Former NASCAR driver reveals he once asked Bill France Jr. for an apology, and the expletive response he received

Former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace recently shared a story that shows just how direct and no-nonsense NASCAR leadership used to be. Appearing on his brother Kenny Wallace’s YouTube channel, Rusty recalled an incident where he asked then-NASCAR president Bill France Jr. for an apology—and got cussed out instead.

The apology moment happened after a Busch Series race at Daytona. Rusty Wallace was leading on the final lap when Dale Jarrett spun out beside him. It looked like Rusty wrecked him, although he didn’t.

After the race, NASCAR president Bill France Jr. pulled Rusty into a room and told him he was banned for life. France planned to review the CBS footage first. When the replay showed no contact, France backed off and said,

“I don’t see nothing.” [2:14 onwards]

According to Rusty Wallace, this happened during a tense meeting. France Jr. was dressed in a sharp three-piece suit, rocking sunglasses and chain-smoking. He turned to Wallace and asked,

"What do you got to say for yourself?"

This is when Rusty Wallace asked him for an apology. In response, what he got instead was,

"Get the f*ck out of here."

Rusty didn’t push it further. Instead, he walked away with something else—respect for the man. Rusty Wallace said in the interview,

“That day made me have so much damn respect for Bill France Jr. It was unreal,” [2:58]

Despite the tough love, Rusty Wallace came out of that situation with more appreciation for the people running NASCAR. His experience in the sport eventually became one of the most successful in NASCAR history, with 46 wins and a Cup Series championship in 1989.

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A voodoo man in the NASCAR garage- Billy Wood as told by Kenny Wallace

In a podcast, Kenny Wallace took time to remember a lesser-known figure from NASCAR's earlier days: Billy Wood, also known as “Willie the Warlock.” Wallace called him the “voodoo man”—someone no NASCAR driver wanted to mess with.

Wood made a name for himself in the 1960s through the 1980s, moving through garages and paddocks with a reputation for bringing either good luck or bad fortune. Self-taught and sharp, he could read early on and had a photographic memory, reportedly memorizing the license plates of every NASCAR team hauler. Kenny Wallace posted a photo of Billy Wood on X and wrote:

“There he is. NO @NASCAR driver messed with the VOO DOO man.”

Teams sometimes paid him to put curses on rival drivers. According to Wallace, Ned Jarrett once gave Wood $100 to jinx an opponent, and ended up winning the race. But the superstition didn’t work on everyone. Wood once tried to curse Richard Petty, but it failed. Petty reportedly didn’t believe in that kind of stuff.

Not everyone in NASCAR was amused. Former NASCAR official Bill Gazaway viewed the practice as borderline extortion and was critical of the teams who enabled it. Even so, Wood became a familiar—if controversial—character during NASCAR weekends.

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Edited by Anisha Chatterjee