"It's a wonderful club to be in": When Rusty Wallace made feelings known about being in NASCAR Hall of Fame

Former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace spoke about how much it means to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame about five years ago. Wallace, who competed in the Cup Series during the 1980s and mid 2000s, raced for Roger Penske's team during the latter half of his career. He won 55 races in the series over 25 years and was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

Wallace was part of the 2021 Hall of Fame Committee to decide the new inductees, and during an April 2020 interview with Autoweek, he reflected on his induction in 2013 and how it has changed his life.

"It’s a special ring to me when people say, 'And this is NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.' It feels real good. But if they want to go ahead and say, 'NASCAR Hall of Famer and NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace,' that’s OK, too. It’s a wonderful club to be in," Wallace said.

The 1989 NASCAR Cup champion also remembered a conversation with fellow Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett and said:

"I love the NASCAR Hall of Fame. I remember Ned Jarret once told me, 'Life’s going change when you get in the Hall of Fame.' I said, 'What’s going to change?' He goes, 'People are going to be nicer to you.'"

Even after retiring, Rusty Wallace stayed connected to NASCAR and started broadcasting for the sport in 2007. He also got back in a race car and became the first Hall of Famer to test run at Daytona as part of the Miller Lite's 40th anniversary in 2014.

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"He spent so much money"- Rusty Wallace on Roger Penske's purchase of IndyCar

Rusty Wallace joined Penske Racing in 1991 and raced for the team for about two decades. He also won 10 Cup races in his third full-time season with Penske.

During the same interview, Wallace praised Penske for improving the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Penske is one of the most successful team owners and has won three NASCAR championships in a row and 17 IndyCar titles. The Penske Corporation's chairman bought the oldest racetrack in the country, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series in 2019. He also owns the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

"Everything he touches, I’m not going to say turns into gold, but generally it does. He spent so much money on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, freshening it up, rebuilding it, and working like hell with everybody on the series itself on how to make the racing better and safer and so on, how to make the Indianapolis Speedway prettier and nicer and even better for the fans," Wallace said (via Autoweek).

Wallace further revealed that Penske taught him about the car business, which helped him start his own dealerships in East Tennessee after racing. Wallace owned a NASCAR team, Rusty Wallace Racing, which closed due to a lack of sponsorships in 2013.