Chrissy Wallace Hoping for Return To GIR in 2010

Chrissy Wallace arrived at Gateway International Speedway to take part in something other than a NASCAR race this past week.

Instead of jumping behind the wheel of a Camping World Series truck, Wallace jumped behind a camera lens that will see her on the cover of the upcoming January issue for St Louis Magazine (STLMAG.com).

Photo shoots are no longer new for the daughter of Mike Wallace and niece of Kenny Wallace and Rusty Wallace, all natives of St. Louis.

She’s participated in several as the new female face of NASCAR, as well as participating in several high-visibility events, such as working with IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick and international soccer star David Beckham.

Wallace, 21, was supposed to run the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series full-time in 2009, but the downturn in the nation’s economy caused all the sponsorship dollars she had been counting on to dry up.

"We’ve worked with different people trying to get different things going for next year. We’re hoping to run the first five (Truck Series) races at least and there’s a couple of Nationwide races that we’re trying to work on."

After running six races in 2008, including the event at GIR, she only ran one race this past year at Talladega that saw her racing against her father.

She crossed the start-finish line 13th, while Mike finished 28th due to an accident.

"That was definitely a big deal," she said. "We had a lot of fun, unfortunately Dad had a little mishap on his truck, but as far as doing it as a family, it was definitely a big deal to finally race against my dad. To be able to make history, that was big for us."

Wallace is looking forward to returning to Gateway July 16-17, 2010, for the venue’s first-ever Truck Series/Nationwide Series doubleheader weekend.

It would be a great chance for her to spend some time with her family since she has relocated to Concord, North Carolina and this is considered the family’s home track.

"It’s tough. I would say Gateway is one of the toughest tracks to get around and memorize the lines," Wallace said. "Especially in your first time. Fortunately, I had a very decent truck (in 2008), so that helped out a lot. We finished (19th) and on the lead lap, so we couldn’t really ask for anything better for our first time here."

In 2005, Gateway hosted the Wallace Family 250 featuring the three Wallace brothers. Chrissy said there is the possibility of four Wallaces on the track at once, including Rusty’s son, Steve.

"If I can get into a truck, I think Dad could definitely find a truck and Kenny, we all know he could find something. It’s a good possibility that all of us could be out there together. Who knows? For the Nationwide race, there could be four Wallace’s."