NASCAR Cup

Wally Dallenbach Know Way Around Phoenix

Wally Dallenbach knows his way around the Arizona desert. From finding the fastest groove at Phoenix International Raceway's one-mile oval to selecting the best sushi restaurant in The Valley of the Sun, the 36-year-old driver of the No. 25 ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Wally Dallenbach knows his way around the Arizona desert.

From finding the fastest groove at Phoenix International Raceway's one-mile oval to selecting the best sushi restaurant in The Valley of the Sun, the 36-year-old driver of the No. 25 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo has the credentials to serve as your personal tour guide.

It's difficult to beat experience on or off the track, and Dallenbach has been going to Phoenix for about 30 years.

"I first started going out there with my dad when I was five or six years old," said Dallenbach, 36-year-old driver of the No. 25 Budweiser Monte Carlo. "They raced Indy cars there twice a year, so I know my way around the place.

"I've raced at Phoenix in just about everything you can think of. I've raced a VW Rabbit in SCCA, and I've raced Indy Lights and tested Indy cars there. I've had a few laps in stock cars there as well."

Dallenbach started 23rd and finished 25th in last year's rain-shortened NASCAR Winston Cup race at Phoenix, and he's hoping to improve on both of those numbers in Sunday's Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500K.

"It was a strange race last year at Phoenix," Dallenbach said. "Normally, the track stays pretty consistent, but it did change last year, and the last thing you think about there is a rain-shortened race.

"We used the wrong pit strategy and got behind, but we had a pretty good car, and I'm excited about going back. I love the track. It's one of my favorite tracks, and we should have a strong run if something stupid doesn't happen. It's tough to control some of the things that happen on the track, but racing at Phoenix is always one of the highlights of the season for me."

Dallenbach goes to Phoenix a few days early for a mini-vacation. Last year, he shot dynamite and fired at a 50-gallon drum in the desert out of a Huey Helicopter.

A few years ago, a friend let Dallenbach fly his Navy fighter plane.

"I didn't know what I was doing, but I had a heck of a time doing it," Dallenbach said.

The former SCCA champion doesn't have anything quite as exotic planned this time around prior to Friday's Bud Pole qualifying in the No. 25 Budweiser Chevrolet. He's going quail hunting on Wednesday and plans to shoot some sporting clays on Thursday.

"Then we'll get to business at the track," Dallenbach said. "I'm really excited about these last three races. Nothing has changed as far as I'm concerned. The primary objective is to win one of these last three.

"Not many people test at Phoenix, so no one will have a big advantage out there. Homestead is wide open. There's just no data to work with for that track yet.

"We tested at Atlanta last week and had a pretty good test. We had a good car there in the spring, and we're taking the same car back this time. There's not a lot of strategy involved the rest of the way as far as I'm concerned. I'm not sure what strategy means, anyway. If you're not running as hard as you can every lap, you're going to get passed.

"The object of the game is not to get passed, so if I have a strategy, it's to race as hard as I can every lap. If the car is right, that's the way I'll drive it and hope for the best. If we can catch a break or two along the way, it wouldn't hurt a thing."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article No. 28 Texaco-Havoline Ford Takes on a New Look

Next article Todd Bodine To Run for Eel River at Phoenix

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 9 h

Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal

Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

11 h

Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix

Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 11 h

Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello

Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

11 h

Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts