No guts, no glory.
It's a popular cliché often bandied about in the sports world. It applies to thousands of professional athletes.
None more than Rusty Wallace.
Wallace has displayed remarkable courage throughout his career, putting his neck on the line both on and off the racetrack.
On the track, Wallace was fearless, driving his racecars flat-out and often taking them where other men feared to tread.
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| Rusty Wallace will hang it up after the 2005 season.(Getty Images) |
He has dared to take on NASCAR's biggest stars, starting a feud with Darrell Waltrip that turned him into a villain and making Waltrip a sympathetic fan favorite. He took on the legendary Dale Earnhardt, his rival and friend, once whopping him upside the head with a water bottle after a wreck at Bristol.
And he even took on NASCAR's iron-fisted dictatorship, never hesitating to rail against the sanctioning body for decisions he disagreed with or believed to be misguided. Though he had the ear of the vaunted France family, Wallace was like Earnhardt -- he took them on when someone had to.
And in perhaps one of the surest signs of courage in the NASCAR world, Wallace has never been afraid to speak his mind, at times railing against both NASCAR and other competitors who dared cross him. And he would do it with the type of colorful language that NASCAR now fines drivers for using.
Wallace was once fined for uttering the word "sh--" while ripping NASCAR for a penalty at Martinsville. He was fined thousands of dollars, which he paid with a bag of pennies. Then, when ESPN reporter Bill Weber asked Wallace on camera if he would ever use that word again, Wallace quickly replied "sh-- no."
Wallace, 48, has demonstrated unparallel confidence, enthusiasm and swagger throughout his illustrious career.
But never has he displayed as much courage or grace as he did Monday during his retirement announcement.
