Female driver has long list of 'firsts' on racing résumé

Contributed photo Chrissy Wallace,19, will attempt to qualify for this week's truck race at Martinsville Speedway.

Another member of the Wallace family from St. Louis is set to move into the elite levels of NASCAR.

Chrissy Wallace, the 19- year-old daughter of veteran driver Mike Wallace, is planning to attempt to qualify for this weekend's Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

Wallace tested the Germain Racing entry at Martinsville last week and ran well enough to warrant her participation in the race. If she makes the field, she'll join her father, her uncles Rusty and Kenny and cousin Steve in the elite NASCAR ranks.

Mike Wallace, a veteran of the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series racing, is naturally proud, as any father would be.

"I'm very excited for her," Mike Wallace said. "As a father, it's great to see your kids have the opportunity to do what they want to do and be successful."

Chrissy has achieved positive results while working her way up from Legends races to Late Models to the Truck Series.

Along the way, she has recorded a series of "firsts," the most notable being the first female driver to win a Late Model race at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, N.C.

She also was the first female to win in a Legends Car at Friendship Speedway, in Elkin, N.C., in 2004; the first female to finish in the top five in a Thunder Roadster at Lowe's Motor Speedway; and the first female to win in a Bandolero at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

And she seems to be making her own career decisions.

"She's only doing this because she wants to do it," Mike Wallace said.

"Over the last five years or greater, I've tried to talk her a little bit out of it.

"I've asked her, 'Are you sure this is what you want to pursue?'

"And her answer always is, 'Dad, I want to do it, and I feel confident I can do it.' "

Mike Wallace said he is proud that the Germains hired his daughter because of her driving credentials and did so in an era when most newcomers have to bring money to the table to get to drive.

"Germain Racing wants her to be there," he said. "She didn't pay to get in the truck. She didn't have to bring a sponsor to get in the truck. They hired her on her own merit because of what they think she can do.

"That's a pretty cool deal."