Matt Colleague and we built this program from man. We started with 12 people. I want to give it a little bit of time. We started with 12 people. We still have nine of those people working for us today. Wow. So I'm proud of that. I'm proud of. We gave away five year awards. Next year we'll start giving away 10 year awards. And it's, I'm so proud to say we keep people when we get them here. So which is cool. We have a little bit of turnover. We have more turnover this year than we've ever had. But we have more people. So, you know, so I'm proud to say that I got done with the crew chief and the building the shocks and I was like, man, I got to run a business. I want to learn how to run a business. And we hired Nick Harrison, if you remember, the late Nick Harrison. We hired him as the first crew chief outside of me. We went on that year and we lost Nick Harrison, if you remember. Yeah.
- [52:11]
Kenny Wallace
What a nice meeting in the middle.
- [52:12]
Chris Rice
Of the year like that. And man, what a defining moment of how to freaking run a race team. Right. Like rally everybody up and show him love and do all that. So been through so much at Colleague Racing that I could sit here for hours and tell you we run a tractor and trailer off a mountain going to Kansas. You know, I mean, we've done so many things that every race team has. But what I'll tell you, and then I'll get to my mom that every situation I've been put in has taught me to be better.
- [52:44]
Kenny Wallace
Yes.
- [52:44]
Chris Rice
I didn't know it at the time and I was very selfish and, and very mad about.
- [52:49]
Kenny Wallace
It's part of the journey.
- [52:51]
Chris Rice
It's the journey. And any kid that loves listening to Kenny Wallace and will listen to this Kenny conversation this long, what I'll tell them is that they will believe in the path and believe in the system and give every minute of every hour to what they're doing, all they can give it. It will make sense. When you get later in life, I will tell them that, you know, and my mom, where I get me from, like, where I get to all that. I love this.
- [53:16]
Kenny Wallace
I love this.
- [53:17]
Chris Rice
She ran South Boss Speedway. She was a bus driver. I made a wreck the bus twice because I was on.
- [53:24]
Kenny Wallace
How'd you do that?
- [53:26]
Chris Rice
Well, one time I went up and I think I moved the steering wheel.
- [53:29]
Kenny Wallace
And run off in the ditch.
- [53:31]
Chris Rice
Everything I did was stupid, so.
- [53:34]
Kenny Wallace
Had a steering wheel. Everything's about a steering wheel.
- [53:38]
Chris Rice
She ran the racetrack for 30 plus years. She still, she still is a consultant for him. Very smart lady. First lady.
- [53:48]
Kenny Wallace
Hold on, back up. I don't. I don't interrupt very much. You glossed over. Your mother ran South Boston Speedway for 30 years.
- [53:57]
Chris Rice
Yep. My mom, Kathy Rice ran south on Speedway for 30 plus years. We think it's 35, but we're not real sure.
- [54:04]
Kenny Wallace
Time flies.
- [54:06]
Chris Rice
So. And you know, Pocono bought it, so. Pocono, Nick Adowski and those guys bought it. And they love her like and half a years.
- [54:14]
Kenny Wallace
The adult, she knows what she's doing.
- [54:16]
Chris Rice
Yeah, she knows what she's doing. So she's awesome. And I can't wait to tell some of the stories over the past year how she's helped us because nobody knows. And it's cool. She's 70. How's my mom? 74 years old, young lady and still getting it. She. She came to the Christmas party this weekend. She's awesome. And she's still on the NASCAR foundation, the NASCAR appeals board. She's on the. She picks the hall of Fame people. She's on that board. So she. She's still very active in NASCAR and they appreciate her a lot. So kudos to my mom and dad and all the people that have been instrumental in me getting here. I mean, I could name thousands of people that have. I went through my contacts the other day, 3,800 people in my contacts. And I would say, you know, over half of them have been instrumental to get me here.
- [55:10]
T-Mobile Advertiser
Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits. They leave out. Check the math. @t mobile.com switch and now T Mobile is in US cellular stores.
- [55:28]
T-Mobile Advertiser Disclaimer
Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits. Plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits, credit. Stop if you cancel Any lines qualifying credit required.
- [55:42]
Lowe's Advertiser
Member week is on at lows. Get up to 40% off hundreds of items like appliances, home essentials, dec and more. Perfect for your January reset. Plus, earn 5 times the points on an eligible purchase. Shop member deals in store and online from January 8th to the 14th. Still not a member. Join for free today. Lowe's we help you save Point Booster Subject to exclusions and more terms apply. Loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Visit Lowes.com terms for details. Subject to change.
- [56:12]
Kenny Wallace
I've been able to have Elliot Sadler, Hermes Sadler, Ward Burton, Jeff Burton on Kenny conversation. And I've had great conversations with him. And, and Elliot is the one I remember the most. He got very adamant and he was, you know, a very good on Kenny conversation. But when you rattle those names off, it's kind of like me right here in the St. Louis, Missouri area, and I say, you know, you know, Kenny Schrader and Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray. I have my guys that went on and what, what is it, what is it like in your head when, when you go, my God, Elliot Sadler, you know, Jeff Burton, Ward Burton, you. You grew up around. You were part of superstars, and now you're a superstar, too. But do you ever think about that?
- [57:03]
Chris Rice
Well, I think. What I do think is I. Yes, but I think if you surround yourself with good people, you're going to be like them, Right? Like they always say that. And they were superstars. I was around superstars because I was lucky. But my dad was a superstar, my mom was a superstar, and they surrounded their people with their self. With superstars. Like you. Like you, for example. You are a superstar. Like you. You. I love when you get to gaggling with these people on social media.
- [57:30]
Kenny Wallace
I don't know that guy. Chris, this is. This is Kenny Wallace right here. I don't know the guy.
- [57:35]
Chris Rice
On social media, it don't matter if he won 70 races or one race. He was very instrumental in making Dale Earnhardt. People don't understand. You made Dale Earnhardt because you were a good friend of his to be able to help him in bad days. People don't understand. It's just not about the racetrack. Kenny Schrader. Kenny Schrader called me. I will never forget it. He called me right when we got the Ram deal. Have you heard this story?
- [57:57]
Kenny Wallace
No, not yet. But Schrader loves bucks, I can tell you that.
- [58:00]
Chris Rice
I hadn't talked to Kenny Schrader in forever. I don't know the last time I talked to Kenny Schrader because I'LL talk to you way more than I thought. He goes, he left me a message. I called him back. He says, first off, I don't want to drive the truck, but I got this kid I need to tell you about. But you surround yourself with superstars and they're calling you. Yeah. That's where it is. And fans have been big for me. I have. I love my fans. I want to get. I want to get more and more fans. I want them to love and appreciate, and I want to push out positive positivity like you said. So the more fans we can get to push out positivity, we'll help the world and help America.
- [58:40]
Kenny Wallace
I love that. And we need more people to push positive mental attitude. Okay. As I say all the time, we are not going to get you in trouble, and I'm not going to get in trouble. We're closing in on one hour, and my Lord, did that go quick. This tells me this could be easily be three hours or two days. So we just. You called. I forgot what you called it just now. But we just got done with the NASCAR lawsuit.
- [59:12]
Chris Rice
We're.
- [59:12]
Kenny Wallace
We're in Christmas. We're moving into 20, 26. There's a lot of great things happening in NASCAR. Things are changing. As the country people would say, things are changing. Give me a synopsis. That means give me an overview of where NASCAR is right now in. In your leadership brain.
- [59:41]
Chris Rice
So. And, and we can't get in trouble now because it's over. So.
- [59:46]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah, but, you know, all the good stuff now. We're. We're moving forward. Let's just say that, you know, we got, we got Ram trucks coming in. We got new tracks on the schedule. We're going back. You know, we got all good stuff.
- [60:00]
Chris Rice
Yeah.
- [60:01]
Kenny Wallace
What are you thinking?
- [60:02]
Chris Rice
Yeah. So first I'm gonna say this. I'm glad it's over. Me, too. I'm glad it's over. We didn't put out a statement. You're welcome to put this on your social media. It's up to you. But I'm glad it's over. NASCAR is a legacy. I'm gonna start it with that. We don't know. We didn't know until now the ins and outs of people's contracts and different things like that. And nor should we. We don't know what happens in your bedroom. Right. Like, but to be fair, if you have kids, like, you got to be fair to them. And we're like their kids. Right. And I think that's what I vision this as Michael Jordan was part of NASCAR's kids. You know, we were. We were somebody that was going to continuously bring the legacy. So he felt like that it needed to be fixed or in his mind, fixed to be able to help the kids. Right. Like, you don't want, when you pass away your kids to be poor. You don't want them to. To live a bad life. You don't want them to do stuff like that. And I look at it that way because I feel like NASCAR has given me a great career. So I don't want to talk zero bad about it. I love nascar. I love everything they do. Have they made decisions that doesn't fit team owners? Absolutely. And we got to fix that. And I think that's what Michael Jordan was all about. Now, if Matt, what you. How many times have you heard Bob Jenkins name said like. So it took a m. Yeah, right. You took a Michael Jordan to go in there and say, guys.
- [61:29]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [61:30]
Chris Rice
And I'm glad it got to a place that they settled. Yeah. And not have to go to the jury to make a decision. Whether we want to say Michael was winning by a landslide or NASCAR was losing by landslide. We don't care. I don't care as a company. I don't care as a Chris Rice. What I care about is we got to a place that Michael's happy, Jim France is happy, Ben Kennedy's happy. You know, Lisa's happy. Everybody's happy with the decision that is made. Let's move on. Let's make it good for everybody that is involved. I think in the next, you know, 15 days or whatever, it'll be over. Everybody will be inside the new charter contract. And let's move on and let's see what we can do for the race vans. And in 40 days, this will be forgotten about. Some. Some reporter were right. Michael Jordan slam dunked on nascar or something like that. But I don't even look at that. It doesn't matter.
- [62:23]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah, it's over. It's over. Okay. So I agree with everything you said. I like the way you said it. And you and I are successful people. So we're moving on. Now we remember everything. We log it in the back of our heads, but we're moving on. NASCAR is going to come out and let's just talk about cup for a minute. We've celebrated the Craftsman truck series. You. You got five trucks, but you still got a cup car.
- [62:50]
Chris Rice
Two of them. So.
- [62:54]
Kenny Wallace
Why have they not given us the new points championship format yet? What do you know?
- [63:02]
Chris Rice
I know a lot more than you think.
- [63:04]
Kenny Wallace
I know, that's why I'm asking you. You're down there, I'm in St. Louis. But are they just waiting for the back burner?
- [63:12]
Chris Rice
I'll be honest with you. Got put on the back burner and I talked to Mark Martin a lot, believe it or not. You're gonna like it. You will like it. It's not exactly what everybody's posting about. Like, I don't think they hadn't made a final decision the last time I was involved. We need an adjustment. Do we need an overhaul? No, but we need an adjustment. I enjoy going back to, to Homestead, but we don't need one race to make the difference.
- [63:43]
Kenny Wallace
I agree.
- [63:44]
Chris Rice
We know going to Homestead, if Kyle Larson's in the final four, who the heck you think is going to win?
- [63:49]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [63:49]
Chris Rice
If Tyler Reddick's in the final four, who the heck you think is going to have a shot like, like, come on. So they recognize that the fans have been vocal. Kenny Wallace is a big advocate of this. I've watched so many times Kenny change the direction of the, the lawsuit by saying X and I'm like, geez, that's good. We've listened as a, as a sport, and it's going to be great. What I do know is I feel like 75% of the people are going to love it. 10% are going to be okay. Right. And that's going to leave 15% of the people that's going to hate it. So with that being said, the traditional way of doing points would be tough to do in this era because we are looking towards a younger group of people. Right? So that's what we got to think about. Me and you, man. I'll go back and watch him. Old races on Tubi and like, dude, it might be one car on Elite Lap and he. Somebody's winning the point series by 487 points. Like, I mean, that ain't exciting to the young guy or the young woman. So we got to make it exciting and our attention spans. My social media guy says, remember, Chris, 30 seconds long, not four hours, 30 seconds.
- [65:01]
Kenny Wallace
I had to learn that too. I've been up and down everywhere. But okay, so we, it seems like we have figured out. I, I heard NASCAR say something that I really like, and maybe it was Steve o'. Donnell. He said, we're going back to Bowman Gray. We're going back to Wilkesboro. We're going back to Rockingham with, you know, trucks and O'Reilly Auto Parts, so we can go out to San Diego. I think they, they've learned NASCAR's learned their lesson that they can't give up all the old fans chasing some new fans. Are you excited about going out to. What is that? Coronado Air Force Base? Am I saying it right?
- [65:43]
Chris Rice
Oh, man, I'm a redneck. You know, I can't say that. San Diego like I, you, you all.
- [65:49]
Kenny Wallace
And you're, you know, the trucks. Are the trucks doing that too? All three series trucks.
- [65:55]
Chris Rice
O'Reilly and cup will be doing it. Yes. I'm glad we're going. So I want you to remember this and you young, young guys and girls, you won't understand this, but you remember when you seen your mom and dad's old stuff in the closet and then the next thing you know, 10 years later, you're wearing that or somebody's wearing that exact same thing. That's what we had to do with nascar. We needed to get back to North Wilkesboro, we needed to get back to Rockingham. We needed to go to Bowman Gray. I think it's one going to be coming in the near future. Everybody's going to like a lot too, going back too. So I'm excited about that. We went back to Darlington on Memorial Day, I believe. Right. Like that. We always used to do so. Yes. I love going out to San Diego. Will it run its course? Probably. We can't run around an Air force base for 10 years. It just doesn't work. What we can do is we can go out there for a couple of years and. And make good sense of it. Right. We tried the LA Coliseum. It just didn't work. Like, it was not. I don't think it ever was a hit. I think NASCAR did lose a lot of money in that. But going to San Diego and being on Air Force Base, because we live In America, everybody. USA, right? And we are very. When 9, 11 hit. Kenny, you remember this? She was in Cup. We were one of the first sports back packed. American flags raised everywhere. You know, when, when covet hit. We were one of the first sports to hit TV again. Live sports hit TV again. So we're a sport that is aggressive. Going to San Diego, racing around on an Air Force base is going to be fun. I've looked at the racetrack multiple times. I think we're going to take 19 cars and trucks just in case we need them because it looks like it's going to be rough.
- [67:32]
Kenny Wallace
Oh, my Lord. Five trucks times two. Yeah, that's ten. Then you got cup cars and times four.
- [67:40]
Chris Rice
That's 14 trucks. I mean, that's vehicles. So it's going to be rough. The cool thing with cup, we go from San Diego to Sonoma. We're going to take A.J. i think we're going to pebble beach and do some golf in between. So that'll be fun. So I do. I am proud and happy to go back to that. And I'm proud that North Wilkesboro has a points paying race. I think a longer race at North Wilkesboro will be fun. I hope people wreck each other. Like, what was it, Ricky Rudd or Kenny Bernstein or Brett Bodine wreck Dale. They'll learn hard that day there. So I hope some fun stuff happens. We'll make.
- [68:16]
Kenny Wallace
Make some moments. Well, listen, C. Rice, my dear friend. You're looking at him, everybody, Chris Rice, the new CEO of Colic Racing. And I know we can spend another hour. Can you believe we've gone an hour and five minutes and we're still rolling? You were wonderful. What else?
- [68:35]
Chris Rice
I'm taking pictures of a song post about it.
- [68:38]
Kenny Wallace
Please do.
- [68:40]
Chris Rice
Nothing else. I'll say this, Kenny, I'm proud of you for how open you are and you don't give a flip about how you are because for years you had to be politically correct and we need people like you. I bet they still send your free hard card even though you're aggressive with them.
- [68:56]
Kenny Wallace
I'm fair with him. I'm fair with nascar. I see Mike Elton all the time.
- [69:00]
Chris Rice
Yeah.
- [69:01]
Kenny Wallace
And he looks at me.
- [69:03]
Chris Rice
You are a guy that if people will watch you. I can't believe you don't have that cup wrapped with something and a sponsor.
- [69:10]
Kenny Wallace
This is funny. It's funny. I decided to go to iced tea. I got my Sunoco coffee mug in there. You know, Sunoco has been good to me and I just. I don't know why, but I decided to go to iced tea. But there's iced tea in here.
- [69:22]
Chris Rice
And this is fun. Don't. Hold on. Don't quit. You know, don't do anything that. That will hurt the race fans. And if you'll race the dome again.
- [69:36]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [69:37]
Chris Rice
I promise I'll come and be your crew chief.
- [69:39]
Kenny Wallace
You know, the only reason I didn't go to the dome is it's just. It's so much work.
- [69:44]
Chris Rice
Well, let's get a group of.
- [69:46]
Kenny Wallace
So much work. You know, you check in on Wednesday. It is. The dome is a wonderful event. I mean, it is ultra success. Well, anyway, I was going to. I was going to put my. But yeah, the dome is a wonderful event. It's just. I believe it got to be an end to everything. And. Yeah. But I don't think I could have got any more out of the dome. It was so good to me.
- [70:09]
Chris Rice
It was okay.
- [70:10]
Kenny Wallace
Well, you, you got a lot, a lot of good ahead of you. Congratulations, Chris. And man, oh, man, are you gonna be busy. I know I'm gonna be talking to you halfway through the air and you're. I'm gonna be talking to you halfway through the year and you're gonna be on oxygen.
- [70:27]
Chris Rice
You're exactly right. But I'm ready. I'm ready. Fans to me, like, I want it, I need it. And Kenny, as always, man, you make me smile. So hopefully we can make somebody smile and change their day. So thank you for having me on here. All your race fans, I appreciate you. Love you guys and enjoy and have.
- [70:44]
Kenny Wallace
A merry Christmas while you were wonderful. And with that, everybody, just a reminder, if you want to see Sea Rice's pretty little face, join us right here on the Kenny Wallace YouTube show. Or if you're headed down the the road and you're headed to Daytona for the start of the new Daytona 500, listen to him on Dale Jr's Dirty Mo podcast. Until the next Kenny conversation. Goodbye, everybody. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.
- [71:23]
Expedia Narrator
When the flu is keeping you up at night, don't try to tough it out. Knock out your flu symptoms with NYQUIL Intense flu. You got this. It provides powerful relief of your flu symptoms so you can sleep well through the night. NYQUIL Intense flu. The nighttime sniffling, aching, aching fever. Best sleep with a flu medicine. Use as directed. Keep out of reach of children.
- [71:45]
Udemy Advertiser
Not sure if you have the experience to start your dream job. Good news, these days, it's the skills that count. Udemy can help you get those in demand. Skills. Want to be an AI mastermind? Learn with us. Game developer. We've got you covered. AWS certified cloud practitioner. We can help you prep. You'll learn from real world experts who love what they do so that you can love what you do. Go to udemy.com for the skills to get you started and get set for your dream job.